At Henry Green School, we aim to deliver an English curriculum that is rich, relevant and engaging. We aspire to promote high standards of literacy by equipping children with a confident command of the written and spoken word.
Article 12: Every child has the right to have a say in all matters affecting them, and to have their views taken seriously.
We endeavour to expand every child’s potential for skill and autonomy in the areas of reading, writing and articulacy, so they can succeed across the whole curriculum and communicate proficiently for a range of purposes.
Article 13 : Every child must be free to say what they think and to seek and receive all kinds of information, as long as it is within the law.
We actively encourage all children to read widely and often; to cultivate a deep appreciation and love of literature and to build on their knowledge of themselves and the world in which they live.
Article 3 : The best interests of the child must be a top priority in all things that affect children.
- IDEAS table/document – coming soon
- English Curriculum overview – coming soon
Progression in Reading, Writing, Speaking and listening
Reading
Supporting Your Children with Reading
Top 100 Recommended Reads for Nursery
Top 100 Recommended Reads for Year 1
Top 100 Recommended Reads for Year 2
Top 100 Recommended Reads for Year 3
Top 100 Recommended Reads for Year 4
Top 100 Recommended Reads for Year 5
Top 100 Recommended Reads for Year 6
Writing
Description begins in the writer’s imagination but should finish in the reader’s. -Stephen King
When children are given time and space to use writing as a tool for thinking and opportunities to share ideas and preferences, they take ownership over their choices and develop the confidence to play around with language features, writing conventions and form.
At Henry Green, we acknowledge that writing can be challenging for many of our children. However, we also appreciate that writing provides a way to express what you love and what excites you. Writing is a way to escape and create the world the way you would like it be.
In order to allow children to thrive as writers, we have dedicated ourselves to carefully curating a curriculum which provides endless opportunities. We strongly believe in writing for a real-life purpose and children having a strong sense of their audience. We encourage children to take risks in their writing and to have a sense of pride in their work because as Louis L’Amour says ‘start writing, no matter what. The water does not does flow until the faucet is turned on’.
Taking into consideration that each child has their own taste and style, which we wholeheartedly encourage; by accommodating for individual needs, we aim to develop children’s voices and inspire a new generation of authors.
The teachers at Henry Green have been teaching the children:
- the writing process (drafting, revising and editing)
- the purpose of writing
- to become more fluent with handwriting, spelling, sentence construction
- to write across the curriculum
We have been focusing on contextualising the teaching of grammar within our writing sessions (explicit lessons once a week) which has had a significant positive impact on the children’s outcomes. By the end of Year 6, children at Henry Green are successful writers across a range of genres.
Texts within the English curriculum
At Henry Green, core texts are carefully selected taking into account the overall intent of the topic. These are of high quality and from a range of authors in order to raise the literacy achievement of all children by putting quality children’s literature at the heart of all learning. In addition to this, we have also taken into account children’s cultural heritage and have incorporated text that allows them to identify themselves in a story. This serves as a powerful tool in enabling our children to gain a better understanding of not only their own culture but also the cultures of others.
Speaking and Listening
coming soon…
Phonics
At Henry Green, Phonics is taught using the Read Write Inc (RWI) programme which was developed by Ruth Miskin. This programme uses a systematic, synthetic approach of Phonics to teach children to read accurately and fluently, as well as build comprehension skills.
What is Read Write Inc Phonics?
During the programme, the children will:
- Learn 44 sounds and the corresponding letter or letter groups
- Learn to read words using segmenting and blending techniques (Fred Talk)
- Read a variety of fiction and non-fiction books
- Respond to questions about the texts they have read
RWI Phonics sessions are taught daily for children in Reception to Year 2. We continue to teach RWI to children in KS2 if they require support in their reading. In Year 2, once the children are fluent at decoding, they continue to progress by developing their comprehension skills.
Here at Henry Green, we are committed to providing our children with the opportunities to learn and apply segmenting and blending skills to create confident readers with a love for reading. As a school we are proud of the fantastic results attained in the Year 1 Phonics Screening Test.
Finally, at Henry Green, we want to help every child to love words, love stories and love reading, because “the more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go” (Dr Seuss).