English

Our English leaders are Miss Riley and Miss Chapman

Curriculum Statement of Intent for English

At Hendal Primary School our aim is develop young readers and writers who are able to reason, discern, think critically, develop a love of reading and writing across a range of genres.

We will achieve this by:

• Planning for progression of skills in reading and writing from EYFS to Year 6
• Providing regular opportunities for children to develop their oracy, speaking and listening skills so they can communicate ideas clearly and learn from discussion
• Teaching a rigorous phonics programme to ensure pupils are fluent, confident readers who show good understanding.
• Being good reading role models and foster and enjoyment of a wide range of literature.
• Teaching pupils to form letters correctly, use punctuation accurately and present work to a high standard.
• Expose pupils to a wide range of vocabulary and grammar conventions used in reading and writing.
• Encouraging pupils to play with language and write imaginatively.
• Developing an experiential learning environment that is exciting, interesting and stimulating, this includes educational visits and external providers coming into school.
• Provide opportunities for cross-curricular links to help deepen children’s understanding of how to apply writing skills for different purposes and audiences.

Handwriting

Pencil control and how to write letters is taught from when pupils enter school. It is important that children can form letters correctly so that they can communicate their ideas efficiently. Discrete handwriting lessons are taught across school with teacher modelling. Correct posture and pencil grip are part of this. From Year 2, the majority of pupils will start to learn cursive script when appropriate.

When a child consistently joins their handwriting neatly, with correct formation of letters, a pen license will be awarded. The presentation should be consistent across all subjects.

Word Aware

At Hendal Primary we believe that vocabulary is important for all areas of the curriculum. This is why we follow the Word Aware Programme to teach pupils new vocabulary in a structured way. There are lots of opportunities for pupils to practise the words through fun games and activities to embed new vocabulary  right from EYFS.