English Curriculum Vision
An Evendons reader, writer and performer will have a rich and varied literary experience and an inspired appreciation of a range of cultures. They will become authors through their exposure to high quality texts and ability to write and speak clearly, adapt their language and style for a range of contexts and purposes. They will communicate their ideas, views and feelings with confidence. An Evendons reader will read for pleasure and become knowledgeable authors.
English Intent
At Evendons our English curriculum is creative and purposeful. Children are authors and inspiration is taken from real experiences in the form of visits, visitors, quality books, websites and film. We endeavour to give our children many experiences and encourage them to reflect upon these in writing.
We know that our children write best when they value and understand the purpose of the writing they are doing. Children become fluent and effective authors by developing their understanding of author style, skill and developing effective editing skills. Children write frequently and for a range of purposes, styles, forms and audiences. Class teachers use rich, planned and varied models. We celebrate their writing through publishing in the newsletter, the Wokingham Paper, sharing their writing on social media or on display, presenting or reading to audiences (classes or adults) or entering into competitions internally or externally.
At Evendons fluency is prioritised from the earliest stages of reading with a clear focus on the teaching and learning of phonics in EYFS and KS1 following the Little Wandles scheme. We ensure phonics is embedded and teaching is rigorous and assessed frequently. A love of reading and reading for pleasure is at the core of our English curriculum. English lessons integrate all the English objectives and good quality texts are used to inspire and promote a culture of love for books. All year groups visit the library once a week to read and take home books as well as spend some time reading for pleasure. Each classroom has their own ‘mini-library’ which is regularly updated by the class teacher, the children and our librarians ensure our children are regularly exposed to a variety of books to enjoy throughout the day.
Every year group will cover a range of reading and writing genres and purposes. The long term plan is designed to ensure whole school coverage of both fiction and nonfiction text types;
Reading, creative writing, grammar and punctuation are interwoven throughout our English curriculum to provide meaning and context to the children’s learning. Shared reading and writing are used regularly as a strategy to teach and model all aspects of reading and writing and children are encouraged to work collaboratively. Technology is used to inspire, enhance and support the learning of English throughout the school.
Evendons has a progressive whole school approach to oracy which enables children to use talk effectively across the curriculum. There is an expectation that children will understand and communicate with confidence and willingness to take risks. They will give detailed answers and gradually develop higher – quality talk increasing their independence.
Every year group will cover a range of reading and writing genres and purposes. The long term plan is designed to support every child to be a confident reader and writer. We ensure whole school coverage of both fiction and nonfiction text types;
Fiction
A variety of fiction texts are interwoven throughout our cross curricular teaching and children are encouraged to read widely and experience the styles and skills of a range of authors. We examine the writing skills and techniques of different authors and use these skills to inspire our own writing. The children write for a range of purposes and by the end of KS2 can select their own genre to suit the purpose.
Non fiction
Recounts and report writing link closely with the school’s vision that children will write from experience and for a purpose. Explanations and informative texts feature regularly in the plan as a link to our STEM curriculum. Communication is an important part of our English curriculum as we teach children the skills of letter writing and emailing to thank visitors, inform people or express viewpoints. Other non fiction writing purposes reflect the audience and topic.
Poetry
Three aspects of poetry are addressed in each year group: vocabulary building, structure (Haiku etc.) and poetry appreciation, where children are given opportunities to read and respond to different poetry. Opportunities for performance and recital occur regularly throughout the year.
Debate
Each year, every child will take part in a debate where they consider a statement linked to a topic and discuss whether they agree or disagree with the statement, providing reasons for their argument.
English Impact
Pupil Voice
“In class, there is lots to help me when I’m stuck, I can talk to my partner, use the working walls, use the vocabulary mats and even ask my teacher for help (Year 2). We read books that I would’ve never thought about reading (Year 5). Reading gives me lots of exciting facts and information… reading helps me understand things, e.g. the moon phases (Year 5). The teachers make sure there is something for everyone (Year 3)! Writing helps me everyday to prove that I’m an author (Year 6). I want to be a vet and my teacher always chooses non-fiction books I like- it’s great if they’re about animals (Year 5). Writing is effective, it allows me to be an author. I think it’s good that throughout my writing journey, I’ve become a good writer; I’m confident enough to write in nearly every genre (especially horror) and I pretty much just love writing (Year 6).
- Year 6 Librarians – responsibility for the care and maintenance of the library.
- English Champions – promoting their love of English across the school.
- Displaying high quality work across the school
- Children take part in internal and external writing competitions
- An Evendons debating club that competes externally.
- World Book Day events – Poetry and rhyming focus, teacher sharing love of reading, Wokingham librarian visit
- Children taking part in school productions and reading their writing/scripts aloud
- Presenting their work to their parents
- Reading buddies across the school
- Evidence of love of reading from children recommending books and having favourite authors
- Visiting schools have commented on our children’s quality of writing particularly their ability to capture author voice or character voice.
By Katrina Salmon and Emma Barley (Conrad Louth), Evendons English Leads