English

English

At St Bede's we recognise the importance of nurturing a culture where children enjoy English. They can read fluently and write clearly and accurately adapting their language and style for a range of purposes. We believe in using the power of stories and rich model texts to inspire writing. 

At St Bede's, we have carefully chosen a breath of high quality model texts that engage children. Our model texts are broken into the Seven Stories of the world:

  • Overcoming the Monster

  • Rags to Riches

  • The Quest

  • Voyage and Return

  • Comedy

  • Tragedy

  • Rebirth

A range of both fiction and non-fiction texts are used throughout each year to ensure progression. We believe that children need to develop a secure knowledge-base within writing, which follows a clear pathway of progression as they advance through the primary curriculum, which enables children to make links with the wider curriculum.  We believe that a secure basis in reading and writing skills are crucial to a high-quality education and this will give our children the tools they need to be ready for the next stage of their education. 

English Lessons

We teach English as whole class lessons, so that all children have access to the age-related skills and knowledge contained in the National Curriculum. Within lessons, teachers and teaching assistants support all children to achieve at an age-related level wherever possible. This may involve a greater level of scaffolding and access to additional support materials such as word banks, talking tins or a greater level of modelling.

Spelling

Spellings are taught according to the rules and words contained in Appendix 1 of the English National Curriculum.  Spellings are taught daily as part of English lessons using the No Nonsense Spelling Scheme to support teaching. Children are not given spellings to learn each week as they learn in class.

Grammar and Punctuation

Grammar and punctuation knowledge and skills are taught through English lessons as well as stand alone sessions taught twice per week from Year 2-6. Teachers plan to teach the required skills through the genres of writing that they are teaching, linking it to the genre to make it more connected with the intended writing outcome. 

In the stand alone lessons teachers follow a well sequenced SPAG overview which maps the objectives from the National Curriculum. This ensures children learn the grammar concept in isolation but also link it to the genre of writing in their English lessons. 

Autumn 1 SPAG Overview

Autumn 2 SPAG Overview

Spring 1 SPAG Overview

Spring 2 SPAG Overview

Summer 1 SPAG Overview

Summer 2 SPAG Overview