Our English curriculum is book-led with our main texts forming the basis of learning for the term.
All children have the opportunity to visit our school library every week. Here, they can access a wide range of books, organised into curriculum and areas of interest.
.
The units for all classes link to four key themes: being a narrator, being a character, learning something new and poetry.
All phases follow a construct and our learning environment supports this, providing scaffolds and support and encouraging the children to be independent learners.
Reading opportunities are carefully planned within English units and across other areas of the curriculum to ensure that children are exposed to a wide range of texts and text types. The main text is linked to other texts and teachers also plan to widen the children’s knowledge by focusing in on new learning opportunities, for example looking at King George VI and his family when mentioned in a Year 6 text or mammoths though a Year 3 text. Daily reading allows for the development of fluency, reinforcing phonics and prosody, and also discussion and comprehension through a range of learning experiences and planned questions.
All children in all classes end the day with a story share. Books are planned for each term to revisit and reinforce key areas of the curriculum, such as history, geography and science and also friendship, diversity and democracy. Teachers also have the opportunity to select additional texts which will be of interest to the class.
In addition to this, every classroom has a reading area with a selection of Recommended Readsthese have been chosen to further develop the children’s love of reading and provide exposure to different topics and themes.
Early writing is developed through the Dough Disco and Squiggle programmes, where EYFS follow a planned, progressive structure. Drawing Club and Message Centre encourage our younger children to be creative and to mark make, linking to maths and letter formation when the children are ready.
Our writing units follow a clear sequence: understanding the text type and its key features, planning and writing together and building to writing independently.
Planned progressions include reading, age-appropriate question stems, success criteria, grammar and punctuation, planning, drafting and writing.
Spelling is taught through the Little Wandle programme in KS1 and the Scode spelling programme in KS2.
Weekly phonics/spelling homework reinforces the previous week’s learning, allowing opportunity for practice and reinforcement.
Both formative assessment and summative assessments are recorded using Bromcom and inform our planning, which includes target pupils and their identified gaps.
Internal and trust moderation in both reading and writing ensure that judgments are accurate and that we are continually identifying next steps.
Whole school overview of texts
Nursery Ten little fingers and ten little toes
It’s my birthday
The very hungry caterpillar’s birthday party
Flip flap pets
Busy people: vet
Farmyard hullabaloo
Reception Aaaargh spider
The tiger who came to tea
Monkey puzzle
Owl babies
Year 1 Samson’s Titanic journey
Salty sea dogs
Year 2 Vlad and The Great Fire of London
The Great Fire of London
Vlad and Florence Nightingale
Year 3 Stone Age Boy
UG
The Stone Age and Skara Brae
Year 4 Arthur and the Golden Rope
How to train your dragon
Viking voyagers
Year 5 The Queen’s Fool
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Shakespeare
Year 6 Anna at war
Goodnight, Mister Tom
Plants can’t sit still
Jasper’s beanstalk
Jack and the beanstalk
Goldilocks and the three bears
A chair for baby bear
The three little pigs
Twist and hop minibeast bop
Little bee
What the ladybird heard
Little acorn
That’s my flower
The leaf thief
The last wolf
The very hungry lion
Little Red
Tad
Tadpole’s promise
The girl who loves bugs
Chandra’s magic light
Hortense and the shadow
Timeless Thomas
The wild robot
The robot and the bluebird
DK Robot
Cosmic
The race to space/Counting on Katherine
The story of Rover
Darwin’s dragons
On the origin of species
Moth
Summer - geography
The train ride
The naughty bus
Go on an aeroplane
Hooray for fish
The rainbow fish
Commotion in the ocean
The lonely beast
There’s a tiger on the train
This is the ship that Jack built
Superheroes don’t get scared
Real superheroes
A superhero like you
Paddington at the palace
The Queen’s handbag
Paddington at the tower
Stella and the seagull
Somebody swallowed Stanley
Clean up!
First to the top
Hike
The impossible mountain
An Otter named Pebble
Cinderella of the Nile
River – a dazzling geographic journey
The last bear
Shackleton’s Journey
Ice trap
My name is River
Rainforest warrior
Time trails: rainforest
Termly overview of genres for English
Nursery Story map
Retelling the story (including Talk 4 writing actions)
Puppets and role play
Nursery rhymes
Reception Story map
Retelling the story (including Talk 4 writing actions)
Captions
Performance poetry
Year 1
Postcard
Retelling the story (including Talk 4 writing actions)
Innovating a narrative
Fact poster
Innovate a known rhyme
Year 2
Postcard
Diary
Fact poster
Character description
Creating a narrative with given characters
Rhyming couplets
Story map
Retelling the story (including Talk 4 writing actions)
Puppets and role play
Nursery rhymes
Story map
Retelling the story (including Talk 4 writing actions)
Innovate to the tune of a known rhyme
Performance poetry
Invitation
List
Creating a narrative with given characters
Character description
Invitation
Fact card
Rhyming couplets
Creating a narrative with given characters
Character description
Diary
Invitation
Fact card
Rhyming couplets
Story map
Retelling the story (including Talk 4 writing actions)
Puppets and role play
Nursery rhymes
Story map
Retelling the story (including Talk 4 writing actions)
Captions
Performance poetry
Postcard
Creating a narrative with given characters
Character description
Diary
Fact file
Persuasion – poster
Performance poetry
Continuing the narrative – third person
Character description
Diary
Persuasion - poster
Fact file
Performance poetry
Termly overview of genres for English
Autumn
Year 3 and 4
Thought bubbles
Diary
Character description
Continuing the narrative – third person
Fact file
Persuasion – poster
Alliteration poetry
Year 5 and 6
Diary
First person narrative
Letter (formal)
Continuing the narrative – third person
Persuasion – poster
Narrative poetry
First person narrative
Setting description - third person
Diary
Facts – fact card (Y3) and leaflet (Y4)
Book review
Quatrain poetry
Letter (informal)
Third person narrative
Diary
Explanation
Persuasion – advert
Performance poetry
Flashback narrative – third person
Same event, 2 viewpoints – first person narrative
Letter (informal)
Facts – magazine article
Discussion
Performance poetry
Descriptive narrative – third person
Same event, 2 viewpoints – first person narrative
Explanation
Biography
Book review
Personification poetry
Literacy construct for EYFS
Autumn 1
Book talk to be linked to a main text
Introduction to the text via book talk – front cover, setting, characters. This will include the consistent use of narrative therapy questioning - who/when/where/what, linked to C and L progression.
