English is a vital subject in our curriculum because the ability to communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing, and to comprehend the spoken and written word, lies at the heart of success, not only in all areas of the school curriculum, but in the world of work and everyday life.
Our aims in teaching English are that all children will:
develop the necessary skills to use the English language confidently, appropriately and accurately, to the best of their ability and in order to enjoy life in all its fullness;
be able to speak clearly, fluently and incisively, using kind words when interacting with others and their ideas.;
be able to listen to the spoken word attentively with understanding, pleasure and empathy.
be able to read a range of materials fluently and with understanding, for enjoyment and for information, using literature as a source for widening boundaries and learning about life in all its fullness;
be able to write effectively for a range of audiences and purposes using spelling, punctuation and syntax accurately and confidently.
Speaking and Listening
We believe that progress in all areas of the curriculum is accelerated when children learn with and from each other. Opportunities to develop as speakers and listeners abound in the teaching of all subjects and in all aspects of school life. Examples of opportunities to develop these skills range from daily worship, where children listen to clergy, guest speakers and teachers in a relatively formal setting, to lunch times, where children are encouraged to enjoy conversation whilst dining with friends from across their year group.
Active-participative approaches are taken to teaching, so that pupils explore ideas in class discussions or in small groups, in order to consolidate knowledge and understanding. We acknowledge that the opportunity to speak about a subject assists a pupil in their writing about that subject.
Opportunities for drama and public speaking arise both within and outside of the classroom, and these include a sharing of class worship before the entire school and parents, and annual plays for Early Years and Key Stage 1, and Year 6. All the children have the opportunity to take part in church services at different times of the year poems, God’s word and prayers. The whole school has the opportunity to take part in our summer term poetry recital, with the finalists performing to the school and parents and judged by external adjudicators.
An abundance of age-appropriate books in all classrooms help engender a love of reading in pupils at Lawford. Different classes have different ways of promoting a love of reading such as ‘lucky listeners’ and ‘Star books’. In Foundation Stage, Key Stage one and Lower Key Stage 2, the children's reading books are matched to their reading ability using the 'Bug Club' reading books. In Key Stage 2, the books in the class book corners are colour banded to age appropriate reading texts. All children have a banded book as their reading book to take home on a daily basis and have a reading diary to record their reading at home and school into.
The teaching of reading skills is done as a whole class and the children take the time to explore the key vocabulary to ensure that all children are able to comprehend a text at the upper end of their ability to read independently.
Rigorous phonics teaching in Reception and Key Stage 1 underpins our approach to teaching children to decode text. This is supplemented with teaching in all year groups that promotes pupils’ abilities to comprehend, summarise and analyse texts.
Active-participative, creative teaching inspires pupils to write, and progress is accelerated through clear, measurable targets, specific to each child. Threaded through the teaching are a range of high impact strategies that include demonstration, modelling, explanation, questioning and discussion. The school advocates some of the approaches promoted by Pie Corbett in his Talk for Writing approach particularly building the story together and rehearsing it prior to innovating.
Successful spelling is a key component of effective writing. From years 2-6, the ‘No Nonsense’ spelling scheme supports children in becoming independent spellers and builds upon the phonics teaching delivered in Reception and Year 1 and 2 using the Bug Club scheme. Weekly spelling activities are heavily supplemented with teaching that enables pupils to investigate and explore spelling patterns and rules. We The Furthermore, we believe that attainment in spelling in the early stages can be accelerated when joined handwriting is taught simultaneously with the teaching of digraphs and trigraphs; we begin to teach children cursive handwriting from the end of Reception. The school uses ‘Letterjoin’ resources.