Our English Vision
ENGLISH: INTENT – IMPLEMENTATION – IMPACT
The National Curriculum for English aims to ensure that all pupils:
• Read easily, fluently and with good understanding
• Develop the habit of reading widely and often, for both pleasure and information
• Acquire a wide vocabulary, an understanding of grammar and knowledge of linguistic conventions for reading, writing and spoken language
• Appreciate our rich and varied literary heritage
• Write clearly, accurately, and coherently, adapting their language and style in and for a range of contexts, purposes, and audiences
• Use discussion in order to learn; they should be able to elaborate and clearly explain their understanding and ideas
• Are competent in the arts of speaking and listening, making formal presentations, demonstrating to others, and participating in debate
INTENT
At Mundy Church of England Junior School our aim is to provide an inspirational and engaging English curriculum for our children that allows them to develop into confident writers, readers, and communicators. Our English curriculum is broad and balanced, underpinned by the English National Curriculum (2013), and tailored to our children’s needs, responsive to the different speeds at which children learn and sensitive to the challenges that all children face on their learning journey. Having a well-planned, carefully structured progression of skills that runs from the beginning of year three to the end of year 6 allows us to have high expectations of all our children.
At the heart of this is the intention that all staff at Mundy Junior School will instil a love of reading, writing and discussion in our children that will have a positive impact on their development during their time here, and a lasting impact on their lives.
We recognise reading as being the key to all learning so, at Mundy Junior School, it is our mission to nurture a love of reading where children become fluent, enthusiastic, independent and, most importantly, lifelong readers. Our belief is that children should be encouraged to develop their own
opinions, which will help develop a love of reading and a thirst to read more. We encourage children to read regularly and widely, for the purpose of both education and enjoyment. We also aim to immerse our children in high-quality, varied stimuli and challenging texts,to develop an adventurous vocabulary and an ability to be confident and reflective writers for a variety of purposes and audiences whilst developing their own individual flair.
Our ultimate aim is for our children to apply all of these English skills to all areas of the curriculum. We have high expectations for ALL learners, regardless of their needs or starting point.
IMPLEMENTATION
Our ‘Creative Curriculum’ is at the heart of Mundy Church of England Junior School’s approach to teaching, to allow the children to learn through an inspiring and fun ‘topic based’ approach to learning. Our aim is to inspire all of our children; offering them activities that are thought-provoking, challenging but attainable, and rewarding; encouraging our children to make powerful and meaningful links with the world in which they live. Our goal is to help all our children experience
‘Awe and Wonder’ in their learning journey through Mundy Junior School.
Sometimes, parts of our English curriculum are taught as separate subjects whilstat other times we adopt a more creative curriculum so more than one subject may be taught within a lesson and a range of skills learned. We adopt a variety of approaches to children’s learning, using class, group, and individual teaching as appropriate. Children are encouraged to “have a growth mindset” and feel comfortable asking for help and discussing any issue, no matter how large or small, with their class teachers and support staff.
We have a ‘two year rolling programme’ in English, which ensures children in mixed age classes are taught everything set out in the National Curriculum.
A wide and varied bank of stimuli are used to inspire children’s writing, including stories,authors, poetry, drama, artwork, and our creative curriculum links. Teachers model the structure and organisation of writing based on each genre they are studying, and shared writing and modelling are used as tools to improve editing skills. Children then progress to plan, write and re-draft a written piece which is fit for purpose and audience. Grammar is taught within these lessons, carefully embedded so that children learn the correct use of grammar while engaged in the specific writing focus. National Curriculum grammar objectives are also taught through discrete grammar, punctuation, and spelling lessons. Spelling rules are taught weekly and are discussed during shared writing. Here at Mundy Junior School, we also utilise a ‘Super Spelling’ scheme in all year groups to deliver additional spelling sessions. Children have individually tailored spellings that they can study at school and at home.
