Subject Vision English

Our Vision for English at St George's

Let all that you do be done in Love’ 1 Corinthians 16:14

The example of Jesus Christ and the Good news that he brings inspire St George’s school to be a place of hope and a caring and inclusive community in which we all love to learn and learn to love

‘The more that you read, the more that you know. The more that you learn, the more places you will go.’ Dr Seuss

English is a vital way of communicating in school, in public life and internationally. Literature in English is rich and influential, reflecting the experience of people from many countries and times. Within our school we encourage children and staff to develop their love of reading and writing. We believe that by interweaving reading and writing skills and making links explicit, we will nurture children’s English abilities to their best potential.

We understand that spoken English is key in establishing a firm foundation upon which to build reading and writing skills in our children. Throughout their time at St George’s children will develop their confidence in spoken language and have lots of opportunities to articulate what they would like to say. We feel that it is important for children to have exposure to new vocabulary and the opportunities to explore this in a variety of creative ways; for example, drama, art and role play.Children are expected to read widely and are provided with opportunities to do so. Modelling of text interrogations then helps them to use this new knowledge to understand how their authorial choices impact their writing and the reader.

Here at St George’s we are passionate about developing children’s reading skills. Being a confident and fluent reader enables children to effectively access and engage with the world around them. 

Learning to read begins in the Early Years when the children start in Nursery, where they are immersed in print, rhyme, sounds, stories and songs. Children are provided with engaging activities and provocations to encourage them to connect what they see, hear and experience in the world around them. These opportunities develop the children’s awareness of sound and print and are the foundations needed to use phonics successfully, and to move onto fluent reading. As the children become confident with discriminating sounds and retelling stories and rhymes, they move towards daily phonics teaching. Within phonics lessons children are taught how to say, read and write sounds in fun and engaging activities which may be indoors or outdoors and are supplemented with Read, Write, Inc resources. Lessons are fast paced and repetitive in order to introduce, embed and apply learning, and children are assessed regularly and regrouped to ensure that teaching is tailored to their needs and next steps. Phonics sessions, alongside enhancement opportunities within class settings, are designed to provide the children with the skills they need to begin their journey to becoming confident and independent readers.

‘Reading is dreaming with open eyes’ Anissa Trisdianty. Reading is a platform to lose ourselves in a distant world. Through a love of reading we want our children to develop a love of language and to be able to articulate their thoughts, feelings and emotions and to develop their imagination in ways that they would never have believed. Reading is at the heart of our curriculum and through reading, learning can be enriched and deepened. Reading comes in many forms and we expose our children to the full range of genres throughout the curriculum. Our children are immersed in high quality texts which are linked to their Learning Challenges where possible.We want our children to love books and to have a passion for the work of different authors. We want them to learn about different styles which they can imitate and foster a love of fiction and nonfiction texts. We give our children as many opportunities as we can to read in school either for pleasure or as part of their learning.

The children make regular visits to the library and are encouraged to talk about books, sharing views and opinions and making their own choices and recommendations to others. There are reading areas in every classroom and around school encouraging children to read at every opportunity and for many different purposes.Reading is taught discretely through focused reading sessions during the week where children develop word reading and comprehension skills through studying a class novel or other reading comprehension activities. Comprehension skills are taught through the Reading Gems: Define Retrieve Summarise Infer Predict Relate Explore Compare.

Reading is also taught through English lessons where strategies from the Power of Reading are used alongside text interrogation to deepen children’s understanding. Reading skills are used and applied in all areas of the curriculum. Teachers read to children every day and story time is valued by all throughout school.

Through the Power of Reading and the use of high-quality texts we ensure that creativity and imagination is at the forefront of our English teaching and learning. We understand that writing is a process and we develop children’s abilities to craft and draft for a range of different purposes and audiences in a meaningful way in relation to their text or current life situation. Children begin their journey into writing in the Early Years where they are given opportunities to mark make and record their ideas and stories in a variety of ways. As they begin to understand that writing communicates meaning, they are taught how to form letters and write words, building up to sentences as they develop the skills that are required to do this. Writing is valued, celebrated and displayed in all it’s forms and children are encouraged to write through activities within their phonics lessons, guided writing opportunities and through the many provocations and enhancements that are created within the classroom settings.

During the writing process we believe it is important that children know their strengths and how to improve their writing through the use of new skills, targets and regular opportunities to revise their work. We have high expectations of handwriting and presentation and ensure children apply their spelling, grammar and punctuation skills in all aspects of writing. Through peer assessment children are reflective writers who proof-read and edit their writing to make improvements resulting in a final published piece of writing.

2 Corinthians 1:13
For we write nothing else to you than what you read and understand, and I hope you will
understand until the end

To read our full vision for English, click on the image below:

Our six principles for the teaching of English

Reading into writing

Progressive

Audience and purpose

Exposure to new vocabulary

Developing a love of reading and writing

Drama and Art link

Reading Area

Every class has their own reading area which was compiled by both teachers and pupils. Our childeren love reading for pleasure and are regularly encouraged to do so both at home and in school.

Working Walls

Each class has an English working wall linked to their text which the children use to help them with their writing.