English Intent Statement
It is our intent at the Griffin Federation to provide pupils with a high-quality education in English that will teach them to speak, read and write fluently so that they can communicate their ideas and emotions to others effectively. As a federation, we are very aware that some of our pupils’ early language acquisition is limited and this is why we believe that providing a language rich environment, with a strong focus on oracy, is essential to the success across the curriculum.
Writing
We follow a Mastery approach to English through the programme ‘Pathways to Write.’ Units of work are delivered using high quality texts and children in all year groups are given varied opportunities for writing.
Skills are built up through repetition within the units, and children apply these skills in the writing activities provided. Many opportunities for widening children’s vocabulary are given through the Pathways to Write approach and this builds on the extensive work we do in school to provide our children with a rich and varied vocabulary. You will find the end of year expectations for writing, reading and spoken language for each of our year groups in the attached documents.
For further detail on the skills that your children are learning on a termly basis, please contact your class teacher.
Reading
We also follow a Mastery approach to English through the programme Pathways to Read. Units of work are delivered using high quality texts and children in all year groups are given varied opportunities for reading. Skills are built up through repetition within the units, and children apply these skills in the reading activities provided.
In KS2, the programme is delivered through whole class shared reading lessons. For pupils still needing support with phonics, we provide an individual reading programme that has phonically decodable texts at the heart of it. In our whole class reading, there is a clear teaching focus with the opportunity to master key reading skills in each session. There are follow on reading tasks to enable pupils to evidence the skills they have mastered independently.
Many opportunities for widening children’s vocabulary are given through the Pathways to Read approach and this builds on the extensive work we do in school to provide our children with a rich and varied vocabulary. You will find the end of year expectations for reading for each of our year groups in the attached documents.
For further detail on the skills that your children are learning on a termly basis, please contact your class teacher.
Oracy
Oracy is an area of weakness across the federation, so it is a key curriculum driver for our three schools. All teachers have a speaking and listening progression document, to ensure that all staff know the expectations for our children. We ensure that they we provide opportunities for children to explore language in a variety of contexts. We are also taking part in an oracy project within our local network of schools.
KS2 reading meeting for parents
Reading Skills progression KS2
Overview of Objectives for Writing EYFS-Y6
RWI phonics information for parents
Top tips for hearing your child read
