Policy for English

Our Vision: At North Baddesley Infant School we are committed to valuing and nurturing each child as an individual who will achieve their best and develop an enthusiasm for lifelong learning. Our vision is for the children in our school to grow into responsible, caring and fulfilled adults who actively and positively contribute to the society in which they live. We are committed to raising standards, values and self esteem for all those involved with our school through cultivating a secure, yet exciting environment that is positive, supportive, stimulating and enriching.

In this way, we are happy, valued and achieving together.

Our policy for English supports this by:

• Providing a varied and creative approach to the teaching of English and developing a love of the subject.
• Dividing the English curriculum into the main areas of Reading, Phonics, Writing, Spelling, Handwriting and Speaking and Listening. Each area is closely related to the others and should not be considered in isolation.
• Understanding that English underpins all other subjects through cross-curricular topics. This is important because good quality teaching and learning in Literacy is vital for children to access all areas of the curriculum.
• Having high expectations and striving to ensure that all children reach their potential.
• Providing a variety of teaching styles and resources including ICT to suit all our learners’ backgrounds and levels and providing regular input and high level teaching time that maintains strong pace.
• Using summative assessment to level attainment and highlight next steps.
• Using success criteria to help children assess their own learning (formative assessment) Ensuring there are clear outcomes and expectations and the children are helped to understand success criteria and assess their own learning.
• Considering progression and differentiation carefully in order to extend more able pupils and support individual needs.
• Providing and regularly reviewing targets, involving each child in the setting and monitoring of these. This helps children to understand what they are doing and why and what they are aiming for.
• Undertaking regular Head teacher and English Team monitoring of teaching to ensure that the school continues to strive for excellence.
• Providing homework regularly and fully involving parents in their children’s learning.
• Providing curriculum workshops where parents need support or information about the school’s work.
• Promoting continuity and coherence in the teaching of English across the school.
• Stating the school’s approaches to this subject in order to promote corporate understanding of the curriculum within the whole school community.

Procedures:

Reading

1. Guided reading
   • Takes place with one group each day with the teacher, groups should be a maximum of 6 and all children in the group at same level.
   • Teachers use a planning grid to plan each guided reading session.
   • Reading objectives are shared with the children at the start of the session.
   • There should be an emphasis on decoding strategies (particularly phonics) at all reading levels.
   • Children should complete a reading comprehension exercise (preferably using their Reading Journal) as often as appropriate.
   • Teachers ‘warm up’ the text before reading.
   • Teachers use the banded objective statements at each level to support ongoing assessment.
   • Teachers use a grid to record children’s progress through the levels.
   • A reward system supports learning. Children earn stickers for good reading and individual certificates each time they move up a band.
   • Children read at their own pace and the teacher ‘dips in’ working with children individually.
   • TA can take guided reading sessions after initial input from the teacher.
   • A book can be used over more than one session.
2. Library
   • Children use the library for reading for pleasure and research.
   • They have access to a wide variety of books and texts and other printed material in a range of genres including fact, fiction and poetry.
   • Children also have access to the local library and visits from the librarian.
   • All classes are timetabled to use the library and borrow books once per week.
   • Children use Junior Librarian software.
   • Large shelf markers are used when browsing.
   • A progression of Library skills is taught and assessed over the course of the year.
   • The environment is welcoming and comfortable, with high quality, well organised books.
   • Non-fiction is organised using Dewey system; fiction is organised alphabetically by author surname.
   • Stock is regularly reviewed annually.
   • Opportunities are provided to share and talk about books, e.g. reading buddies system.
3. Individual reading
   • Undertaken by TA if required in Golden time, with reading buddies or as necessary by the teacher as an in-depth reading assessment.
   • Children have opportunity to change their individual reading books every day as they require them. Children may take more than one if agreed with teacher.
   • Reading is recorded in the Reading Journal after the book is read. Each child is encouraged to record all reading undertaken. Teachers annotate Reading Journals as necessary.
4. Class book corners and reading environment
   • A range of quality reading material for sharing i.e. picture books and other favourite books, reference books and books at children’s individual levels (banded) is available.
   • Children are able to choose one book each from the library to keep in the class for one term.
   • Topic related stories and information changes regularly as topics change.
   • Role play areas contain books and other texts as appropriate.
   • Reading areas neat, organised and valued.
5. Reading Journals
   • Journals are used to support all reading undertaken at school and at home.
   • Comprehension exercises (prompt cards) are given as appropriate to support guided reading and for homework. These are not necessarily completed as a written exercise by the child.
   • Journals are acknowledged by the teacher weekly to mark homework completed, give rewards and guidance or to make notes to child and parent as appropriate.
   • Rewards are given to support learning, e.g. celebration assembly for good work, good reader stickers.
6. Key words
   • Unknown words are assessed and updated weekly (date and smiley face to show which are completed).
   • The “tricky” (phonically challenging) words only from the keywords list are identified and divided into colour levels. They are printed on strips of card of the corresponding colour and held together with a treasury tag. They are given a set at a time to children to learn. This forms part of their homework.
   • A new set goes home once the child knows 5/6 words from the previous set.
   • Children earn a sticker reward as each new set is given and certificate in celebration assembly when all keywords are learnt.
   • The class record sheet is updated every half term.
   • Classes carry out regular random spot checks of previously learnt words.
   • Once children know most of the keywords from the 14 sets, they move to spelling.
7. Assessments
   • Ongoing formative assessments are kept during guided reading.
   • Formal termly assessments supported by miscue analysis are completed once a term. A cross section of children are miscued for diagnostic purposes and to support monitoring and moderation of levelling.
8. Story time
   • Adults read and tell stories regularly each week for pleasure and enjoyment. These include chapter books in the final term of Year 1 and throughout Year 2.
   • Book week, bedtime story day, author or storyteller visits are timetabled during the year.

Writing

1. Guided writing
   • Objectives and success criteria are shared at the beginning of the session.
   • Takes place with one group daily with the teacher.
   • Termly objectives are mainly taught in the term they are intended for.
   • Planning will include an appropriate range of genres.
   • Work is marked in accordance with the marking policy with specific learning outcomes and children’s individual targets in mind.
2. Shared writing
   • Takes place daily with a group or as whole class work.
   • The teacher models learning objectives and makes success criteria clear.
   • Includes opportunities for talk and for children to rehearse their writing and contribute orally.
3. Topic outcomes/extended writing
   • Writing is for a real purpose and linked to the topic to enthuse children.
   • Each genre covered during the year as appropriate to year group.
   • Is presented and displayed to provide a good model for children and enable them to know what they are working towards.
4. Role Play
   • Every class has a role play corner.
   • Opportunities are given to children to write in their play. This is scaffolded to support and extend writing opportunities.
   • Writing and role play are modelled by adults.
5. Writing tables
   • Variety of writing materials and implements are available.
   • Story frames and writing structures are provided to scaffold learning.
   • Key words are available on the wall and on keyword cards.
   • Phonic friezes are visible and accessible in the classroom.
   • Prompt cards that support pupil targets and success criteria are available for reference e.g. powerful sentences, main features of text types etc.
6. Writing Assessment
   • Formal assessment opportunities related to a variety of topics and genres are planned on a specific proforma 3 times per year.
   • Work is levelled using an annotation sheet for each child.
   • Each child has own individual evidence file with annotated work and a variety of genres.
   • Individual writing assessment sheets are highlighted 1x term using this assessment opportunity as a basis for teacher judgements.
   • These assessments are moderated by the whole staff and senior leadership team every term to ensure consistency.
   • Anonymous samples of work are kept to inform levelling judgements and exemplify typical examples of each sub level.
   • New targets are reviewed and shared with children a minimum of each half term. Targets are continuously monitored and new targets set as needed.

