Intent
By the end of Year 6, we want all of our pupils to achieve the objectives set out in the 2014 National Curriculum and we strive to offer opportunities to develop skills above and beyond this. In order to achieve this, we appropriately support those that need additional interventions and aim to help as many children as possible to build on their successes in Key Stage One and attain ‘Expected or Greater Depth’ in all areas of the English curriculum. Our curriculum is carefully designed and mapped out to ensure that our pupils acquire the knowledge and skills required in a sequential and progressive manner. It is regularly reviewed and adapted so that it is relevant to the needs of our pupils and reflects the world they live in.
It is our intention that all pupils will be able to read and understand accurately and confidently by the time that they leave us. As a school, we strive to create an environment where reading is seen as a pleasurable and worthwhile activity. We aim to expose children to a wide range of ambitious texts with rich vocabulary to broaden their experience and increase their confidence with the English language both orally and in written form.
Our aspiration is that this focus on reading and vocabulary will then enable our pupils to write competently and with confidence in a range of contexts, using and applying their grammatical knowledge & skills in academic and everyday life. In order to help achieve this, during their time at Oaklands Junior School, we offer the children a wide range of opportunities to apply their English skills in cross-curricular activities and tasks. At the end of Key Stage 2, we expect that during their time at Oaklands Junior School the children will also have acquired a deeper knowledge of spelling rules which they then will be able to apply in their work.
Many of these skills and ways of learning tie in particularly well with our ‘Thinking School’ philosophy as well as our ‘Oaklands’ Mindset’. Through the use of ‘Thinking Maps’, ‘P4C’ and other ‘Thinking Tools’, it is our intention that the children will be able to use and apply the English skills that they learn to help develop their knowledge and understanding of all areas of the National Curriculum. Furthermore, during French lessons, we aim to create links between their learning of French with their understanding of English – for example in the use of grammatical terms, reading, speaking, listening and writing skills.
Finally, through lessons, ‘special events’ and regular assemblies, our ambition is that all children will leave our school not only with a love of language and literature but also the ability to communicate effectively and understand how important a role their ability in English will play in their future successes.
Implementation
Teaching and Learning
The teaching of English takes places in all areas of the curriculum, whether it be in an English writing lesson, interrogating written sources in history, writing up investigations in science or researching artists in art.
Writing
As writing remained a focus at the start of this academic year, following a successful trial in the Autumn term, we took the decision to combine elements of the Literacy Tree framework with our existing approach to writing.
Literacy Tree follows a ‘teach through the text’ approach where English is taught through diverse stories that cover important themes. We find the texts to be particularly thought-provoking, whilst being accessible for all learners, which stimulate engaging discussions around global issues. Another aspect of the framework that we find to be effective is the ‘hook’ at the start of each unit, where the children are completely immersed in the topic from the initial lesson. Grammar objectives are interwoven within the topics, allowing the children to practise and apply these techniques in meaningful but manageable chunks.
To complement Literacy Tree, we use oracy techniques, thinking maps as planning tools, which underpin our Thinking School ethos, a box success criteria, which focuses on audience and purpose, and time is spent analysing strong examples of text types.
Reading
The relationship between successful writing and reading high-quality texts is critical. To promote reading, each class has a class library, with a wide variety of age-appropriate texts. We also have a very well stocked school library, with librarians and an allocated slot for each class, and a ‘Reading bus’, which is available at lunch times on a rota basis.
Our reading sessions are taught weekly and either focus on fluency, a specific reading skill or analysing a text to support writing lessons. We subscribe to ‘Literacy Shed’ which provides a wealth of reading comprehensions with active reading strategies through the use of VIPERS questions.
In 2023, we made the decision to follow the Sounds Write phonics programme used in the infants in Years 3 and 4 to ensure consistency across the schools in our phonics approach. 3 phonics sessions per week are now included in the weekly timetables for Years 3 and 4.
In addition to our weekly reading sessions, we have a ‘Daily Read’ slot. These 15-minute sessions are enshrined in our timetables and they provide an opportunity for the children to stop and listen to a book for enjoyment. It is a time for them to be exposed to a text that they may be unfamiliar with for the sheer pleasure of listening to a book. We feel that this is an extremely important part of our day and something that children and staff look forward to.
