English

Intent

At Bishop’s Hull Primary School we believe that our curriculum should develop a child’s love of reading, writing and discussion. One of our early priorities is to help children to learn to decode and blend as they begin their journey in reading. As they develop through this journey we wish them to discuss what they have read and to be able to analyse the text more deeply through comprehension questions. We also know that it is important that children can express their own ideas and so we nurture a curriculum where children can write clearly and accurately where they can adapt their style of writing to meet a range of genres. Alongside this, we want to inspire children to be confident in speaking and listening as this can develop their learning further.

We know that reading and writing are at the heart of so much of a child’s learning and opens so many opportunities to them both in their education and further into their lives. To aid this learning we have developed a progressive curriculum which builds on prior learning from previous years and encourages them to keep learning and improving.

Implementation

Literacy in Bishop’s Hull School take on a range of different formats from phonics, spelling, whole class reading, group reading and writing based lessons to cross-curricular writing in topic lessons. We try to offer a variety of opportunities to access different texts from fiction to non-fiction and through real life experiences, high-quality texts, films and cross-curricular linked topics.

In EYFS, they begin the early start of reading and spelling through our phonics programme Little Wandle where they learn the beginnings of phonics to help them read but also to open up their opportunities to write and express their own ideas. This scheme continues to support children through Key Stage 1 and into the early stages of Key Stage 2. The children in the early years read staged books in small groups which allows them to build up their skills in decoding, fluency and comprehension. Each group reads three times a week in their group with an adult to support them.

As the children move into Key Stage 2 most will continue with the Little Wandle scheme by moving onto the fluency programme where they are again supported in the development of their decoding, fluency and comprehension through longer books. When children have progressed through this programme they are still encouraged to read regularly through whole class comprehension sessions and with their own individual levelled reading book.  

We want to develop a natural love of reading for the children at Bishop’s Hull School and we explore different authors and genres through daily story time in every class. We also have a rich library with books covering a wide range of topics that allows children to access books that interest them personally. Each class is encouraged to visit regularly and select their own book to share at home.

In writing, we plan through a series of lessons for each half term working on fiction, non-fiction and poetry and we provide the children opportunities to write to entertain, to inform, to persuade and to discuss. Every new module begins with the children immersing themselves in the text by looking at the vocabulary and grammar suited to that genre. They then move on to innovate lessons where a teacher guides them through changing an aspect of the text and models carefully how they would write their text to encourage the pupils to use the new techniques in their own writing. Finally, we encourage the children to invent their own text based on the same genre and style of writing.

We encourage children to write across the curriculum and through different topic areas and teachers provide opportunities for the children to write in lessons such as history, geography and science.

Impact

We hope that as children progress through their school years here at Bishop’s Hull Primary School they become more confident and able readers and writers. We aim to produce children who

·       Develop a love of reading and encourage all children to read books that interest them.

·       Improve foundational literacy skills, enabling students to decode, understand, and express ideas confidently across all subjects.

·       Build strong communication abilities, helping children articulate thoughts clearly in both spoken and written forms.

·       Foster creativity and imagination, giving pupils opportunities to create original stories, explore perspectives, and develop a personal voice.

·       Boost confidence and independence, to encourage children to access different texts that may interest them and to be able to read and write with a growing level of independence.