English at Old Hall

Old Hall School aims for our children to become skilled and confident SPEAKERS, READERS and WRITERS!

We work hard to welcome our children to LOVE all aspects of the English Curriculum.

We want their aspirations to know no bounds as they become the authors, journalists & entrepreneurs of the future; but also to understand that their skills in English will enable them success in whichever path they choose.

We think that English is essential for the educational and social progress of all of our pupils, as it allows them to make sense of the ever changing world around them.

At Old Hall, we value reading & writing as essential skills, therefore, priority is given to the teaching of these subjects and every opportunity is sought to further consolidate these though our wider curriculum contexts.

We are dedicated to all of our pupils to become confident, lifelong readers and writers.

In Reception and Year 1, reading, grammar and spelling is taught primarily through our RWI (Read, Write Inc) phonics programme. Pupils read decodable books matched to their phonic knowledge. Pupils take home decodable books and a free choice book (fiction, non-fiction and poetry) to share with their parents. Teaching staff and our wonderful reading volunteers hear children read daily in RWI and through individual reading checks.

In Year 2, children’s reading is assessed and pupils read and take home decodable books where needed but make the transition to age related texts that are not fully decodable when ready. Children in KS2 who do not have secure phonics knowledge will continue to access and take home RWI books until they’re full secure.

Pupils in KS2 read books within their age-related stage and progress through the stages as they make their way through KS2. This is closely monitored by class teachers. Each term, the children sit the BURT reading test and complete summative reading assessments which provide key information about all aspects of reading. Staff hear pupils read regularly to analyse and assess their reading skills progress, this takes place daily during guided reading lessons and through the programme of 1:1 reading support.

Reading for pleasure and developing a reading culture is a priority across school. All classes have timetabled story-time daily during which teaching staff read quality texts aloud. All year groups have access to a variety of texts to ensure all children experience a comprehensive range of literature including, classic, multi-cultural and new title texts. A love for reading is further enhanced through stories in assemblies, through celebrations of cultural events (World Book Day) and through our annual author visits.

In Years Ks2, discreet comprehension lessons are taught weekly, focussing on National Curriculum domains.

In Years 1-6, our writing lessons now follow the Grammarsaurus writing scheme for writing which has enables our children to learn to write a range of genres through planned units which include modelled, shared and guided writing. The teaching and learning of grammar, punctuation and spelling (GPS) is linked to our units of writing through our bespoke curriculum which has been designed by us to maximise learning of the local area. For example, In Y6 we learn and write about crime and punishment which links to Sir Robert Peel.  The English curriculum has been carefully planned from a core text stimulus and explicit links between English, History, Geography and Science units of work feature in every year group as exemplified in the documents below.  Our Reception pupils experience an objective-led curriculum with daily literacy and phonics lessons. Literacy lessons are linked to core texts, carefully chosen for the age and stage of the children and the topics and interests reflected in the cohort.

Within our English curriculum there are many links. Texts have been carefully selected for each year group and common threads linked to particular authors, fairy tales written by different authors and texts which contain common themes have been built into our Old Hall English curriculum.  Some examples of these common threads can be seen below.