English

Curriculum Statement

Intent

At Kanes Hill Primary School, our English curriculum ensures that every child develops the knowledge, skills and confidence to thrive as a reader, writer and communicator. The impact of our provision is seen not only in outcomes, but in pupils’ attitudes, independence and pride in their learning.

Reading: Creating Lifelong Readers

Reading is the foundation of all learning at Kanes Hill. Through a carefully structured approach that prioritises fluency, comprehension and enrichment, our children develop into confident, capable readers.

As a result of our provision, pupils:

• Read fluently, accurately and with expression
• Demonstrate secure comprehension skills across a wide range of texts
• Engage with high-quality literature across all areas of the curriculum
• Develop informed preferences and articulate opinions about what they read
• Choose to read for pleasure and can discuss authors, genres and themes confidently

By the time they leave us, our pupils are avid readers who read widely and independently, equipped to continue their reading journey into secondary education and beyond.

Writing: Confident, Skilled Communicators

Our pupils leave Kanes Hill as thoughtful and adaptable writers. They understand that writing is a process and take pride in crafting and refining their work.

The impact of our writing curriculum is that children:

• Write clearly, accurately and coherently for a range of purposes and audiences
• Adapt language and tone appropriately across different contexts
• Apply spelling patterns and rules with increasing independence
• Use a rich and varied vocabulary with grammatical accuracy
• Develop a fluent, joined handwriting style by the end of Key Stage 2
• Proofread, edit and refine their work independently

We foster a culture where pupils see themselves as authors. They understand that improvement comes through reflection, resilience and revision.

Speaking and Vocabulary: Articulate and Expressive Learners

Language development underpins all achievement. Our pupils develop a broad and ambitious vocabulary, enabling them to:

• Decipher and understand unfamiliar words
• Use new vocabulary accurately in both informal and formal contexts
• Participate confidently in discussion, debate and collaborative learning

This strong foundation empowers children to communicate effectively and contribute meaningfully to society.

English Across the Curriculum

English skills are not confined to English lessons. Pupils consistently apply their reading, writing and oracy skills across all subjects, strengthening understanding and deepening knowledge throughout the wider curriculum.

We hold uncompromising expectations for every child. We do not limit potential, and we reject preconceptions about what pupils can achieve. All children are supported and challenged to make strong progress from their individual starting points.

Implementation

Classroom organisation

We teach Reading and writing as separate whole class lessons, so that all children have access to the age-related skills and knowledge contained in the National Curriculum. Within lessons, teachers and teaching assistants target support for Lower attainers to enable them to achieve at an age-related level wherever possible. This may involve a greater level of scaffolding and access to additional support materials such as Word Banks or a greater level of modelling. Higher attainers are given opportunities to extend their writing in a variety of ways, including through showing greater control in their writing, a deeper understanding of the impact that their writing has on the reader and by using a higher level of vocabulary and grammar features.

English Lesson Sequence

Each year group have a yearly overview of the writing genres, both narrative and non-fiction, that they will teach. These have been planned to ensure correct coverage of the key genres (to inform, entertain, persuade, discuss) as well as build on skills from year to year. Every unit uses a carefully chosen, quality text as a starting point to immerse and develop the children’s speaking and listening, reading and writing skills. A WAGOLL (What A Good One Looks Like) is created based on the text and supports pupils to identify and imitate the identified features in their own writing. Non-fiction units are also taught through a quality WAGOLL that may be based on a text or may be related to another curriculum area. In many cases links will be made by the teacher to the topic being studied to give purpose to their final written outcomes.

Grammar and Punctuation

Within this teaching sequence children are taught grammar and punctuation. Teachers link the skills being taught to each genre making it more connected with the intended writing outcome. Teachers focus on particular grammar and punctuation skills as standalone lessons, especially when misconceptions have been identified, to embed and develop their understanding.

Marking and Feedback

All marking and feedback is given in line with our marking and feedback policy. As a school we know the most impact is had when feedback is completed alongside the child either verbally or written.

Summative Assessment

Teachers will use their professional judgement to determine whether a child is working within age related expectations, above or below in both reading and writing lessons. Teachers will base their judgements on the quality of the writing that pupils produce during each unit, and determine to what extent pupils have met the agreed success criteria for that genre of writing. The level of independence will be taken into account. Teachers administer termly reading tests to support their own judgements.

Impact

• Children will achieve age related expectations in all areas of English by the end of their cohort year.
• The % of pupils working at ARE within each year group will be at least in line with national averages.
• The % of pupils working at Greater Depth within each year group will be at least in line with national averages.
• There will be no significant gaps in the progress of different groups of pupils (e.g. disadvantaged vs non-disadvantaged)
• Pupils of all abilities will be able to succeed in all English lessons because work will be appropriately scaffolded
• Children will develop good lifelong reading habits e.g. reading for pleasure and reading for information
• Children will read audibly, accurately and coherently, adapting their voice to suit a range of purpose, audience or text type.
• Children will be able to explain and discuss what they have read having developed their inference and deduction skills.
• Children will incorporate a wide range of vocabulary in their speech and also in their writing.
• Pupils will enjoy writing across a range of genres
• Pupils will have a good knowledge of how to adapt their writing based on the context and audience
• Children will leave with a confident handwriting style and pace.
• Pupils will leave primary school being able to effectively apply spelling rules and patterns they have been taught
• Parents and carers will have a good understanding of how they can support spelling, grammar and composition and home, and contribute regularly to homework

Text Progression

english text progression 2021 2022.pdf

Spelling

“Attention to spelling lists can be a starting point, but it will likely prove insufficient. With targeted teaching and structured practice, we can help pupils to better self-regulate their spelling when writing. For example, we can encourage the development of pupils’ own personal spelling inventory…and align spelling practice with explicit vocabulary instruction.

Spelling doesn’t prove so simple for many pupils, but teaching prominent spelling patterns, explicitly and consistently, will make a helpful difference.”

Alex Quigley (2022)

Our Spelling Approach

Writing is an integral part of our daily lives and it is essential that all children have the necessary spelling knowledge. As a school, we recognise the complexity of spelling and therefore ensure spelling patterns are taught through structured practice.

 Emile is an award-winning educational platform designed to make learning spelling enjoyable and effective. It aligns with the National Curriculum and adapts to each child’s ability, helping to reinforce classroom learning in a playful, meaningful way.

Why Emile?

Curriculum-linked spelling lists

Personalised learning paths for every child

Fun, gamified approach to learning

Progress tracking for teachers and parents

Encourages independent and consistent practice

Our children will have the necessary skills and spelling knowledge to tackle society’s many writing challenges. From composing an email to applying for a job, our spelling programme will equip children with the skills they need to be successful in the future.

A note for Parents

We encourage parents to support their child’s learning by:

• Setting aside a few minutes each day to log in and practise.

• Celebrating achievements and milestones together.

• Using the Emile app at home to make spelling fun and routine. 

Handwriting

At Kanes hill Primary School, we very much value the importance of presentation, handwriting and children taking a pride in their work.

We very much believe that handwriting is something that should be taught and therefore we allocate time to this daily. To teach handwriting, we use Letter-Join whole school handwriting scheme.

https://www.letterjoin.co.uk/

Handwriting has been linked to the development of literacy skills, such as spelling and sight word reading. 

Academic Year 2022/2023

• Letter-Join Print download_for_offline
  download_for_offlineLetter-Join Print
• Letter-Join Lead out download_for_offline
  download_for_offlineLetter-Join Lead out
• Letter-Join Cursive download_for_offline
  download_for_offlineLetter-Join Cursive

Southampton Reading Charter