English

Our curriculum approach to English reflects our ethos statement ‘We live life in all its
fullness’. We are keen for pupils to discover the richness of the English language to develop
a life-long love of reading and be able to communicate well.

Intent

For all children will develop a love of literature, enjoying reading for pleasure, as well as having a keen interest in finding information from a range of texts. For all children to be able to confidently communicate their knowledge, ideas and emotions through their writing and use of the spoken word. At Curry Mallet we want children to acquire a wide vocabulary and be able to write and speak clearly, accurately and coherently, being able to adapt their language and style in and for a range of contexts, purposes and audiences. Our aim is to provide a curriculum which is sequenced to develop the acquisition of knowledge and skills. English is a core subject of the National Curriculum and a prerequisite for educational and social progress as it underpins the work undertaken in all areas of the curriculum. The acquisition of language skills is of the upmost importance to us and therefore the teaching of all aspects English is given a high priority within school. Confidence in basic language skills enables children to communicate creatively and imaginatively, preparing them for their future journey through education and beyond.

Implementation

English is taught as a whole class lesson daily and is planned from a variety of carefully chosen quality texts, both fiction and non-fiction, in order to engage and inspire the children. Texts are often linked to our whole school projects. All teachers immerse the children within a text, reading, analysing and discussing key elements before beginning to use the text as a focus for their own writing. Support materials such as interactive displays and word banks enable the children to develop understanding of the different genres and widen their vocabulary. 

Spelling: In Reception and Year 1 the Letters and Sounds Phonics programme is followed.
Reception children learn phase 2,3 and 4 whilst Year 1 learn phase 4 (revision) and Phase 5. In Year 2 children study Phase 6 and then move onto the Westover Green spelling programme. Years 3-6 follow the Westover Green spelling scheme with some children accessing a high frequency word intervention group. Additional spelling resources such as Spellzone and SMART notes from Somerset Literacy Network are also used. Spellings are taught according to the rules and focus for these lessons is primarily on exploring the spelling pattern and analysing the exceptions. Children are given spellings from the Westover Green programme and the statutory spelling lists to learn each week and are tested on these words the following week.

Grammar and Punctuation: Grammar objectives are identified and explored through the quality texts teachers use as their focus. Discrete grammar and punctuation lessons are also taught planned and taught. 

Impact

Children read widely and develop a wide vocabulary and use this within their writing and
speaking. They will enjoy writing across a range of genres and understand the purpose and
audience for their work. The children will leave Curry Mallet being able to effectively apply
spelling rules and patterns that have been taught. They will have a good understanding of
grammar conventions. The children will become competent and confident in presenting their
ideas to others through debates and formal presentations.

Planning

In KS1 and lower KS2 the Talk4Writing programme is used and follows the immersion, imitation, invention approach whilst in upper KS2 a programme of study is developed using real books and text to capitalise on the highest quality language, reading and writing. A curriculum map is published on the school website each term documenting the English objectives to be covered. 

Knowledge and skills progression through the school

At Curry Mallet, English skills and knowledge will be developed through each phase of learning by building on previous levels of understanding.

In KS1 pupils will:

Writing:

Year 1

• Sit correctly at a table, holding a pencil comfortably and correctly.
• Begin to form lower-case letters in the correct direction, starting and finishing in the right
  place. [‘c’ shapes start at top and are made anti-clockwise, no letter starts at the
  bottom.]
• In Year 1 children are encouraged to use pre-cursive script with all the letters starting on
  the line and then following the same formation for printed letters (except for f). Start
  using some of the diagonal and horizontal strokes needed to join letters and understand
  which letters, when adjacent to one another, are best left unjoined.
• Form capital letters
• Form digits 0-9
• Understand which letters belong to which handwriting ‘families’ (i.e. letters that are
  formed in similar ways) and to practise these.
• Saying out loud what they are going to write about.Composing a sentence orally before writing it.
• Sequencing sentences to form short narratives.
• Re-reading what they have written to check that it makes sense.
• Discuss what they have written with the teacher or other pupils.
• Read aloud their writing clearly enough to be heard by their peers and the teacher.

