English

Curriculum Information for Parents

16th June 2014

Mrs C. Young

• Share the different elements of the English Curriculum.

• Discuss how each aspect is taught at Weddington.

• Discuss how the English curriculum is delivered at each key stage.

• Share the new long term plan for English and discuss the changes.

• Explanation of targets and levels.• Overview of Assessments.• Re-cap on RWI• Re-cap on VCOP and creative curriculum• Provision for SEN and G+T• Recent events in English at Weddington.

Aims

Reading•Word Reading •Comprehension

Writing•Composition•Transcription (spelling and handwriting)•Grammar

Communication•Speaking and Listening•Performing

English across the curriculum•Reading, Writing and Communicating for a real purpose.

Different Aspects of the English Curriculum

Reading•Phonics-Read, Write, Inc (Reception, Year 1 and intervention)•Shared Reading (whole class reading)•Guided Reading (small groups)•Individual reading (with parents and additional support in school for those who need it)•Reading for pleasure (individual reading of books of own choice)•Comprehension •Reading across the curriculum/for a real purpose.

How each aspect of English is taught

Writing•Phonics-Read, Write, Inc (Reception, Year 1 and intervention)•Shared/modelled Writing•Guided Writing (in smaller groups)•Individual writing •Writing across the curriculum/for a real purpose•Spelling taught within Read, Write Inc for younger children and discretely for older children with weekly spelling tests. •Simple aspects of grammar taught within English lessons in KS1 and weekly 1 hour grammar lessons in key stage 2.

How each aspect of English is taught

Communication•Speaking and Listening is promoted at Weddington throughout the curriculum. •Talk partners. •Think, Pair, Share.•Reading aloud to the class or an audience.•Drama activities•Self and peer assessment.•Debates and discussions within the class.•Performing to the class. •Class assemblies and performances in all year groups. •Use of digital media to record and appraise performances.

How each aspect of English is taught

How English is taught in each area of the school)

Foundation Stage (Reception)•Daily phonics in small groups (Read, Write, Inc)•English whole class work based around a story•Daily activities set up in Reading and Writing areas.•Adult led small group activities•Opportunities for writing in all areas especially within the role play area and outdoors.

How English is taught in each area of the school)Key Stage 1 (Years 1 and 2)•Phonics lessons for most children in year 1 although some children may complete the RWI program and will then move onto standard English lessons that all year 2 pupil receive. •Phonics screening test (usually in June). Year 1 pupils and those in year 2 who did not meet the required standard in year 1. •Extended writing lessons.•Guided reading •Individual reading •Reading, writing and communication across the curriculum and for a real purpose•Discrete handwriting sessions.•Preparation for End of Key Stage 1 Tasks and Tests for Reading and Writing- these help to verify Teacher Assessments..

How English is taught in each area of the school)Key Stage 2 (Years 3-6)

•Daily English lessons including one specific grammar lesson•Guided reading sessions •Reading comprehension•Separate spellings and handwriting sessions•Reading, writing and communication across the curriculum and for a real purpose. •Termly Optional QCA Tests to verify teacher assessments. •End of Key stage SATs tests for Reading and SPaG (Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar). Writing is assessed by class teachers and moderated separately.

New Long Term PlanWe have created a new long term plan has been produced and covers what should be taught in each year group as part of the new National Curriculum (See Handout 1).

There is a much higher focus in the new curriculum on the teaching of phonics, grammar and transcription. Also expectations have been raised within the new curriculum.

There is no change to the foundation stage curriculum which changed significantly in 2012. Children work towards achieving targets that are grouped by age related expectations and at the end of the year are assessed against the Early Learning Goals (see Handout 2)

Year 2 and Year 6 have the most tricky job as the new curriculum for them is not statutory until 2015 as the tasks and tests for next year are still going to be based on the old curriculum.

The biggest change is that there are no levels within the new curriculum and the assessment has been under consultation and will not be in place until September 2015. so until this has been confirmed, we will continue to assess against the previous national curriculum levels.

Targets and Levels

National Expectations for end of key stage assessments are that the majority of 7 year olds should achieve a level 2 or above and the majority of 11 year olds should achieve a level 4 or above.