Spelling and Grammar
To reinforce the grammar objectives that are embedded within our English lessons, we use daily retrieval grids across the school, where topics are drip-fed and revisited regularly. Since embedding this practice, our GPS results have been consistently well above the national average. To support spelling, we use an adapted version of the ‘No Nonsense Spelling’ scheme whereby patterns are investigated through exploration activities. The school also has a large number of dictionaries, ACE dictionaries and thesauruses which are used regularly in lessons.
Marking and Assessment
When marking, teachers use Next Step codes and marking acronyms in order to help identify areas for improvement as well as focussing on objectives that the children have achieved. The first 4 NS codes are universal across the school and focus on fundamentals, whereas the others vary from piece to piece. Marking acronyms are clearly displayed in every class as are ‘Presentation boards’. Every new English book has a piece of work from the end of the previous year group, a spelling list (which is regularly updated following termly spelling tests), a list of key marking acronyms and a grammar glossary.
It is expected that formative assessment takes place in every lesson and this then informs the planning and teaching of subsequent lessons. Teachers regularly update the ‘Oaklands’ Assessment System’ which records pupils’ attainment against objectives in reading and writing. For writing, a teacher’s assessment is primarily based on a child’s last piece of writing in a unit; grammar and spelling tests are also used to supplement assessments. Assessment in reading is a combination of formative assessment during reading sessions and formal reading comprehension tests (NFER and Headstart).
Interventions and Support
As well as whole class teaching, a wide range of English-focussed interventions take place in every year group at Oaklands Junior School, both inside and outside of the class, including phonics, reading, writing and handwriting. As a school, we invest a significant part of our budget in Teaching Assistants, with every year group having two full-time TAs. They are invaluable members of our year group teams and are regularly invited to staff meetings and training sessions. A significant number are HLTAs and most of the TAs have been in the school for a number of years. This level of availability, training and experience helps us to run regular interventions to help children make better progress.
Beyond the classroom
In order to support our children’s learning, regular English homework is set in all year groups. Children are encouraged to read 5 times per week and are set weekly spelling homework activities to reinforce the work at school.
Furthermore, a number of years ago, a termly ‘Pride’ award was introduced to raise standards and highlight the importance of presentation and always doing your best: each teacher picks one child who has shown particular pride in their work. In addition, we also present a termly progress award for one child in the school who has made accelerated progress in their reading and / or writing. Another celebration of learning is through our writing board, where a piece of writing from each class is presented at the end of each topic.
Subject Leadership and Monitoring
As part of her subject leader role, Miss Noad undertakes learning walks and speaks to children to understand the strengths and areas of development within our current provision for the teaching of English. A yearly pupil voice survey was instated in 2021 for all year groups to understand the current strengths and challenges that we are facing from the children’s perspectives.
Over the last couple years, Miss Noad has worked closely with our MAT’s Primary Development team and established links with schools within The Corvus Trust, including our local secondary school, which have enabled us to share good practice, undertake staff training and participate in moderation exercises.
Regular English focussed training has taken place in staff meetings, as well as frequent opportunities to discuss what is working well and what challenges we face. One of our key strengths as a staff, both classroom-based and at a senior level, is the fact that we have a very open and honest working relationship which enables us to support and challenge each other in our pedagogy, as well as openly discussing current and potential future practices.
Impact
At the end of Year 6, Oaklands Junior school children:
- Have developed a love for reading across a range of genre.
- Are exposed to high-quality texts and use a variety of strategies to unpick their literacy choices, purpose and impact.
- Can write for different purposes and of a high quality, which is transferred across all subjects.
- Respond to feedback from teachers by independently editing and improving their own work.
- Have a rich vocabulary and a curiosity to explore language.
- Communicate clearly and confidently when performing and presenting.
Children at Oaklands with Special Educational Needs are supported through interventions and adaptedtasks and make good progress with their learning.
The impact of our implementation can be monitored in a number of ways: through learning walks and lesson observations; examples of children’s work; moderation meetings (both internally and with our cluster schools); planning scrutiny; pupil voice surveys; parent surveys and teacher assessments (both summative and formative).
Next Steps
As a school, our development plan is shared with staff and priorities are aligned to our performance reviews. This academic year, as our priority is writing and we have implemented the Literacy Tree framework, we have allocated half-termly staff meetings in order to give staff time to familiarise themselves with the content leading to more effective planning while managing workload. Already, we have seen the impact of Literacy Tree through pupil voice, staff voice and a buzz around school. At the end of the academic year, we will be able to evaluate the effectiveness based on progress, attainment and our pupil voice surveys.