When marking English work, teachers leave next steps in books so that children know exactly what they need to do to make progress. They enjoy responding to these marking prompts in purple pen. Anyone identified as working above or below age-related expectations is given support or challenges to help them take the next step on their learning journey
Key-stage teachers plan together as a team. Teachers plan purposeful cross-curricular reading and writing opportunities; writing is produced as a result of children’s engagement in the stimulus.A big emphasis is put on editing as this promotes opportunities for children to recognise their strengths and weaknesses, thus becoming conscious writers.
At Mundy Junior School, we use a systematic synthetic phonics (SSP) programme, validated by the DfE in 2021, called No Nonsense Phonics. After an initial phonics assessment, No Nonsense Phonics is used as an intervention to ensure that children are supported and become confident phonic decoders which will give them the capability to tackle more adventurous texts as they progress through school. Focused reading objectives are taught through English lessons, and in whole class Guided Reading lessons. Children have the opportunity to study a range of books and genres, including author studies and non-fictional studies, in detail. The books and texts are carefully chosen to link with other areas of the curriculum and to build on prior learning and skills.
Through whole-class discussion and shared reading activities, these guided reading lessons provide a deeper understanding of, what characters are thinking, how they are feeling and why they actthe way they do. Through careful questioning, children learn how stories and non-fiction writing is constructed and in doing so, develop their comprehension skills and their ability to better understand and interpret the books they read.
Our well stocked and led library is at the heart of our school. It provides an excellent facility for children to develop their enjoyment of reading. Staff guide pupils in finding suitable, enjoyable, challenging books. Reading Buddies actively encourage and support reading throughout the whole school. Class Librarians promote reading by supporting the children’s use of our school library, sharing new book arrivals, and working closely with the school librarian. Children can participate in our school reading challenge and experience other reading competitions in order to keep the profile of reading high in our school, and promote a love of reading, for learning and pleasure.
Impact
The impact on our children is clear: progress, sustained learning, and transferrable skills. Impact is measured through monitoring and reflection against subject specific skills, standards
achieved against planned outcomes and assessment criteria. We also measure impact through:
PUPIL VOICE: Through discussions with children and feedback in lessons. Our children talk enthusiastically about reading and writing and understand the importance of these subjects. They enjoy talking about their favourite books, discussing the stories they’re writing, and sharing their achievements with other children and adults. They can also talk about books and authors that they have enjoyed and can make reading recommendations.
‘I always have a story in my mind – at the back of my head ready to write down. Writing lets me express my feelings and explore my creativity’ Year 6 pupil (MJS 2021).
‘I like reading adventure books – I get lost in them’ Year 5 pupil (MJS 2021).
‘You can read to calm yourself down, or to excite yourself – it depends what mood you are in’ Year 4 pupil (MJS 2021).
EVIDENCE IN KNOWLEDGE: Our children are encouraged to assess their own work and evaluate their own understanding and progress, which often feeds their eagerness to reach new targets and enables children to talk freely and enthusiastically about their next steps.
EVIDENCE IN SKILLS: Children are taught reading and writing progressively and at a pace appropriate to each individual child. Teachers subject knowledge ensure that skills taught are matched to English National Curriculum objectives. Children’s books show that they continually adopt new writing skills as they progress through the school while drawing inspiration from creative topics and books they read in class. Children’s writing is assessed at the start of the year and at the end of each genre/topic, children’s reading comprehension skills and EGaPS knowledge is assessed at the end of each term. These formal assessments complement the day-to-day assessment that takes place in classrooms and in books.
EVIDENCE IN READING FOR PLEASURE: At Mundy Junior School we believe that reading is key to all learning, and the impact of our reading curriculum goes beyond the result of formal and statutory assessments. Our children have the opportunity to enter the wide and varied magical worlds that reading opens up to them. As they develop their own interest in books, a deep love of literature across a range of genres, cultures and styles is enhanced, leading to the ‘growth’ of lifelong and enthusiastic readers.
OUTCOMES: At the end of each year we expect the children to have achieved Age Related Expectations (ARE) in reading writing and EGaPS for their year group. Some children will have progressed further and achieved greater depth (GDS). Pupils falling into the lowest 20% category make progress from their starting point and as with all pupils are proud of the progress they have made.