All children can express themselves; communicating their ideas and emotions
At Richard Alibon Primary School we provide pupils with a high-quality education in English that teaches pupils to speak, read and write fluently so that they can communicate their ideas and emotions to others effectively.
Our English intent is to:
- Ensure children are able to communicate their thoughts, ideas and emotions effectively
- Help children acquire a wide vocabulary, an understanding of grammar and knowledge of literary devices for reading, writing and spoken language
- Help children appreciate our rich and varied literary heritage
- Enable children to write clearly, accurately and coherently, adapting their language and style in and for a range of contexts, purposes and audiences
- Support children to use discussion in order to learn; so they are able to elaborate and explain clearly their understanding and ideas
These skills of language are essential to participating fully as a member of society and as such contribute to the wider curriculum intent of our school.
Speaking and listening
Oracy is a key part of our curriculum. Good speaking and listening is embedded throughout our school. These skills are embedded in each unit of work and develop throughout the curriculum. Children have regular access to story tellers both in person and online to help develop these skills.
These skills include:
- Listening and responding appropriately to adults and their peers
- Asking questions to extend understanding and knowledge
- Articulating and justifying answers, arguments and opinions
- Giving well-structured descriptions, explanations and narratives for different purposes, including for expressing feelings
- Using spoken language to develop understanding through speculating, hypothesising, imagining and exploring ideas
- Considering and evaluating different viewpoints, attending to and building on the contributions of others
These skills are further practised and developed in lessons such as Philosophy for Children where children are encouraged to talk about topical matters in society sharing their thoughts and ideas while respecting those of others. Each week children participate in a student run school council session where they work collaboratively as part of a group to make decisions for their school community, ensuring every voice is heard and can make a difference.
Writing
All children are taught the skills of writing through the school’s scheme of work. Based on the widely used concepts devised by the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education, (CLPE), it focuses on high quality children’s literature and proven teaching approaches to engage children in the development of their writing skills. Teachers highlight and model how to apply writing techniques to create a good piece of writing by focusing on the composition and structure of the text. Tasks are usually based on a core text to support and enhance children’s developing skills as a writer in a meaningful and effective way. Our children develop an awareness of the audience, purpose and context writing.
Documents to support our English Curriculum can be found below:
