Our curriculum is aligned with the National Curriculum for English 2014 and is designed to develop children’s love of reading, writing, discussion and performance. Our aim is for Rosecliffe Spencer Academy to be a reading school full of avid and enthusiastic readers who care about books and believe that books can be a gateway to knowledge. Our English curriculum aims to help our children learn to:
- 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
- appreciate a range of diverse characters in books and understand the importance of representation
- 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 explain clearly their understanding and ideas
- be competent in the arts of speaking and listening, making formal presentations, demonstrating to others and participating in debate.
We provide children with a literacy-rich environment, high quality texts and inspiring learning opportunities such as author visits, exciting whole school writing events, creating books collaboratively to share with other classes and much more. We have also introduced whole school reading time every day giving children the opportunity to sit and enjoy listening to a story together.
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Steps to Read
Steps to Read is whole class shared reading which provides a clear teaching sequence to reading sessions that explicitly teach reading skills and strategies in a cumulative way through evidence-based approaches. Steps to Read:
- Is sequenced, coherent and progressive
- Uses language-rich texts for vocabulary teaching
- Includes all elements of comprehension, taught sequentially across an academic year
- Has a clear focus on the skills and strategies needed to be a proficient and confident reader
- Uses engaging texts to promote a life-long love of reading
- Includes poetry, non-fiction and fiction that enhances knowledge learning across the curriculum
Reading Implementation & Progression Overviews
Reading for Pleasure
Once a day every class will come together to share a story. This is when the staff read to the children modelling the excitement and expression that story telling brings. We encourage our children to visit the class reading area and the school library and share recommendations to others.
Reading Plus
The children in KS2 are given the opportunity twice a week to access their own Reading Plus Account. The Reading Plus adaptive assessment, InSight, is a valid and reliable assessment that was created under the direction and guidance of leading reading and assessment researchers. InSight goes beyond typical measures of comprehension and vocabulary by also measuring comprehension-based silent reading rate and motivation. The rich data not only gives teachers a deep understanding of their students’ needs, but also empowers students to follow their own personalized paths to reading proficiency.
Cross Curricular
Reading and writing is taught across the curriculum ensuring that skills taught in English are applied in all lessons. Every half term, each class has a Linked Text box of carefully selected fiction, non-fiction and poetry to supplement their English and Curriculum Reading. Curriculum lessons will provide the opportunity to use taught writing genres and skills in a range of different subjects, settings and purposes.
Whole school events
We celebrate National Poetry Day and World Book Day. We also plan whole school reading events where the school share the same picture book for their English lessons and then come together to share the journey of the learning throughout school.
Read to Write
From FS2 to Year 6 we follow Read to Write which empowers teachers to provide high-quality teaching of writing through children’s high-quality literature (Vehicle Texts). The units of work centre on engaging, vocabulary-rich texts, with a wealth of writing opportunities. Several of these carefully selected Vehicle Texts have strong thematic links to the Science, History and Geography curriculum. Each sequence includes:
- Clear Sequential Episodes of Learning
- Example Texts (greater depth WAGOLL)
- Learning Objectives that link to the teaching sequence (Immerse, Analyse, Plan Write)
- Vocabulary Learning
- Contextualised Spelling, Grammar & Punctuation
- Writer’s Knowledge Linked to National Standards
- Sentence Accuracy Work Linked to National Standards
- Reflecting on Unit Outcomes: Planning for Next Steps