English
English Intent and Implementation
Speaking and Listening
Pupils take part in role play situations and develop imaginative play. They develop early literacy skills such as re-telling events or stories and handling and talking about books. Pupils learn active listening skills and are encouraged to ask and answer questions, during discussions as a class, in smaller groups and with ‘talk partners’, to engender a rich culture of reflection that is readily expressed. They are given opportunities to evaluate and reflect on their own speech and encouraged to use the vocabulary and grammar of standard English whenever appropriate. Pupils are encouraged to speak and listen to a range of audiences, to help them to understand the need to adapt speech to different situations, including within our community, nationally and internationally, and help equip them to be future agents of change.
Phonics
All pupils in FS and Y1 follow the Read Write Inc. (RWI) phonic programme. There are daily whole class phonic sessions during which pupils learn to identify the sounds made by different letters and combinations of letters. They learn how to segment (separate) and blend (put back together) the sounds they can hear in a word. They also learn how to count the sounds in a word to help them decode new and unfamiliar words. At the end of Y1 all pupils are screened using the national Y1 Phonics screening test; if pupils do not attain the nationally expected level they repeat the screening test at the end of Y2. Some pupils acquire their phonic knowledge easily but for others it takes a little longer. For pupils who join Y3 with weaker phonic knowledge we continue to teach specific sounds and we also run small group interventions. Through Y2 pupils will complete the RWI programme and move to guided reading groups with emphasis on vocabulary and reading comprehension. (See Phonics Policy)
Common Exception Words
In addition to developing their phonic knowledge pupils must also learn to read and write words that are frequently found but that cannot easily be sounded out such as the, there, said. These are sometimes called 'tricky' words.
Spellings
Alongside the acquisition of phonic knowledge and common exception words pupils must start to learn the rules of spelling. This can be challenging as there are many rules to learn and many words that do not follow these rules. At The Vine, we follow The Spelling Shed scheme. Each week, the pupils focus on a new spelling rule and are taught this across two discrete spelling lessons. Pupils are encouraged to consolidate their understanding of the spelling rules and words as a part of their home learning using the range of spelling activities on The Spelling Shed, as well as other offline methods such as ‘Look, Cover, Write, Check’.
Please see below to find out more information about The Spelling Shed.
Reading
At The Vine School we believe that becoming a confident, fluent reader is the key to accessing learning across the curriculum and can empower and equip pupils to live the fullness of life that God intends. We therefore encourage all children to read a wide range of fiction and non-fiction books and develop a reading habit; reading regularly with an adult throughout their primary school life. Every pupil has a Reading Record Book to record their reading. Pupils are given opportunities to read in school; reading for pleasure, independently, with a friend or with a Learning Mentor or Teaching Assistant. In this way pupils develop a wider knowledge of authors and genres.
At The Vine, we have developed a 'Rainbow of Reading' to provide a wide selection of fiction and non-fiction books for Reception and Key Stage One pupils to borrow. These books are broadly categorised by level of difficulty and interest and pupils are allocated a colour band to choose from. In Key Stage Two, Accelerated Reader is used to ensure pupils are accessing books which align correctly with their current reading ability.
Please see below to find out more information about Accelerated Reader.
By inviting pupils to choose their own books they develop their preferences as a reader, learning to follow an author, to use illustrations to work out the genre and, of course, to read the blurb to find out more about their book choice. We also have several books linked to specific reading schemes, these are used for children who prefer a more structured approach, particularly for those who are finding it more difficult to develop their phonic skills.
Guided Reading
In addition to English lessons, we have 3 Guided Reading sessions per week. These happen on a Monday, Wednesday and Friday for 30 mins each time. Each session is split into 3 sections.
- Understanding vocabulary and looking at the etymology of the tricky words which will come up in the chapter being read.
- Reading as a class by following the text and each pupil across the week being given a section to read aloud. The teacher will also read sections bridging between pupils and modelling intonation and expression. A clicker is used to signal a key word which is read in unison.
- Comprehension. VIPERS (vocabulary, inference, prediction, explain, retrieval, summarise) questions to answer about the chapter being read.
Please see below to find out more about Guided Reading.
Writing
At the Vine, we use "The Write Stuff" approach by Jane Considine to bring clarity to the mechanics of writing. "The Write Stuff" follows a method called "Sentence Stacking" which refers to the fact that sentences are stacked together chronologically and organised to engage children with short, intensive moments of learning that they can then immediately apply to their own writing. An individual lesson is based on a sentence model, broken in to 3 learning chunks. Each learning chunk has three sections:
Initiate – a stimulus to capture the children’s imagination and generate vocabulary.
Model – the teacher models a sentence that outlines clear writing features and techniques.