Year 2

• Form lower-case letters of the correct size relative to one another.
• Start using some of the diagonal and horizontal strokes needed to join letters
  and understand which letters, when adjacent to one another, are best left
  unjoined.
• Write capital letters and digits of the correct size, orientation and relationship to
  one another and to lower case letters.Use spacing between words that reflects the size of the letters.Writing narratives about personal experiences and those of others (real and fictional).
• Writing about real events.
• Writing poetry.
• Writing for different purposes.
• Planning or saying out loud what they are going to write about.
• Writing down ideas and/or key words, including new vocabulary.
• Encapsulating what they want to say, sentence by sentence.
• Evaluating their writing with the teacher and other pupils.
• Re-reading to check that their writing makes sense and that verbs to indicate time
  are used correctly and consistently, including verbs in the continuous form.
• Proof-reading to check for errors in spelling, grammar and punctuation [for
  example, ends of sentences punctuated correctly].
• Read aloud what they have written with appropriate intonation to make the meaning clear.

Year 3/4

• Use the diagonal and horizontal strokes that are needed to join letters and understandwhich letters, when adjacent to one another, are best left unjoined.
• Increase the legibility, consistency and quality of their handwriting for example, by ensuring that the downstrokes of letters are parallel and equidistant; that lines of writing are spaced sufficiently so that the ascenders and descenders of letters do not touch.
• Discussing writing similar to that which they are planning to write in order to understand and learn from its structure, vocabulary and grammar.
• Discussing and recording ideas.
• Composing and rehearsing sentences orally (including dialogue), progressively building a varied and rich vocabulary and an increasing range of sentence structures (English Appendix 2).
• Organising paragraphs around a theme.
• In narratives, creating settings, characters and plot.
• In non-narrative material, using simple organisational devices [for example,headings and sub- headings].
• Assessing the effectiveness of their own and others’ writing and suggesting improvements.
• Proposing changes to grammar and vocabulary to improve consistency, including the accurate use of pronouns in sentences.
• Proof-read for spelling and punctuation errors.
• Read aloud their own writing, to a group or the whole class, using appropriate intonation and controlling the tone and volume so that the meaning is clear.

Year 5/6

• Choosing which shape of a letter to use when given choices and deciding whether or not to join specific letters. 
• Choosing the writing implement that is best suited for a task.#
• Identifying the audience for and purpose of the writing, selecting the appropriate form and using other similar writing as models for their own composition.
• Noting and developing initial ideas, drawing on reading and research where necessary.
• Using a wide range of devices to build cohesion within and across paragraphs.
• Assessing the effectiveness of their own and others’ writing.
• Proof reading for spelling and punctuation errors.
• Perform their own compositions, using appropriate intonation, volume and movement so that meaning is clear.
• In writing narratives, considering how authors have developed characters and settings in what pupils have read, listened to or seen performed.
• Selecting appropriate grammar and vocabulary, understanding how such choices can change and enhance meaning. 
• In narratives describing settings, characters and atmosphere, integrating dialogue to convey character and advance the action;
• Precising longer passages.
• Using further organisational and presentational devices to structure text and to guide the reader (for example, headings, statements and underlining). 
• Proposing changes to Vocabulary, Grammar & Punctuation to enhance effects and clarify meaning.
• Ensuring the consistent and correct use of tense throughout a piece of writing. 
• Ensuring correct subject and verb agreement when using singular and plural, distinguishing between the language of speech and writing and choosing the appropriate register.
• In writing narratives, considering how authors have developed characters and settings in what pupils have read, listened to or seen performed.

Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar:

Year 1

• Words containing each of the 40+ phonemes already taught.
• Common exception words.
• The days of the week.
• Naming the letters of the alphabet in order.
• Using letter names to distinguish between alternative spellings of the same sound.
• Using the spelling rule for adding –s or –es as the plural marker for nouns and the third person singular marker for verbs.
• Using the prefix un–.
• Using –ing, –ed, –er and –est where no change is needed in the spelling of root words [for example, helping, helped, helper, eating, quicker, quickest].
• Apply simple spelling rules and guidance, as listed in English Appendix 1.
• Write from memory simple sentences dictated by the teacher that include words using the GPCs and common exception words taught so far.
• Regular plural noun suffixes –s or –es (eg, dog, dogs; wish, wishes), including the effects of these suffixes on the meaning of the noun.
• Suffixes that can be added to verbs where no change is needed in the spelling of root words (eg, helping, helped, helper).
• How the prefix un– changes the meaning of verbs and adjectives (negation, eg, unkind,
  or undoing, eg, untie the boat).
• How words can combine to make sentences.
• Joining words and joining clauses using and.
• Sequencing sentences to form short narratives.
• Separation of words with spaces.
• Introduction to capital letters, full stops, question marks and exclamation marks to demarcate sentences.
• Using a capital letter for names of people, places, the days of the week, and the personal pronoun 'I.'
• Use the grammatical terminology in English Appendix 2 in discussing their writing
  (letter, capital letter, word, singular, plural, sentence, punctuation, full stop, question mark, exclamation mark).

