English

Intent

At Manor Leas Junior Academy, we are passionate about instilling a love of reading among our children. We want them to become independently literate individuals who can confidently comminicate their thoughts and ideas, reading across a range of subjects and for different purposes. We also strive for all pupils to be motivated writers who can confidently, communicate their knowledge, ideas and emotons through their writing. Children will develop and utilise a wide range of vocabulary, acquire a solid understanding of grammar and be able to spell new words by effectively applying spelling patterns and rules. We want children to have the opportunity to write coherently, adapting their style for a range of contexts, purpose and audiences, with a focus on the processes of planning, writing and editing.

Implementation

The KS2 English curriculum is delivered through structured, progressive lessons focused on the key areas of:

• Reading:

Once pupils are able confident with phonics, there is a focus on reading fluency strategies. in order for pupils to confidently unpick the meaning of the text as a whole, they need to be fluent readers. Reading comprehension skills are taught on a whole-class level: high quality texts are used and pupils are encouraged to engage in discussions to enhance their understanding of themes, characters and authorial intent.

• Writing:

Pupils learn to write for different purposes and audiences (see Pathways to Write), exploring genres such as narratives, persuasive texts, reports, and poetry. Grammar, punctuation, and spelling are taught explicitly (through Active English and Active Spelling progammes), and embedded within writing tasks. Relevant tier 2 vocabulary is taught alongside every writing unit and pupils are taught to generate and select a range of appropriate vocabulary

• Active English: 

This is taught at the beginning of every English lesson, which allows pupils to recall grammatical terms, respond to and unpick a carefully crafted piece of writing and apply their knowledge to a written response. These are interactive sessions as pupils learn actions and images alongside each grammatical term, enabling a 'hook' for their learning. 

• Active Spelling: 

This is taught daily as a discreet sessions that uses the principles of mnenomics, images and verbal reasoning to aid the retention of spelling patterns and rules and, in turn, develop a breadth of vocabulary. Active Spelling involves discussions about spelling strategies and therefore promotes lifelong spellers who can independently select the strategies that work for them.

• Handwriting: 

We use the Nelson Handwriting approach and we have regular, short handwriting sessions at the beginning of each English lesson. We believe that regular practise will enable the stamina for writing and will allow pupils to have a sense of pride in their work.

• Speaking and Listening: 

Pupils develop skills in verbal communication through activities such as debates, presentations, drama, and storytelling. These experiences build confidence and articulation.

• Accelerated Reader 

Accelerated Reader is used throughout the school to inspire children to immerse themselves into independent reading.  It allows children to check their understanding and comprehension of the text; it also allows class teachers to monitor the level of difficulty of their reading. The school's target is for all pupils to read for 30 minutes per day and the Accelerated Reader programme allows us to measure this.

Impact

Children read for pleasure, showing an interest in books andmaking informed choices about the books they choose to read. Children are conscious readers who ask and answer questions about what they have read and read widely across subjects in school. Pupils are motivated to write for a range of audiences and purposes and will do so confidently and fluently, showing a good understanding of age-appropriate skills. Reading is assessed every half term  and analysed to ensure teaching is bespoke to the children's needs. Pathways for Write focuses on building skills towards an independent piece or writing - pupils' writing is assessed on a half-termly basis and regular year-group moderation takes place to assess the impact. Pupils’ work demonstrates that the writing curriculum is taught at an age-appropriate standard across each year group through a variety of engaging writing opportunities. Impact is also shown through the progress and outcomes of pupils in national testing.

Reading Fluency Assessment Rubric (child-friendly language)

Active Spelling Information

Active-Spelling

Pathways to Write

An overview of Pathways to Write by The Literacy Company.

 

Writing Progression

Writing Progression

Pathways to Write - click headings for information

Introduction

Pathways to Write is designed to equip pupils with key skills to move them through the writing process towards their final outcome. It is built around units of work that follow a mastery approach to the teaching of writing. To support this approach, clear detailed lesson plans and resources are linked to a high-quality text. Pathways to Write ensures engaging and purposeful English lessons. The units can be used thematically to encourage a whole school approach to writing with the opportunity for topics to link across year groups.