Exploration of the text through a range of relevant teaching approaches (real life objects, pictures from the book)
Key vocabulary introduced and displayed with supporting images from the book/visuals where appropriate.
Practise and apply phonics learning
Message centre
Weekly session with follow up in Continuous Provision
Rhyme time daily
Autumn 2, Spring and Summer term
Book talk (Monday and Tuesday) to be linked to a main text and planned story, tale and cartoon and then additional sessions to retell the story with puppets (Wednesday), drama (Thursday) and sequencing (Friday).
Introduction to the text via book talk – front cover, setting, characters. This will include the consistent use of narrative therapy questioning - who/when/where/what, linked to C and L progression.
Exploration of the text through a range of relevant teaching approaches (drama, puppets, pictures from the book)
Key vocabulary introduced and displayed with supporting images from the book/visuals where appropriate.
Practise and apply phonics learning
Drawing club linked to planned stories, tales and cartoons – character, setting and adventure time
Daily sessions of Drawing club
Message centre
Weekly session with follow up in Continuous Provision
Book talk (linked to main class texts)
Introduction to the text via book talk – front cover, setting, characters. This will include the consistent use of narrative therapy questioning - who/when/where/what/why, linked to C and L progression.
Exploration of the text through a range of relevant teaching approaches (drama, puppets, pictures from the book)
Recording the story as a map
Key vocabulary introduced and displayed with supporting images from the book/visuals where appropriate.
Practise and apply phonics learning
Shared writing
Teacher to think aloud to create a model linked to the success criteria.
Children given opportunities to orally compose sentences/ideas with peers, with additional adult support.
Teacher to take suggestions and combine to form a shared text
Independent writing
Composing
Children to orally compose and then record.
In Reception: this will involve a scribe or tin lid as a prompt to aid recall during writing. Word banks and models available to children should focus upon the known sounds/words being taught within phonics to support spelling and sentence constructs. Children should be encouraged to make plausible attempts.
A success criteria prompt sheet for writing will also be displayed in the writing area.
Editing
Children will be referred to success criteria prompt sheet
Drawing club linked to planned stories, tales and cartoons
Three sessions per week of whole class Drawing Club
Message centre
Weekly session with follow up in Continuous Provision
Nursery rhymes daily
English construct for Year 1 to 6
All classes complete a two-week unit, linked to their main text and providing opportunities for both reading (fluency and comprehension) and writing, for drama, art and music.
Unit checklist
Daily reading of the main text and other genres including non-fiction and poetry with pre-planned questions, linked to year group objectives and gap analysis (providing opportunities to work in pairs and individually)
Model and develop reading fluency, prosody and using punctuation (echo reading)
Use of hooks/stimuli across the unit: drama (hot seat, freeze frame, thought track, conscience alley, human form), video clips, images and music/sound effects
Share WAGOLL and identify key features
Grammar skills bursts (identified in the text first and linked to the focus)
Generate the success criteria. Display on the learning wall
Extract and provide vocabulary. Display on the learning wall and practice using in context
Shared/paired writing
Plan and write a longer independent writing task (3/4 days) with success on the learning wall, not on the task sheets
Modelling of the review process and providing opportunities to review own writing
Written comprehension task – to include taught question types and a range of other questions
Introduce the text (WAGOLL)
Explore the text through drama, music, art and discussion
Develop fluency
Extract and define vocabulary
Identify the key features (which will be displayed as the success criteria) These will be both genre specific and also include GAP.
Grammar skills burst will use examples from the text, in context
Create a shared plan, using the circles for each paragraph
Vocabulary to be generated and displayed with definitions
Grammar and punctuation skills burstexamples created that are relevant to the writing and displayed
Teacher to think aloud throughout the process
Refer to the shared plan and provide opportunities for children to work together to form ideas/sentences
Teacher to take suggestions and combine to form a shared text
Assess and review
Stimulus, linked to the text
Opportunities to plan own paragraph or whole pieces
Opportunities to write longer pieces, including the required success criteria (genre specific and grammar and punctuation foci)
Reviewing
Self-assess
Self-assess against the success criteria and review
