English

Our English curriculum focuses on students acquiring the key skills of reading, writing, and speaking and listening.

We believe that all students should be encouraged to be proficient readers and writers who are able to use their literacy skills to fully access the world around them.  We are also committed to encouraging our students to have a love of literature and of reading.  The English curriculum therefore focuses on functional skills as well as fun.

Our English lessons encourage a love of reading.  To do this we use well-chosen and appropriate texts to expand our students’ horizons as well as ensuring they are represented in the texts that we use.  We use guided reading sessions in small groups to support those students who may be more reluctant to engage in reading or who are fearful of reading due to past experiences of unsuccessful engagement.  Carefully curated reading books will be available in each classroom to further encourage enjoyment of reading.

To encourage cross-curricular coverage, all schemes of work detail opportunities for subject specific reading and the learning of key vocabulary.  This includes features such as technical language in science, newspaper articles in PSHE and fictional accounts about historical events in Thematic Approaches to Learning.

Writing also features heavily in the English curriculum.  We develop our students’ speed and accuracy of handwriting as well as encouraging them to take risks with their content choices such as expanding their vocabulary banks so their writing is fluent and interesting.  We focus on the acquisition of clear and functional writing skills such as the use of a range of punctuation methods whilst at the same time incorporating creative writing and exploring students’ imaginations within their writing.

Our students have a range of communication needs which can include a lack of knowing how to contribute appropriately in social situations, poorly developed receptive or expressive language skills, and difficulty with acquiring active listening skills.   Therefore, another feature of English lessons is a focus on communication in all its iterations.