Intent
The teaching and learning of English, as a core subject, underpins everything we do. We recognise the importance of nurturing a culture that fosters our young people’s love of reading, writing, discussion and debate. We believe that a secure basis in literacy skills is crucial to a high quality education and will give our children the tools they need to participate fully as members of society. By the end of KS2, all of our pupils will read fluently and widely both for pleasure and information. They will acquire an understanding of grammar and knowledge of linguistic conventions for reading, writing and spoken language; have an appreciation of our rich and varied literary heritage; write clearly, accurately and coherently, adapting their language for a range of contexts, purposes and audiences; be able to clearly elaborate and explain their ideas and become competent in the arts of speaking and listening. The English curriculum forms a backbone to our values-driven ethos as it prepares children to thoughtfully and creatively engage with society. We strive to go beyond what is examinable by making clear how language and literature have been and can be instrumental in changing the world we live in.
Implementation
We have a rigorous English curriculum and framework that offers an integrated, topic-led provision providing meaningful opportunities for authentic writing across the curriculum, supported by strong literature and non-fiction texts. We use a wide variety of quality texts and resources to motivate and inspire an appreciation of the written word. Our writing process, which is structured to guide the children through stages of imitation, innovation and invention, demands pupils think inquiringly and critically when exploring writers’ craft, centring audience and purpose. The ability to articulate ideas with awareness and accuracy, and to listen to, evaluate and respond to the opinions of others is nurtured through our talk-based practice and strong focus on speaking and listening. The importance of context for establishing clear and concise cross-curricular links between English and the foundation subjects is at the forefront of our teaching to ensure an exposure to a treasure chest of related texts. As a ‘Thinking School’, the use of ‘Thinking Maps’ to plan/organise our thoughts and ideas are instrumental in giving our children the tools to have agency over their writing. We challenge students to think, act and speak like those working in the field would: to read like writers; to write like readers and to speak like orators. As such, we invest fully in championing spoken language skills by offering extra-curricular clubs in creative writing, performance poetry and debating.
Impact
By the end of KS2, all children will have benefitted from a knowledge-based, evidence-informed and skill-driven curriculum and the impact on our children is clear: progress, sustained learning and transferable skills. By the time our children leave RHS, they are challenging themselves to manipulate the writer’s craft with the use of tone pertained to a purpose and are able to critically pick apart and comprehend bias. Skills taught within our English curriculum are transferred into other subjects; this shows consolidation of skills and a deeper understanding of how and when to use specific linguistic conventions. A greater understanding of self is celebrated and evident in pupils’ confidence, enjoyment and mastery of language, extended through public speaking, performance and debate. Student voice across the school will always remain one of our biggest indicators as to whether our values-driven vision to support our pupil’s emotional intelligence is coordinating with our English Curriculum. Our Subject-Leader Champions are ambitious and love to support us in coordinating whole-school events such as World Book Days, Extreme Reading photo competitions, uncovering Masked Readers and reciting Poetry in the Playground. The enthusiasm in school surrounding internal and external writing competitions is infectious, with the incredible efforts of this showcased around the school. We hope, as children move on from RHS to further education and learning, that their creativity, high aspirations and passion for English travel with them and continue to grow and develop as they do.
