English
Curriculum Leader: Miss Robinson
Intent:
Why our English curriculum looks like this:
Learning to read, write and speak with confidence are vital skills for our pupils to master during their time at Sutton Oak CE Primary School. We recognise that quality teaching and learning in English is an essential tool for the development of all our children and particularly for those that are disadvantaged or have SEND.
Our English curriculum should engage, enthuse and excite children with the aim of developing confident, creative and inspired learners who value the importance of literacy skills now and later in life. We will attempt to instil a desire to be readers and writers for both pleasure and purpose.
Our whole school curriculum should be connected in a meaningful way and it is our desire to develop reading, writing and listening skills across the foundation subjects. The teaching of English should provide opportunity to embed our Christian ethos throughout learning to show respect, perseverance and resilience.
Implementation:
Oracy:
Language Development is central to our curriculum intent, reflecting the latest evidence from the DfE Reading Framework (2023). We understand that early mastery of language skills underpins access to the entire curriculum and future success.
Oracy as a whole school priority - We embed oracy strategies to develop pupils' ability to articulate their thoughts clearly, reason effectively, and engage confidently across all subjects and social contexts. Our approach includes the use of our oracy progression framework (listed below) to maximise purposeful talk opportunities.
Reading
The teaching of reading is a high priority across our school. We recognise the importance of using a synthetic phonics programme and at Sutton Oak, we use the RWI programme from Foundation Stage upwards to equip our children with the phonic knowledge needed to help them to read and write.
When the children have progressed through the RWI programme, teaching staff use 'real' texts to teach guided reading. The aim of this is to provide children with the opportunity to explore language and vocabulary, develop understanding and encourage their love of reading.
Reading at Home
At Sutton Oak, we want our children to enjoy reading for pleasure. Our 'Reading through the Rainbow' incentive promotes and encourages reading at home with weekly and termly events to motivate and inspire the children. Children enjoy using our school library to choose their own reading for pleasure books to take home each week. During their time at Sutton Oak, children are given the chance to experience visits from authors and illustrators and take part in special reading events such as story club, reading workshops and theme days.
Writing
The teaching of writing is also a high priority across school. To ensure children are equipped with the basic skills needed to help them to write, children have daily SPaG and English lessons. Staff also ensure children are provided with writing opportunities in other areas of the curriculum to allow them to transfer the skills taught during English lessons.
