Sunnyfields Primary

English

'The value of English in the curriculum? What can I say? Without English, nothing. And without good English, nothing very well'.                         Anne Fine, Author.

English is a vital way of communicating, in school, public life and internationally.

At Sunnyfields School, through teaching the National Curriculum, we seek to provide the teaching and learning to develop a wide range of skills in each of the areas of: Spoken Language, Reading, Writing, and Spelling, Grammar and Punctuation.

What we want to achieve

These aims are intended for all pupils at Sunnyfields.

How they will be implemented will be dependent on the age and ability of the pupils.

• To read easily, fluently and with good understanding.
• To develop the habit of reading widely and often, for both pleasure and information.
• To acquire a wide vocabulary, an understanding of grammar and knowledge of linguistic conventions for reading, writing and spoken language.
• To appreciate our rich and varied literary heritage
• To write clearly, accurately and coherently, adapting their language and style in and for a range of contexts, purposes and audiences.
• To use discussion in order to learn; they should be able to elaborate and explain clearly their understanding and ideas. 

How we want to achieve it

Spoken Language

All children will develop their ability to:

• Listen and respond appropriately to adults and their peers.
• Ask relevant questions to extend their understanding and knowledge.
• Use relevant strategies to build their vocabulary.
• Articulate and justify answers, arguments and opinions.
• Give well-structured descriptions, explanations and narratives for different purposes, including for expressing feelings.
• Maintain attention and participate actively in collaborative conversations, staying on topic and initiating and responding to comments.
• Use spoken language to develop understanding through speculating, hypothesising, imagining and exploring ideas.
• Speak audibly and fluently with an increasing command of Standard English.
• Participate in discussions, presentations, performances, role play/improvisations and debates.
• Gain, maintain and monitor the interest of the listener(s).
• Consider and evaluate different viewpoints, attending to and building on the contributions of others.

Phonics

All children who attend Sunnyfields receive a thorough and detailed approach to the teaching of phonics which follows the Essential Letters and Sounds approach. To see how phonics progresses across the year groups please click here.

For ideas on how you can support your child's phonics at home please click here.

Reading

At Sunnyfields, it is our belief that instilling a love of reading in children is absolutely essential. We ensure that children read books from a range of different genres and authors that both engage and challenge them. 

For ideas on how you can support your child's reading at home, please click here.

Reading Early Years Foundation Stage

 Children will:

• Children will use language to imagine and recreate roles and experiences.
• Listen and respond appropriately.
• Interact with others in play, negotiating plans and sharing ideas.
• Listen to stories, poems and non-fiction texts recalling key events, facts and recognising front cover and title.
• Recognise a range of familiar sounds and words.

Some of the lovely books that will be read in the EYFS

Nursery:

Reception:

Reading Year 1 and Year 2 Curriculum

Word Reading (including phonics)

Children will:

• Apply their phonic knowledge and skills as the route to decode words.
• Read accurately by blending sounds.
• Read books aloud that are suitable to their age and ability.
• Participate in Essential Letters and Sounds phonics lessons delivered to the whole class or to a focus group.

Comprehension

Children will:

• Develop their interest and pleasure in reading.
• Develop their vocabulary.
• Understand the books they can read and those they listen to.
• Participate in discussions about what they read.
• Explain their understanding clearly.
• Have access to a wide range of reading material including poems, stories and non-fiction.
• Appreciate rhymes and poems and recite them by heart
• Re- enact stories through role-play and drama.
• Use story props and puppets to explore and create their own ideas as well as known stories.

Year 1 core books

Year 2 core books

Reading Year 3 and Year 4

Word Reading (including phonics)

Children will:

• Apply their growing knowledge of root words, prefixes and suffixes, both to read aloud and understand new meanings
• Read further exception words, noting unusual correspondences between spelling and sound, and where these occur in the word (e.g. clothes, would, father)
• Read books at home and at school that are suitable to their age and ability.

Comprehension

Children will:

• Develop positive attitudes to reading and understanding of what they read.
• Listen, read and discuss a wide range of fiction, poetry, plays, non-fiction and reference books or textbooks.
• Understand what they read, in books they can read independently.
• Retrieve and record information from a range of genres.
• Participate in discussion about both books that are read to them and those they can read for themselves, taking turns and listening to what others say. 

