English
At Penwortham Primary School we aim for all our pupils be avid readers, children who read fluently and widely and are able to express preferences and opinions about the texts that they read. We want them to read for pleasure, having had access to a wide range of text types, genres and authors in order for them to make informed opinions about their favourites. We believe that oracy is a vital skill for language and self expression and for children to be effective independent learners. We want our children to write with confidence and accuracy for a variety of purposes and audiences whilst developing their own individual flair. We want our children to be able to write with grammatical accuracy and be able to apply spelling patterns correctly using a neat handwriting style. We aim to expose our children to a wide range of vocabulary so that they able to decipher new words and then use them when speaking both informally and formally. We also aim for our children to apply all of these English skills to all areas of the curriculum. Above all, we aim for our children to achieve the very best they can and believe that English, through oracy, reading and writing, is a foundation to achieving this success.
During their time at our school we aim for all our children to have a range of literacy experiences at least once in their school career. These include opportunities to:
- perform for an audience
- competitions for reading, writing and oracy
- meet a real author
- visit a library and / or book shop
- share their reading and writing with the school and wider community
- enjoy a live theatre production
- publish a piece of writing
- understand the career opportunities that English may provide
- take part in discussions and debates
Our English Policy below details the approach we take at penwortham Primary School. The English Curriculum is designed as a ‘spiral’ curriculum, whereby the different genres are repeated throughout the key stage at an appropriate level so to build on children’s previous understanding and learning. It is our intention that by the end of each academic year all pupils reach age related expectations in line with the National Curriculum. Some children will have progressed further, and others, who have gaps in their learning, will receive appropriate intervention. We assess children formally at the end of each term in both reading and writing and also informally throughout our daily teaching.
We use the Lancashire KLIPs (Key Learning Indicators of Performance) to track progress in writing during the course of the year as well as Lancashire’s LAPS (Learning And Progression Steps) which break down the KLIPs into termly steps for more manageable tracking. In reading our assessments are guided by observations of pupil reading, phonic assessments as well as more formal assessments in Y2-6.