Enable – the children write their sentence, following the model.
Children are challenged to ‘Deepen the Moment’ which requires them to independently draw upon previously learnt skills and apply them to their writing during that chunk.
"The Write Stuff" uses three essential components to support children in becoming great writers
The three zones of writing :-
IDEAS - The FANTASTICs uses a child friendly acronym to represent the nine idea lenses through which children can craft their ideas.
TOOLS - The GRAMMARISTICS. The grammar rules of our language system and an accessible way to target weaknesses in pupils grammatical and linguistic structures.
TECHNIQUES - The BOOMTASTICs which helps children capture 10 ways of adding drama and literary devices to their writing.
Approximately nine writing units are carried out over each year, covering a range of non-fiction text types, narrative genres and poetry.
Handwriting
We believe that learning a cursive handwriting style enables children to become confident, fluent writers. Cursive handwriting enables writing to flow and, once mastered, looks beautiful; this helps pupils to feel really proud of themselves and of their learning. (See Handwriting Policy)
The School Vision and Values of English
This is our school – every pupil is given opportunities to be challenged in English through quality first teaching, scaffolded and differentiated learning and pre- and post-teaching. Pupils show kindness and gentleness by thinking about others and helping them empathetically through talk partners and group activities Let peace dwell here - pupils show goodness by make the right choices to be ready for learning and they develop the self-control to think before speaking and rehearse sentences in their heads before writing. They are given time and space to be peaceful, think calmly, partake in quiet reading and writing and reflect on their learning. Let the rooms be full of contentment – Learning is progressive, skills are taught and knowledge is gained. This requires pupils to be hard working and patient to be able to fully master reading and writing. Let love abide here – pupils engage with meaningful learning that has a purpose, to foster curiosity and love for English Love of one another – pupils will be treated individually and given opportunities to experience, understand and be tolerant of those of different faiths and beliefs, through quality texts and carefully chosen, thought provoking topics Love of mankind – pupils learn from a global English curriculum; foster links with other countries and cultures and include global issues in our topics Love of life itself and love of God – pupils embrace challenging learning with a positive outlook, they are helped to have faith in themselves that they can do it and we try to instil a joy of life-long learning |
So many hearts create a school – pupils are offered rich, varied and diverse opportunities to challenge every pupil when speaking, listening, reading and writing which draw upon meaningful, real-life experiences
British Values and SMSC in English
Spiritual and cultural - pupils will experience awe, wonder and excitement, through listening to and reading a diverse and wide selection of texts. Examples including, Jack and the Beanstalk, Lila and the Secret of Rain, instructions for mummifying, Roman and Greek myths, Shakespeare, Benjamin Zephaniah poetry. To experience ‘life in its fullness’ (John 10:10) Tolerance - giving them opportunities to experience, understand and be tolerant of those of different faiths and beliefs. Examples including Coming to England by Floella Benjamin, Anne Frank’s Diary Moral - pupils will understand and learn how to write for different purposes and audiences. Examples including persuasive letters to the Head, Animal fact files to share with younger age groups, playscripts to perform. Rule of Law - knowing there are rules and expectations that have to be followed. Individual Liberty – knowing they can make independent, informed choices within the parameters of the laws. Social - pupils will develop skills to be able to work independently, but also with a partner, in a group or class, or in the wider community; in their reading, writing and particularly using speaking and listening skills. Mutual Respect – understanding they can express their views and listen to the views of others. Cultural – pupils will encounter culturally diverse planning and resources and be able to make cross curricular links. Examples including prayers in RE, fact files in Science, presenting learning using ICT, information about Fairtrade, Remembrance poems and prayers, They will become familiar with different forms of performing arts, including theatre visits to school, cinema screenings, author visits. |
Democracy – giving them opportunities to have a say, ask big questions and be engaged in topics they want to learn.
English Curriculum
English Whole School Overview
English Action Plans
The Vine 6 Book Challenge
The Spelling Shed
Accelerated Reader
Tips for AR quizzes
- Make sure you’re using this website: https://global-zone61.renaissance-go.com/welcomeportal/6700951
- If you can’t find your book, look to see whether there’s a subtitle (like Jack Stalwart: The Secret of the Sacred Temple: Cambodia), or try searching by the author’s name.
- Take your time to find the answers to your questions in the book. There are never any trick answers – if you remember it happening in the book, then it’s probably correct.
- If you don’t pass the quiz, look at the answers you got wrong and have another go – ask your teacher or Mrs Talmage to delete the quiz for you.
Guided Reading
English CPD
Spellings and Grammar Terminology
More Information
Useful Information and Activities
Why re-reading storybooks with young children matters