Year 2

• segmenting words into phonemes and representing these by graphemes, spelling
  many correctly. 
• Learning new ways of spelling phonemes for which one or more spellings are already known, and learn some words with each spelling, including a few common homophones.
• Learning to spell common exception words.
• Learning to spell more words with contracted forms.
• Learning the possessive apostrophe (singular) [for example, the girl’s book].
• Add suffixes to spell longer words, including –ment, –ness, –ful, –less, –ly.
• Apply spelling rules and guidance, as listed in English Appendix 1.
• Write from memory simple sentences dictated by the teacher that include words using the GPCs, common exception words and punctuationtaught so far. 
• Distinguishing between homophones and near-homophones.
• Formation of adjectives using suffixes such as –ful, –less.
• Use of the suffixes –er, –est in adjectives and –ly to turn adjectives into adverbs.
• Subordination (using when, if, that, because) and co-ordination (using or, and, but).
• Expanded noun phrases for description and specification (eg, the blue butterfly, plain flour, the man in the moon).
• How the grammatical patterns in a sentence indicate its function as a statement, question, exclamation or command. 
• Correct choice and consistent use of present tense and past tense throughout writing.
• Use of the progressive form of verbs in the present and past tense to mark actions in
  progress (eg, she is drumming, he was shouting).
• Use of capital letters, full stops, question marks and exclamation marks to demarcate sentences.
• Commas to separate items in a list.
• Apostrophes to mark where letters are missing in spelling and to mark singular possession in nouns (e.e. the girl's name).
• Use and understand the grammatical terminology in English Appendix 2 in
  discussing their writing (noun, noun phrase, statement, question, exclamation, command, compound, adjective, verb, suffix, tense (past, present), apostrophe, comma).
• Formation of nouns using suffixes such as -ness, -er and by compounding (e.g., whiteboard, superman).

Year 3/4

• Use further prefixes and suffixes and understand how to add them (English Appendix 1 (Year 3/4))
• Spell further homophones.
• Spell words that are often misspelt (English Appendix 1 (Year 3/4)).
• Place the possessive apostrophe accurately in words with regular plurals [for example, girls’, boys’] and in words with irregular plurals [for example, children’s].
• Use the first two or three letters of a word to check its spelling in a dictionary.
• Write from memory simple sentences, dictated by the teacher, that include words and punctuation taught so far of words in context.
• Use of the forms 'a' or 'an' according to whether the next word begins with a consonant or avowel (eg, a rock, an open box).
• Word families based on common words, showing how words are related in form and meaning (eg, solve, solution, solver, dissolve, insoluble). 
• Expressing time, place and cause using conjunctions (eg, when, before, after, while, so, because), adverbs (eg, then, next, soon, therefore), orprepositions (eg, before, after, during, in, because of).
• Introduction to inverted commas to punctuate direct speech.
• Introduction to paragraphs as a way to group related material.
• Headings and sub-headings to aid presentation.
• Use of the present perfect form of verbs instead of the simple past (eg, He has gone out toplay contrasted with He went out to play)
• Use and understand the grammatical terminology in English Appendix 2 (Year 3) accurately and appropriately when discussing their writing and reading (adverb, preposition conjunction, word family, prefix, clause, subordinate clause, direct speech, consonant, consonant letter vowel, vowelletter, inverted commas (or ‘speech marks’)).
• Formation of nouns using a range of prefixes such as super-, anti-, auto-
• The grammatical difference between plural and possessive –s.
• Standard English forms for verb inflections instead of local spoken forms (eg, we were instead of we was, or I did instead of I done).
• Noun phrases expanded by the addition of modifying adjectives, nouns and preposition phrases (eg, the teacher expanded to: the strict maths teacher with curly hair).
• Fronted adverbials (eg, Later that day, I heard the bad news.).
• Use of paragraphs to organise ideas around a theme.
• Appropriate choice of pronoun or noun within and across sentences to aid cohesion and avoid repetition.
• Use of inverted commas and other punctuation to indicate direct speech eg, a comma after the reporting clause; end punctuation withininverted commas (eg, The conductor shouted, “Sit down!”).
• Apostrophes to mark singular and plural possession (eg, the girl’s name, the girls’ names).
• Use of commas after fronted adverbials.
• Use and understand the grammatical terminology in English Appendix 2 (Year 4) accurately and appropriately when discussing writing and reading (determiner, pronoun, possessive pronoun, adverbial).

