English

What does English look like at St Mark's? 

The study of English develops children’s ability to listen, speak, read and write for a wide range of purposes, including the communication of their ideas, views and feelings. Children are enabled to express themselves creatively and imaginatively as they become enthusiastic and critical readers of stories, poetry and drama, as well as of non-fiction texts. Children gain an understanding of how language works by looking at its patterns, structures and origins. Children use their knowledge, skills and understanding in speaking and writing across a range of different situations. 

The aims of teaching English, as outlined in the national curriculum are to ensure that all pupils:

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

*  are competent in the arts of speaking and listening, making formal presentations, demonstrating to others and participating in debate.

We teach English everyday, for an hour. The lesson comprises of SPAG (Spelling, Grammar and Punctuation) and then skills surrounding the topic they might be looking at. We teach our topics for a number of weeks so that children can become immersed with it, confident with it and then fluent when they write it. At St Mark's we also firmly believe that children learn best when they are interested in the reading material and so for this reason, we teach using Whole Class quality novels. 

Reading for pleasure is also at the heart of English Teaching and so we hold Guided Reading sessions every day for 20 /30minutes. This way we can spend time hearing the children read for enjoyment, fluency and accuracy as well as developing comprehension through high quality questioning. 

Please see below for the English Curriculum Plan, adopted by Subject Lead Mrs Jo Chamberlain.

What does "Mastery" in English actually look like?

Mastery means children must be able to understand how to improve their work. Using proofreading to check for accuracy - spelling, punctuation and correct grammar. Time to explore words, develop phrases, play with sentences and paragraphs means that children always consider the impact on their reader when they write. When they recall the skill or feature and use it appropriately without prompting in their writing, then children have secured the learning.

To master English and achieve beyond the expectations for their age, children must be able to independently apply their reading, writing and speaking skills in a range of contexts across all curriculum subjects.

Top Tips for Parents...

Read to your children

Listen to them read and ask them questions about what they have read

Let them read for pleasure - comics, magazines, newspapers

Let them read to younger brothers and sisters

Enjoy books together

Play games with spelling words e.g. hangman, word searches

Handwriting practise using weekly spelling lists