English Curriculum Statement

Intent
At South Avenue we believe that a quality English curriculum should develop children’s love of reading, writing, speaking and listening. We aim to inspire an appreciation of our rich and varied literary heritage and a habit of reading widely and often. We recognise the importance of nurturing a culture where children take pride in their writing, can write clearly and accurately and adapt their language and style for a range of contexts. One of our priorities is helping children read and develop their all-important comprehension skills. We recognise the importance of nurturing a culture where children take pride in their writing, can write clearly and accurately and adapt their language and style for a range of contexts. We want to inspire children to be confident in the art of speaking and listening and who can use discussion to communicate and further their learning.
We believe that children need to develop a secure knowledge-base which follows a clear pathway of progression as they advance through the primary curriculum and leave our school with a secure basis in the literacy skills which will give our children the tools they need to participate fully as a member of society.

Implementation
These aims are embedded across our English lessons and the wider curriculum. We have a rigorous and well organised English curriculum that provides many purposeful opportunities for reading, writing and discussion. Our curriculum closely follows the aims of the National Curriculum for English and, where appropriate, makes cross-curricular links. We use a wide variety of quality texts and resources to motivate and inspire our children. We also provide a wealth of enrichment opportunities, from authors visiting the school, book weeks, theatre visits and creative writing competitions. This ensures that children benefit from access to positive role models from the local and wider communities.

Impact

• Pupils will enjoy writing across a range of genres
•  Pupils of all abilities will be able to succeed in all English lessons because work will be appropriately scaffolded
• Pupils will have a wide vocabulary that they use within their writing
• Pupils will have a good knowledge of how to adapt their writing based on the context and audience
•  Pupils will leave primary school being able to effectively apply spelling rules and patterns they have been taught
• Parents and carers will have a good understanding of how they can support spelling, grammar and composition and home, and contribute regularly to homework
• The % of pupils working at EXP+ within each year group will be at least in line with national averages.
• The % of pupils working at Greater Depth within each year group will be at least in line with national averages
•  The will be no significant gaps in the progress of different groups of pupils (e.g. disadvantaged vs non-disadvantaged, girls-boys)