At school level, each level is divided into three sub levels, for example 3A, 3B and 3C.• C means that the child has started to work at the level• B means that the child is working well within the level• A means that the child has reached the top of the level and is working towards the next level.

Children are said to be working at age related expectations if they have achieved the following levels or above by the end of the year:•Year 1- Level 1A•Year 2- Level 2B•Year 3- Level 3C•Year 4- Level 3B•Year 5- Level 4C•Year 6- Level 4B

(See handouts 3 and 4 in your pack)

Assessment from 2015 onwards

• Progress check at 2 years in early years settings will continue.

• Baseline assessment (which will be using prescribed methods from September 2015)

• Phonics check in year 1 will continue.• End of KS1 tests for Reading, Writing, Maths which are

externally set but internally marked. The tests will reflect the new higher expectations of the new curriculum. Writing marks will now also include spelling, punctuation and grammar elements. Teacher assessments for Speaking and Listening and Science.

• End of Key stage 2 Tests for Reading, Maths and SPaG (spelling punctuation and grammar) which are externally set and marked. Teacher Assessments will be used for Science and Writing.

• Scores from 2016 will no longer be in levelled form. Pupils will be given a ranked score where a score of 100 reflects the national average.

Read, Write, Inc infoDifferent stages of Read, Write, Inc•Learn pure sounds (set 1 sounds)•Fred talk/fingers•Set 2 sounds have a rhyme to accompany them•Set 3 sounds which includes learning about different ways one sound (phoneme) can be written (grapheme) in various ways•Red words are words that cannot be sounded out using Fred talk. Children just need to simply learn these words.

Children are assessed every 6 weeks (on average) and assigned into ability groups based on their needs.

How to pronounce the sounds…http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5J2Ddf_0Om8

(See Handout 5 for more information)

Features of different writing genres

• Narrative/Story writing• Instructions• Recounts• Persuasive Writing• Chronological and non-chronological reports• Discussions texts• Explanation texts• Poetry

A range of supporting leaflets are in your hand-out packs discussing the key features and structure associated with the main genres taught in primary schools. These are also available on our website under the parents tab.

VCOP and Cross-curricular Writing

VocabularyConnectivesOpenersPunctuation

(Based on the work of Ros Wilson- see Handout for more information)

Creative CurriculumEmbedding Reading, Writing and Speaking an Listening skills across the curriculum to bring meaning and purpose for children to ‘apply’ their skills.

The staff have been working hard on creating brand new curriculum themes and long term plans for each subject which will be available to view on the school website under the curriculum section under the 2014 tab from September 2014.

Any other informationSpecial Educational Needs (SEN)SENCo- Special Educational Needs Coordinator ( Mrs Wilkinson)School Action- In class support/InterventionSchool Action Plus- IEP (Individual Education Plans and involvement of other agencies).Statement- More significant needs often requiring 1:1 teaching assistant support (very small % of children).

Provision for Gifted and Talented Pupils (G+T)G+T Register- pupils placed on register if they are working significantly above age related expectations. Pupils have specially differentiated work to challenge them within lessons.Pupils work towards targets from subsequent year groups/key stages.Enrichment activities are sometimes arranged such as: writing competitions; drama workshops; working on the school magazine and performing to an audience.

Festival of Arts 2014We entered13 of our Gifted and Talented Writers in the ‘original short story section’. We were delighted to hear that many of those who entered received prizes; including four first places in Year 1, 4, 5 and 6. Everyone who entered helped our school to win the Drachendale Cup. This cup was presented to the school showing

the best promise with their writing.

Book Week

To celebrate our local literary heritage, we wanted to mark the 450th anniversary of Shakespeare’s birth by making his work the central focus of our book day. Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1- Midsummer Night’s DreamYear 3 and 4- MacbethYear 5 and 6- Romeo and Juliet.  Some children were also put forward by their teachers to take on the challenge of putting on a Shakespeare play in an hour. Their parents were invited to watch the performance.

Thank you for taking the time to attend today.

I hope you found the information useful. Please complete the feedback form as we would really welcome your

comments so it can inform future sessions.

www.weddingtonschool.co.ukPlease see our new school website for more information on the curriculum; class pages; information for parents

and a whole lot more!