Year 3 core book

Year 4 core books

Reading Year 5 and Year 6

Word Reading (including phonics)

Children will:

• Apply their growing knowledge of root words, prefixes and suffixes, both to read aloud and understand new meanings
• Read books at home and at school that are suitable to their age and ability.

Comprehension

Children will:

• Maintain positive attitudes to reading and understanding of what they read.
• Continue to read and discuss an increasingly wide range of fiction, poetry, non-fiction and reference books or textbooks.
• Understand what they read.
• Discuss and evaluate how authors use language, including figurative language, considering the impact on the reader.
• Distinguish between statements of fact and opinion.
• Retrieve, record and present information from non-fiction.
• Participate in discussions about books that are read to them and those they can read for themselves, building on their own and others’ ideas and challenging views courteously.
• Explain and discuss their understanding of what they have read, including through formal presentations and debates, maintaining a focus on the topic and using notes where necessary
• Provide reasoned justifications for their views.

Year 5 core books   

Year 6 core books

For ideas on how you can support your child's writing at home, please click here.

Writing Early Years Foundation Stage

• Differentiate between picture, print, letter and word.
• Explore the connection between speech and writing.
• Have explored the symbolic nature of writing, the sounds and name of letters, and how to write them. 

Writing Year 1 and Year 2

Transcription

Children will:

• Spell common words and days of the week.
• Use apostrophes for contraction and singular possession.
• Begin to use suffixes.
• Use phonic knowledge to spell words.
• Write simple sentences from memory as dictated.
• Apply spelling rules.

Composition

Children will:

• Develop positive attitudes towards and stamina for writing (narratives, about real events, poetry, for different purposes).
• Consider what they are going to write before beginning.
• Make simple additions, revisions and corrections to their own writing.
• Read aloud what they have written with appropriate intonation to make the meaning clear.
• Be given the opportunity to write a wide range of genres that draw on the children’s interest. 

Writing Year 3 and Year 4

Transcription

Children will:

• Use further prefixes and suffixes and understand how to add them.
• Spell further homophones.
• Spell words that are often misspelt.
• Use the possessive apostrophe accurately (e.g. children’s).
• Use a dictionary to check spelling.
• Write simple sentences from memory as dictated, including words and punctuation taught so far.
• Be given the opportunity to write a wide range of genres that draw on the children’s interest.

Composition

Children will:

• Plan their writing.
• Draft and write (composing using a range of vocabulary and sentence structures, organising the text).
• Evaluate and edit (self-assessment and peer-assessment).
• Proofread for spelling and punctuation errors.
• Read their own writing aloud to a group or the whole class, using appropriate intonation and controlling the tone and volume so that the meaning is clear. 

Writing Year 5 and Year 6

Transcription

Children will:

• Use further prefixes and suffixes and understand the guidance for adding them
• Spell some words with ‘silent’ letters [for example, knight, psalm, solemn]
• Continue to distinguish between homophones and other words which are often confused
• Use knowledge of morphology (meaning within words) and etymology (the origin of words) in spelling and understand that the spelling of some words needs to be learnt specifically,
• Use dictionaries to check the spelling and meaning of words
• Use a thesaurus

Composition

Children will:

• Plan their writing.
• Draft and write by (selecting grammar and vocabulary for effect, longer and more detailed passages, organising the text).
• Evaluate and edit (self-assessment and peer-assessment, proposing changes for effect, ensuring consistent and correct tense, ensuring correct use of grammar).
• Proof-read for spelling and punctuation errors
• Write each letter of the alphabet using correct formation.
• Use their sound/symbol relationships and phonological patterns.
• Check the accuracy of their spelling using word banks and dictionaries.
• Develop knowledge of word families.
• Participate in regular spelling tests.
• Be given the opportunity to write a wide range of genres that draw on the children’s interest.

SPAG (Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar). (All phases.)

Within good composition the children are taught how to use spelling, punctuation, grammar and vocabulary to good effect (see English Appendix 2, NC 2014)