English

Our English Curriculum is designed around the belief that all children should leave school with a love of reading and writing and this is central to our planning and delivery of lessons.

We follow the National Curriculum for Writing, Reading, Spoken Language and grammar, vocabulary, spelling and punctuation.

Our English topics are based around an exciting stimulus to get the children engaged from the outset. It might be a cry of help from a spy, signs of a giant Gruffalo roaming round the grounds or even a trail of mysterious tiny footprints trailing through the classroom!

KS2 Spelling

We aim for all pupils to become fluent and effective writers. We use the National Curriculum as a basis for teaching GPS by introducing patterns, conventions and continually practising those already introduced. As of September 2023 Years 3-6 are using Pathways to Spell with an aim to develop a school of confident spellers.

Pathways to Spell is an innovative and engaging programme aimed to fascinate pupils about words. It is a research-based series of lessons following a Review, Explain, Practise, Apply and Reflect model. Through this programme, we aim to develop a school of confident spellers who are able to use a series of strategies in lessons and in their independent writing. The Pathways to Spell programme reviews previously taught objectives as well as covers the whole curriculum spelling curriculum in Year 3-6, this ensure gaps in learning are constantly revisited. Pathways to Spell links directly with our writing and reading programmes, leading to cohesion between these areas of learning.

Key elements of Pathways to Spell:

Covers the whole national curriculum.

Pedagogically sound and evidence-based.

Multi-sensory approach.

Builds phonemic, orthographic and etymological knowledge.

Develops a range of independent spelling strategies to apply beyond spelling lessons.

Regular opportunities to edit and improve work are encouraged. The children are expected to proofread their work to improve spelling, punctuation and grammar. They add, omit and change words to improve the content.

ADD PIC

The following principles guide the Pathways to Spell approach to teaching spelling:

We are determined that children become excited and fascinated by words through investigation of patterns and links between words.

Spoken language underpins all the lessons – talk, exploration, play, hypothesising and experimenting is the foundation of the programme.

Collaborative learning is valued and encouraged.

As children learn to spell in different ways, the programme ensures that pupils have the opportunity to learn through a repertoire of multi-sensory approaches.

Repetition of rules and patterns year on year is key to developing spelling knowledge in the long-term memory, with key elements reviewed each week.

Lessons include support and challenge for the range of learners in every class.

Developing a spelling environment in the classroom supports learners and raises the profile of spelling when pupils are writing.

Application of knowledge beyond the spelling lesson is a vital component that needs to be embedded across school.

Y3 Overview Pathways to Spelling

Y4 Overview Pathways to Spelling

Y5 Overview Pathways to Spelling

Y6 Overview Pathways to Spelling

Year 2 Spelling

We aim for children to leave Key Stage 1 with the skills needed to be confident spellers. In Year 2 we use Little Wandle Spelling which is a carefully designed spelling programme that reviews previously taught phonics and covers all of the Year 2 National Curriculum spelling content.

Little Wandle spelling is designed as a seamless link from the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds programme used in Pre-School - Year 1. It is designed to build on previously taught content, giving children the skills, they need to enter into Key Stage 2 as competent spellers.

It includes:

Phase 5 review - Five weeks of reviewing and securing previously taught content from Year 1.

Bridge to spelling - Five weeks of teaching the foundation skills needed for spelling in Year 2.

Spelling - A twenty-week programme to create confident spellers and complete all coverage of the Year 2 National Curriculum requirements.

All Year 2 content: