Intent

At Green Park School we believe that a quality English curriculum should develop children’s love of reading, writing and discussion. One of our priorities is helping children read and develop the habit of reading widely and often, for both pleasure and information as well as embedding their all-important comprehension skills. We recognise the importance of nurturing a culture where children take pride in their writing, can write clearly and accurately and adapt their language and style for a range of contexts. We want to inspire children to be confident in the art of oracy and the use of discussion to communicate and further their learning. We want our children to have a positive attitude towards communication and to be able to independently express their emotions and their ideas.
We believe that children need to develop a secure knowledge-base in English, which follows a clear pathway of progression as they advance through the primary curriculum. We believe that a secure basis in English skills is crucial to a high quality education and will give our children the tools they need to participate fully as a member of society.

Implementation

Please see each separate page for information on how we implement each aspect of our English curriculum.

These are:

• Reading – including phonics, early reading, later reading and reading at home
• Writing – including spelling and handwriting
• Oracy

Each page includes our intent, implementation and impact for each strand of the English curriculum.

Impact

The impact of our English curriculum is measured through the monitoring cycle in school:

• Lesson observations, book monitoring and learning walks
• Skills progressing (grammar and punctuation) throughout the school is evident in children’s books.
• Gathering pupil voice – to check understanding of key skills and knowledge, progression, confidence in discussing in their progress in English. 
• Moderating pupils work in school and in cluster meetings with other schools to ensure accurate assessments are made
• Children’s progress in phonics is continually reviewed through periodic phonic assessments and evidence from their reading and writing. Through these, teachers identify the graphemes that need to be addressed which then informs groupings. 
• In June, the national Phonics Screening Check is undertaken to confirm that the children have learned to decode to an age appropriate standard and determines what level of provision they will require the following year.
• Termly assessments in Key Stage One and Two are used to track progress and Attainment in Reading and SPAG skills and identify next steps for learning. 
• Key Stage One and Key Stage Two English SATS show children’s progress from starting points.