At Parkside Primary School, English is not only a daily, discrete lesson, it is at the heart of the entire curriculum. It is embedded within all our lessons and we strive for a high level of English for all. 

Children at Parkside are immersed into a language rich, creative, exciting and progressive English curriculum which enable them to speak, read and write fluently and confidently, preparing them with the skills needed for modern Britain.

Writing

Intent

At Parkside Primary School, we strive to give our children the best start in establishing secure foundations in writing. We aspire to create confident, capable and independent writers who not only understand the purpose of the writing but enjoy the writing process.

Writing has an important place in education as well as society. It is an essential skill and the ability to write with confidence and accuracy is a tool which will support our children through life.

Implementation

Writing is taught explicitly through inspiring, daily English lessons with high-quality texts being the driver. At Parkside, we embrace the ‘Rosenshine Principles of Learning’ for all pupils including our children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND).  The journey of writing begins with our youngest children where they are given opportunities to mark make, on a small and large scale, using a range of materials – building up those essential skills to prepare them to be lifelong writers.

Along the way, teachers carefully plan sequences of lessons where children learn through small steps and time is dedicated to guiding the children through new skills. We use a thinking side and a writing side to build up the journey of our writing units where children are given the time to practice these new skills through the process of drafting and editing.

Scaffolds are provided through live modelling where teachers talk aloud their thinking behind their vocabulary and sentence choices. Along the journey, children are immersed into their writing units through the use of drama, images, film clips and inspirational experiences.

Aside from the individual class writing units, we immerse children in whole school writing days too. Sometimes linked with Shakespeare, sometimes linked with a different whole school focus, children watch live performances from staff on stage to begin their writing journey. Age appropriate pieces of writing are then planned for each year group ensuring skills are built upon year on year.

Impact

Children will have the knowledge and skills to be able to write successfully for a range of purposes and audiences. By the end of Key Stage Two, children will have developed their craft and enjoyment of writing. Children will be able to manipulate language for a desired effect, include the correct grammar and punctuation and finish with a detailed, coherent piece of writing that they show a great deal of pride in. The skills taught in our writing lessons can be transferred to other subjects demonstrating a deep understanding of the skills that have been taught. Ultimately, by the end of their Parkside journey, children know how to write and when to use specific techniques in their writing.

Reading

Intent

Reading permeates through our entire curriculum. Our aspiration is that all children are fluent and confident readers who read with expert prosody. We want to equip them with the skills to achieve academically and thrive through life. At Parkside, we foster a love of reading for pleasure; this begins when children first enter our doors at two-years-old. We endeavour to ensure children foster a lifelong appreciation of literature.

Implementation

We recognise the importance of reading from Early Years all the way up to Year Six.

From the earliest introduction of phonics, taught through Little Wandle Letters and Sounds in EYFS and KS1, through to complex texts across a wide genre of materials as children progress through KS2, we encourage our children to select from a range of texts for purpose and pleasure. Once children have finished their phonics teaching, they move onto our whole class guided reading sessions where we continue to focus on fluency, prosody and comprehension.

Every teacher in the school has been trained to teach reading; we all use the same language, routines and resources to teach children to read so that we lower their cognitive load.

We begin developing a love of reading when the children enter our doors at two-years-old. Children are read to on a daily basis and nursery rhyme baskets and story sacks are regularly sent home with our nursery children. Every other year group are read to at the end of the day. We choose these books carefully from our classroom book baskets as we want the children to experience a wide range including books that open windows into other worlds and cultures.

We have a reading scheme for our children starting with phonetically decodable books in Reception which includes a vast range of traditional tales, adventure books and informative texts. Our ‘Collins Big Cat’ banded book scheme then continues until children are fluent readers with a good level of comprehension. Then, we believe children have the reading skills to make sensible choices as an independent reader.

Alongside this, children ‘Drop & Read’ at some point during the day. Adults in the room drop and read as well demonstrating they are avid readers too.

Books are integrated into every day life at Parkside. Whether that be in our assemblies, in our Early Years provision or within our foundation subjects – we value its importance and the impact it can have.

Our two libraries – in the main school and in Early Years – are readily available for children to visit. Each class are allocated a designated time to use the library to assist their learning in class.

Children have the opportunity to engage in a wide range of reading for pleasure events – book fairs, author visits, national events.

We encourage children, and staff, to recommend books to each other as we really do believe reading is the key to success.