English Curriculum

Speaking and Listening

This is an integral part of all areas of the curriculum. There are four main aspects of speaking and listening:

• Speaking, being able to speak clearly and to develop and sustain ideas in talk;
• Listening, developing active listening strategies and critical skills of analysis;
• Group discussion and interaction, taking different roles in groups, making a range of contributions and working collaboratively;
• Drama and improvising and working in role, scripting and performing and responding to performances.

Reading

At Patterdale, we recognise that being able to read is a vital life skill and has far-reaching implications for lifelong goals, confidence and wellbeing. We promote a love of reading in all classrooms and want to ignite a passion for reading in all children as soon as they start school.

High quality, consistent phonics teaching and access to phonetically decodable books provides all children with the chance to develop the starting point they need as they begin their journey in education. Across the school, we teach a range of reading skills which will allow children to comprehend a variety of texts.

The range of authors and text types we look at provide children with a balanced reading diet and encourage children to explore different authors and genres. Opportunities to share reading with others is built into our school life.

In order to become successful readers children need to use a range of strategies in different ways throughout the curriculum. Some of the strategies are:

• Learning to discriminate between separate sounds in words (phonics) – this is broadly based on the Little Wandle phonics scheme, using a variety of reading books from a variety of schemes. 
• Learning the letters and letter combinations most commonly used to spell these sounds;
• To read words by sounding out and blending their separate parts;
• To use the context and grammar to suggest an appropriate word.

There will be a balanced programme of, independent, shared and guided reading using interesting and challenging texts. We promote reading for enjoyment both at home and at school.

The children at Patterdale will be able to:

•  read  texts fluently and apply the taught skills independently.
•  express a love of reading and understand why they read.
•  be motivated to read a range of texts and will summarise; ask questions and make predictions about what they are reading.
•  participate enthusiastically in discussions about what they have read and are able to express themselves.
•  be inspired and influenced by a diverse range of quality texts and can draw upon these when choosing or recommending a book.

Writing (including spelling and handwriting)

At Patterdale, we provide children with opportunities to enjoy a range of texts which will support their writing. We recognise the importance of the link between reading and writing and explore this with children. We equip them with the tools to use a range of skills in their writing and consider carefully the effect on the audience they are writing for. We also provide opportunities for planning and drafting as well as editing and polishing work.  We also feel it is important for our children to share their work. 

We immerse our children in a language rich, creative English curriculum which develops a love of reading, creative writing and purposeful speaking and listening.  Reading across the curriculum is a way in which we help children to build on their fluency and their comprehension, which also supports their writing. 

Children are encouraged to scan their writing for errors and are taught to edit.  We understand that letting children learn from their mistakes helps build resilience and is essential in raising confident, capable, happy, and successful people as well as writers.

 They are taught sentence structure and punctuation, grammar and word work, handwriting and how to construct longer pieces of writing.  An integral part of writing is spelling; this is taught separately and specifically as well as within writing sessions.

At Patterdale the children will:

•  apply the taught skills across a range of genres independently.
•  express and articulate themselves in their writing
•  have the passion and enthusiasm for writing which is evident in their work, including opportunities where they regularly apply their skills creatively and expressively.
• demonstrate a willingness to, and an awareness of how to, improve their writing.
• be motivated to write for a range of purposes and be equipped with the necessary skills to do so effectively.
•  be inspired and influenced by a diverse range of quality texts and authors, and can draw upon these to develop their own writing.

To view the current term’s curriculum or to see relevant web resources please visit the curriculum page on this website.