English

English Statement of Intent:

"Planted in the house of the Lord, they shall flourish in the courts of our God." Psalm 92:13

At Hesketh with Becconsall All Saints Church of England Primary School, we believe that learning should be a lifelong process and a rewarding and enjoyable experience for everyone, enabling all pupils to flourish and thrive so that they are ready for their next step in their education journey. Our Christian Values, alongside our vision: ‘We are God’s handiwork, created in Christ to do good works.’ Ephesians 2:10 ‘What you are is God’s gift to you, what you become is your gift to God.’ are at the heart of our curriculum and all that we do.

Our ambitious, broad and inclusive English curriculum, inspires pupils through rich, carefully sequenced learning, that develops secure foundations in communication and language, reading, writing and spoken language, in line with the National Curriculum. Through our high quality teaching, we focus on pupils gaining the knowledge, skills and understanding needed to become increasingly confident, independent learners. Learning builds cumulatively towards clearly defined end points and teachers model, check pupils understanding systematically, and adapt teaching where necessary, so that the pupils know more, can remember more and do more over time.

Our English curriculum begins in EYFS and is built upon throughout the school until Year 6. It aims for all pupils to build their phonic knowledge; read accurately, fluently and with understanding; acquire a wide range of spoken and written vocabulary, develop compositional and transcriptional fluency; and understand the grammar and knowledge of linguistic conventions for reading, writing and spoken language. We maintain high expectations for all pupils with high quality, inclusive teaching as the starting point. Teachers use assessment, reasonable adjustments, targeted adaptations and additional practise to remove barriers without narrowing ambition so that all are empowered to succeed.

English is embedded throughout the curriculum and we recognise that accurate and fluent reading, effective spoken language and confident writing are foundational to pupils’ success.

Speaking and Listening

At Hesketh with Becconsall All Saints, Speaking and Listening are developed and explicitly taught across English and the wider curriculum. Strong language and communication are essential foundations for reading, writing, learning and wellbeing. Teachers create a nurturing, inclusive environment in which every pupil's contribution is valued and pupils learn to listen, respond and build on the ideas of others. Pupils are taught how to communicate effectively through spoken language: to articulate ideas, explain their thinking, ask and answer questions, justify opinions, rehearse language and take part in discussion, presentation, performance and debate. Teachers model and scaffold high-quality talk, extend pupils' vocabulary and sentence structures, and provide planned opportunities for purposeful partner, group and whole-class talk. We want pupils to express themselves confidently and respectfully in full, coherent sentences, using an appropriate voice for the situation. Through oracy, pupils develop the confidence, resilience and critical thinking needed to solve problems, consider different viewpoints and participate fully in school and later life.

Reading

Pupils at Hesketh with Becconsall All Saints will learn to read accurately, fluently and with increasingly secure comprehension. In the EYFS and Key Stage 1, systematic synthetic phonics is taught rigorously and in a clearly defined sequence, with fidelity to Red Rose Letters and Sounds. Pupils read books that are closely matched to the grapheme-phoneme correspondences they have been taught and regular assessment identifies pupils at risk of falling behind so that extra teaching and practise can begin promptly. As pupils become fluent word readers, teaching continues to develop tone, intonation, vocabulary, background knowledge and comprehension. Our pupils learn to retrieve, infer, predict, explain, summarise, compare and evaluate. Teachers explicitly model fluent reading and comprehension strategies, and pupils read and engage with a wide range of high-quality, appropriately challenging fiction, non-fiction and poetry texts across the curriculum.

Daily reading aloud, book talk and access to attractive reading material build a strong reading culture. Our pupils read widely and often for pleasure, information and research, using books and other texts to deepen subject knowledge and understanding. Our aim is that pupils leave Hesketh with Becconsall All Saints as confident and enthusiastic lifelong readers.

Writing – including Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling

Our curriculum at Hesketh-with-Becconsall All Saints Church of England Primary School, ensures that our pupils develop passion and enthusiasm for writing. Our aim is to ensure that pupils write clearly, accurately and coherently for a range of contexts, purposes and audiences. Writing is taught through carefully sequenced units that combine rich reading and discussion with explicit instruction in composition and transcription. Pupils are taught to generate and organise ideas, compose orally, draft, evaluate, revise, edit and proofread. Teachers model the writing process, including thinking aloud, rereading each sentence for meaning and accuracy, and making purposeful changes to vocabulary, grammar, punctuation, cohesion and organisation. Over time, pupils become able to identify their own next steps and improve their writing with increasing independence.

As fluent spelling and handwriting reduce cognitive load and allow pupils to concentrate on composition, transcription is prioritised. Age-appropriate spelling patterns, common exception words and handwriting expectations, as set out in the National Curriculum and our school's chosen programmes, are taught directly, practised sufficiently and applied across the curriculum. Teachers address gaps from earlier phases promptly and pupils are expected to take pride in their work. High standards of presentation are developed and maintained in line with our Teaching and Learning Policy.

Every pupil also has access to explicit, precise and cumulative teaching of the grammar and punctuation set out in the National Curriculum, which is taught in meaningful contexts within English units. Teachers use consistent, age-appropriate grammatical terminology and help pupils understand how grammatical choices affect meaning and the impact of their writing. Pupils apply and are assessed on taught knowledge in sentence-level work and sustained writing, rather than completing isolated exercises alone.

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Curriculum Implementation

Knowledge and Skills Progression

Here at Hesketh with Becconsall All Saints Primary School, our Knowledge and Skills Progression follow Lancashire's Learning and Progression Steps (LAPS).

What are Learning and Progression Steps (LAPS)?

The Learning and Progression Steps are designed to scaffold the learning required in order to meet the expectations of the National Curriculum. Statements in the Lancashire Key Learning for Reading and Writing documents have been broken down into smaller steps to support teachers in planning appropriate learning opportunities. These key pieces of learning will support pupils in becoming effective and reflective independent readers.

Where have they come from?

The Learning and Progression Steps (LAPS) have been derived from the Lancashire Key Learning in Reading and Writing statements, identified primarily from the National Curriculum 2014 programmes of study.

How are they different from the Key Learning Statements?

The Learning and Progression Steps (LAPS) are smaller, progressive steps which support learning towards the Key Learning in Reading and Writing expectations. LAPS are numerically ordered from LAP 1 to LAP 3, to reflect the gradual development of the skill/s involved.

Please click here to see the Year Group Expectations for Reading and Writing. The Early Years Foundation Stage Expectations (EYFS) Early Learning Goals (ELGs) can also be found by following the link.