Year 5/6

• Use a thesaurus.
• Use the first three or four letters of a word to check spelling, meaning or both in a dictionary.
• Use dictionaries to check the spelling and meaning of words.
• Continue to distinguish between homophones and other words which are often confuse
• Use further prefixes and suffixes and understand the guidance for adding them.
• Spell some words with ‘silent’ letters [for example, knight, psalm, solemn].
• Use knowledge of morphology and etymology in spelling and understand that the spelling of some words needs to be learnt specifically, as listed in English Appendix 1(Years 6).
• Relative clauses beginning with who, which, where, when, whose, that, or an omitted relative pronoun.
• Brackets, dashes or commas to indicate parenthesis.
• The difference between vocabulary typical of informal speech and vocabulary appropriate for formal speech and writing (eg, find out – discover;ask for – request; go in – enter).
• How words are related by meaning as synonyms and antonyms (e.g., big, large, little).
• Use of the passive to affect the presentation of information in a sentence (eg, I broke the window in the greenhouse versus The window in the greenhouse was broken [by me]).
• The difference between structures typical of informal speech and structure appropriate for formal speech and writing (such as the use of question tags, e.g., He’s your friend, isn’t he? or the use of subjunctive forms such as If I were or were they to come in some very formal writing and speech).
• Linking ideas across paragraphs using a wider range of cohesive devices: repetition of a word or phrase, grammatical connections (eg, the use ofadverbials such as on the other hand, in contrast, or as a consequence), and ellipsis.Layout devices, such as headings, sub-headings, columns, bullets, or tables, to structure text.
• Use of the semi-colon, colon and dash to mark the boundary between independent clauses (eg, It’s raining; I’m fed up).
• Use of the colon to introduce a list.
• Punctuation of statements to list information.
• How hyphens can be used to avoid ambiguity (eg, man eating shark versus man- eating shark, or recover versus re-cover).
• Use and understand the grammatical terminology in English Appendix 2 (Year 6) accurately and appropriately when discussing their writing and reading (subject, object, active, passive, synonym, antonym, ellipsis, hyphen, colon, semi-colon, bullet points).

Recording

Recording of lessons takes place in English books across all year groups. This is marked in line with the school’s marking policy.

Assessment

Written work is assessed against National Curriculum objectives for each year group and is
recorded on Somerset Literacy Network assessment grids. Each term for years 2-6, a NFER formative test is carried out for SPaG. Teachers use these tests to ensure children have secure knowledge and to identify any gaps in learning or misconceptions to be addressed.

Reporting

On our annual reports, which are given to parents at the end of the year, a judgement will bemade regarding their child’s attainment in English (Writing) relating to the national curriculum for their year group. For example, WT (working towards national standard for age), WA (working at national age-related standards), GD (working at greater depth for age).

Monitoring

The Curriculum leader works alongside teachers to ensure curriculum coverage and to
moderate judgements. Evidence in books, learning walks, speaking to pupils about their
learning and discussing with colleagues what has gone well as well as any lessons learnt will all help to form picture of the progression of individual children in English. Where relevant the implementation of school polices (such as marking) will be reviewed to ensure the workload for English is both manageable and is making an impact on the children’s learning.

English Texts Rolling Program 2024-2025

Class 1 Talk for writing

Class 1 Talk for writing

Class 2 Talk for writing

Class 2 Talk for writing

Class 3 UKS2 Using real texts to stimulate narrative and non-fiction writing.

Class 3

Class 3

 3 - 5 yrs (Foundation)

 5 - 6 yrs (Year 1)

6 - 7 Yrs (Year 2)

7 - 8 yrs ( Year 3)

8 - 9 Yrs (Year 4)

Yea 9 - 10 

 Year 10 - 11