Speaking and Listening

• Children are introduced to some of the main features of spoken standard English and they are taught how speech varies according to circumstance and audience.
• Children are taught to develop clear, audible speech.
• Objectives should be explicitly taught every week as appropriate or as a block.
• S+L activities are ongoing and need to be clearly identified in planning.
• Children are given opportunities to speak to a range of audiences: describing incidents from their own experience, retelling and telling real and imagined stories, reading stories and poems aloud, and giving presentations to explain a process or impart information.
• Children listen to stories and poems, follow teachers’ instructions. They ask relevant questions of adults and peers, and express their opinion of others’ plays and presentations. They are taught how to work in groups, e.g. taking turns to speak, listening to others’ suggestions, allocating tasks and reporting group views to the rest of the class.
• Drama and role play, circle time and Class Assemblies are good opportunities for the children to use the skills they have been taught in S&L.

Basic Skills

Spelling

1. Spellings are given once the children have learned to read most of the tricky key words.
2. Spellings are the same as the tricky words and follow the same progression.
3. Children are taught to follow the L S T C W C (look, say, trace, cover, write, check) procedure for learning spellings.
4. All spellings are written in both joined and printed script.
5. Spellings are assessed once per week.
6. Children earn sticker rewards as each new set is given and certificate in celebration assembly when all spellings are learnt.

Phonics

1. Teachers use Jolly Phonics to teach letter sounds followed by Jolly Grammar.
2. Phonics is taught daily for 10-15mins during whole class sessions.
3. Phonic friezes are visible and accessible in the classroom.
4. A variety of interactive teaching methods and resources are used.
5. “5 Minute Box” is used to support SEN and focus group children 3 times per week.
6. Jolly phonics sheets are sent home in year R as homework.
7. Reading Journals and Jolly Grammar sheets are used for other writing homework.
8. Phonics assessments are carried out half termly and recorded on class phonic assessment sheet to identify any sounds that need reinforcement.

Handwriting

1. Handwriting should be taught at least 3 x per week in ability groups.
2. The school script using lead-out lines but no lead-in lines is to be used. The revised Superphonics resources and patter supports teaching of letter formation.
3. Model correct formation BEFORE children practise so they can see what they need to copy.
4. Write in the books before the children so that they can see a model to follow.
5. Handwriting can be linked to phonics but there should be specific teaching of correct formation with lead-out lines moving onto joins in whole words as soon as this is correct.
6. Main handwriting joins are taught 2x per week so they do not always follow spelling and phonics.
7. Red A5 wide lined books should be used for handwriting.
8. Children should join their letters as soon as the formation of individual letters is correct. Struggling children may find joining helps.

Daily Sentence

1. Daily Sentence practise should be undertaken daily by all classes within the first half hour of the school day.
2. Daily Sentence work should be carried out using the Daily Sentence scheme of work and planning.
3. Teaching in Year 1 and Year 2 should generally follow the following teaching sequence where children are writing a sentence.
4. Write up words or sentence on the board.
5. Explain the challenge.
6. Model examples if necessary.
7. Children compose their sentences on white boards or in busy books.
8. Teacher views examples of children’s work and checks for basic punctuation, sense and quality.
9. The whole class review examples, what works, what doesn’t work and make suggestions for improvements.
10. Children’s work in Year R may not always be recorded but all children are given the opportunity and are encouraged to practise sentences orally.
11. Daily sentence work is supported by appropriate resources of quality, number and size that are accessible to the whole class simultaneously.
12. Good work and effort is rewarded at every session e.g. best busy book.
13. Progress is carefully monitored and sessions are designed to support areas of need identified in other written work.
14. Daily sentence provides the opportunity to practise and revise skills as well as introduce new ones.
15. Teachers expect a good standard of presentation in written work.

Monitoring, Evaluation and Review

The school will review this policy annually and assess its implementation and effectiveness. The policy will be promoted and implemented throughout the school.