English, Writing and Oracy

English

At Battle Hill Primary School, we believe that a quality English curriculum should develop our children’s love of reading, writing and communication, providing them with the skills needed to communicate effectively with the wider world through spoken and written language.  As spoken language underpins the development of reading and writing, we place emphasis on oracy skills. We intend to enrich students’ store of words, making links between known and new vocabulary so pupils can then expand the vocabulary choices that are available to them when they write and improve their comprehension across all subjects. We aim to inspire an appreciation of our rich and varied literary heritage and instil the motivation to read for both study and pleasure. Our English curriculum aims to enthuse our pupils through well-planned texts, which cover a range of genres across each key stage, following a clear pathway of progression as they advance through the primary curriculum. At Battle Hill Primary School, we recognise the importance of a secure basis in literacy skills and how crucial they are to a high-quality education and will give our children the tools they need to participate fully and confidently as a member of their community and wider society.

These aims and principles are embedded across our English lessons and the wider curriculum. We have a rigorous and well organised English curriculum, which provides purposeful opportunities for reading, writing and speaking and listening.

Oracy

Pupils’ acquisition and command of vocabulary are key to their learning and progress across the whole curriculum so we target early language and communication skills in pre-school using for example Big Chef Little Chef, which provides early literacy opportunities, such as following recipes, listening, following instructions, speaking and the introduction of new vocabulary

Continuing this into FSU and KS1, we use Helicopter Stories and Early Talk Boost which is a targeted intervention aimed at children with delayed language development, boosting their language skills to help narrow the gap between them and their peers.

We work closely with Voice 21 on providing a high quality oracy education, which empowers all pupils across all key phases. We

participate in the Transition Through Talk Programme, in order to make sure our pupils are confident to articulate ideas, develop understanding and engage with others through spoken language.

Writing

Battle Hill Primary School is a Talk for Writing school, which means our children can ‘read as readers’ and ‘read as writers’ considering the impact on their audience. English is taught using the principles below, enabling pupils to imitate orally the language they need for a specific genre, before reading and analysing good examples and writing their own effective version with their audience in mind.

The impact of our English curriculum means our children have the opportunity to develop:

Communication that leads to

  • An exceptional talent for listening attentively to understand what is being said
  • A rich and varied vocabulary that gives clarity and interest to conversations
  • Clear speech that can be easily understood by a range of audiences
  • An excellent grasp of the rules used in English conversation, such as tenses and grammatical structure of sentences
  • A highly developed ability to tell stories or deliver presentations that capture the interest and imagination of their audience
  • Delight in initiating and joining in conversations
  • Respect when communicating, even when others’ views differ

Reading skills that lead to fluent readers who

  • Have excellent phonic knowledge and skills
  • Are fluent and accurate in reading across a wide range of contexts throughout the curriculum
  • Have knowledge of an extensive and rich vocabulary
  • Have an excellent comprehension of texts
  • Are motivated to read for both study and for pleasure
  • Have developed an extensive knowledge through having read a rich and varied range of texts

As effective writers who have:

  • The ability to write fluently and with interesting detail on a number of topics throughout the curriculum
  • A developing imagination which makes readers engage with and enjoy their writing
  • A highly developed vocabulary and an excellent knowledge of writing techniques to extend details or description
  • Well-organised and structured writing, which includes a variety of sentence structures
  • Excellent transcription skills that ensure their writing is well presented and punctuated, spelled correctly and neat
  • A love of writing and an appreciation of its educational, cultural and entertainment values

Click on the image to the right, to see our English Progression Map