Hartpury C of E Primary School

Statement of Curriculum Intent

At Hartpury C of E Primary School, we believe that English is a vital part of their learning. It is our intention to equip our pupils with the knowledge and skills that are needed in order to read fluently, to understand what they have read with confidence, to communicate orally with others and to generate and communicate their ideas through their writing.  

At Hartpury we want the children to read with enthusiasm to develop a love of reading and to use what they have read to inspire thoughtful and conscientious sentences in their own writing – both fiction and non-fiction. We want children to write with an author’s eye and to make links across their reading and writing to make their work in all areas the best it can be.  We want children to develop their own flair in writing as well as being confident and secure to apply the grammar and punctuation that has been taught so far.  

The staff at Hartpury strive to teach a comprehensive and creative curriculum that builds on prior knowledge and gives children the skills they need to be independent readers and writers.  

Statement of Curriculum Implementation

The children have regular daily English lessons. Each lesson forms part of a unit which is planned with an intended purpose of writing and is often linked to appropriate books as inspiration or additional information for their learning. Purposes of writing are a primary focus each half term with other smaller writing tasks included to embed and allow for application of taught grammar, spelling and punctuation. The purpose of writing is divided into four categories; writing to entertain, writing to inform, writing to persuade and writing to discuss. EYFS primarily focus on writing to entertain with Year 1 and 2 beginning to explore some non-fiction units with the purpose of writing to inform. Year 3 and 4 continue to focus on writing to entertain and inform but also introduces writing to persuade. Year 5 and 6 will then introduce writing to discuss so that by the end of KS2, the children will have experience in writing for all four purposes and be aware of how these are different to one another. These purposes for writing are taught using The Write Stuff approach which uses FANTASTICs (ideas for writing sentences), GRAMMARISTICs (tools for writing sentences) and BOOMTASTICs (techniques for writing sentences). There is also a progression of grammar and punctuation that is to be taught over each year with reoccurring elements to revisit across the school to reinforce and ensure children are secure at applying in their own writing.  

Daily English lessons are complemented in EYFS and Year 1 with daily Phonics sessions whilst Years 2 to 6 follow the Spelling Shed scheme. This approach removes a child’s reliance to memorise a word list at home but instead focuses on children continuing a strong understanding of Phonics and developing children’s spelling brains to notice patterns and make connections with the words they are using regularly.  

For reading, children have books they take home to read which start with fully decodable books in EYFS and KS1 to support early reading and promote fluency and confidence with reading. Once a child has become a fluent reader, they move onto Accelerated reader for books best matched to their reading ability with a range of genres and interests to further promote their reading for pleasure. In school, each class discretely teaches reading in a mixture of guided and/or whole class approaches depending on age to support reading fluency and comprehension skills. To further encourage children’s love of reading, they have regular opportunities to read in school independently, with an adult and with their peers, as well as each teacher reading a class book daily to the children for their enjoyment of the world the book creates.  

At Hartpury, we have invested in high quality resources to teach the children. These include: Jane Considine’s The Write Stuff to support high-quality writing and to support the use of authors’ sentences; SPP Programme Unlocking Letters and Sounds (ULS) and Spelling Shed to support the teaching of high-quality Phonics and Spelling; ULS Decodable Phonics Books and Accelerated Reader to support children’s reading.

Statement of Curriculum Impact

All writing and reading is tracked regularly by staff using Insight Tracking which is an online tool that allows staff to monitor the teaching and learning of objectives. This is used to aid further planning and to support groups in addressing misconceptions as well as greater depth children.  

Three times a year, children complete assessment tests in Reading. These are then compared to teacher assessments on Insight and the progress of each pupil is carefully considered in a meeting between the head teacher and class teacher. Plans are then put in place to ensure every child can reach their full potential. These tests also enable teachers to identify whole class areas for improvement. The assessments currently used are: NFER Reading assessments and Accelerated Reading STAR assessments. Children in Y2 an Y6 do not complete an NFER reading assessment in the Spring, due to statutory assessments taking place.  

Writing (including elements of SPAG) is assessed more regularly on a half termly basis, through independent writing linked to the term’s focus in English, following Jane Considine’s The Write Stuff Approach alongside other opportunities for short burst, independent writing.  

Spelling is tracked throughout the year using Spelling Shed, including a baseline and end of year assessment. Phonics is also tracked regularly with daily interventions for identified children who haven’t met the objective within a Phonics session. The English Subject Leader also monitors assessment in these areas on a half termly basis.  
 

Data from 2022: 

Y1 Phonic Screening Check – 75% pass 

End of KS1: Reading – 75% and Writing – 69%, 

End of KS2: Reading – 82%, Writing – 54% and GPS – 64%