Each unit covers a range of areas in the national curriculum:

• Mastery of vocabulary, grammar and punctuation skills
• Writing a range of genres across a year
• Vocabulary development
• Spoken language (Oracy) activities including drama and presentations
• Opportunities for practising previously taught genres
• Extended, independent pieces of writing

The Process

The Gateway

• Begin at the Gateway with a ‘hook’ session to intrigue and enthuse young writers
• Use objects, people, images or role-play to stimulate questions about the chosen text
• Give pupils the opportunity to predict the text
• Establish the purpose and audience of the writing
• Revisit previous mastery skills and ongoing skills

The Pathway

• Introduce pupils to new writing skills from their year group curriculumProvide opportunities to practise and apply the skill they have learnt through short and extended writing tasks including character descriptions, poetry, dialogue between characters, fact files or diary entries in role
• Provide opportunities to re-cap and apply previously taught skills
• Challenge greater depth writers through a wider range of tasks

Writeaway

• Section and sequence texts independently or collaboratively
• Create extended pieces of writing over time
• Opportunity to apply mastery skills
• Time for planning, writing, drafting, revising, editing and publishing
• A fiction or non-fiction outcome (covering a wide range of genres and themes over the year)

Whole School Approach

American literary expert, Berninger illustrated the process with ‘The Simple View of Writing’. In the model image on the left, he highlights three overarching processes that are essential to writing.

The model places working memory in the centre, emphasising how it plays a role in enabling each of these skills to operate. As we all know, when our brains are full, it becomes difficult to remember everything. To cope, our brains bring to the fore the information we need and other things are lost.

The EEF (Education Endowment Foundation) have produced guidance reports for improving Literacy at Key Stage 1 and 2 and make several recommendations to support this process for all our pupils-including those that are struggling.

Activities to support Oracy

• When we start a new text with pupils, we consider how we are going to hook them into learning and engage them with the theme. The more engaged they are with the text and the better they understand the context, the easier they are going to find writing about it.
• Base their writing around this theme, developing background knowledge and understanding
• Use drama, role-play and spoken language activities to support pupils in considering the audience and purpose for their writing
• Plan in paired and group discussions linked to the writing tasks
• Encourage oral rehearsal of their writing from plans

Vocabulary Development

• Consider the vocabulary and background knowledge pupils need when accessing a new text.
• Include an introduction to the setting of the text and pre-teach vocabulary the pupil may struggle to understand (Pupils have access to a vocabulary list linked to the book and their national curriculum stage).
• Use a range of strategies to support the words found during the reading session.
• Choose tier 2 words within the context of your topic/story e.g. succeeded, untangled. Introduce these words giving clear meaning of the new words in the context of the story. Model meaning in different contexts and throughout the day. Pupils give examples after teacher modelling. Pupils are able to use these words in their own writing.

Identifying Audience and Purpose for Writing

Pathways to Write ensures that pupils know exactly who they are writing for and how their audience will use the information. They make the audience and purpose as real as possible.

Modelling 5 Stages of Writing

Within the EEF report there is clear guidance on modelling the five stages of writing:

• planning
• drafting
• revising
• editing
• publishing

As part of our continuing staff development, we will be revisiting these five stages of writing when using our pathways units.

Our ethos is to establish a gradual release of responsibility so that pupils see teachers modelling the process of writing. Then become a scribe for their ideas, showing how to select from a pool of options. From here, we encourage pupils to ‘have a go’ at constructing a sentence themselves. Once this process is complete, pupils should feel more confident at continuing to write independently.

Practicing Sentence Construction

Practising sentence construction helps pupils to orally and physically rehearse sentences an evaluate and improve sentences before writing. Pathways to Write helps children acquire skills. Teachers relate to class text so that it links with classwork and the children are hearing the language, saying it, seeing it, reading it and ultimately, writing it.

Patron of Reading

We are thrilled to share our Patron of Reading with you.  Lydia Sanders, a local author, has agreed to support Manor Leas Junior Academy in this role.  

Lydia's role is to inspire children to read widely, support the school by recommending books and modelling to children a love of reading.  Lydia works with our Reading Ambassadors ( a team of incredibly passionate children about all things reading) to develop our use of the library and spread the love of reading. 

Use the link to have a look at Lydia's work www.hysterical-herstories.com/