Subject Hub Leader:

Jamie Evans is the Deputy Headteacher and English Leader at Sandgate Primary School, which is recognised as an accredited Talk for Writing Training Centre. He also supports other schools nationally and internationally on school improvement projects to develop Talk for Writing and Talk for Reading.

Jamie believes that reading opens the door both to incredible new worlds and to the wider curriculum, and that learning to write gives children the voice to communicate their ideas and grow their imagination. He has a passion for storytelling and story play, and his research for a Masters in Education allowed for greater exploration into the complexity of how children learn to comprehend.

 

English Curriculum Vision:

The aim of the English curriculum at Sandgate Primary is to progressively build knowledge, such that all pupils are supported to know more and do more as they move through the school, on to secondary education and into later life. The curriculum is designed to benefit from the interconnected nature of reading and writing to ensure that all pupils successfully learn the discipline of English, along with the practical and theoretical knowledge comprising the subject. Both the reading and writing curriculums are supported by rigorous assessment approaches that accord all pupils the opportunity to demonstrate what they know and can do, whilst allowing gaps to be identified and addressed without impacting negatively on learning.

 

Curriculum Threads: English - Reading:

The Reading curriculum at Sandgate, supported by Animaphonics, Accelerated Reader and Talk for Reading, is designed around the following:

• Reading words (decoding): developing rapid mastery of the English alphabetic code through the Animaphonics systematic synthetic phonic programme, supported by high reading mileage. 
• Reading more: maintaining high reading mileage throughout the school to develop increased fluency with both word reading and comprehension, supported by Accelerated Reader.
• Reading wider: hearing, reading and learning texts that are pitched at a higher level of challenge than children would choose themselves. Texts include a wide range of authors, such as significant British authors but also from all around the world. 
• Reading deeper: understanding at a deeper level by investigating concepts including language, structure/plot, character, setting, perspectives/viewpoints, main themes/ideas/messages/ information, and the disciplinary behaviours underpinning such investigation including activating prior knowledge, visualising and other sensory responses, questioning the text, predicting, empathising, clarifying & checking for clarity, scanning for specific detail, evaluating/critiquing, determining importance, summarising & drawing conclusions.
• Reading as a habit: learning to read words, read more, read wider and read deeper with fluency and as a habitual, positive behaviour.

 

Curriculum Threads: English - Writing:

The Writing curriculum at Sandgate, supported by Talk for Writing and Animaphonics, is designed around the following:

• Language: knowing, understanding and using more words, but also the language of literature.
• Structure/plot: knowing, using and manipulating useful structures/plots.
• Narrative concepts (or non-fiction purposes) & tools to express them: knowing tools to develop character, setting, action, dialogue, description and suspense, but also tools to persuade, inform, explain, recount, instruct or discuss.
• Transcriptional accuracy: developing fluent joined handwriting, accurate grammatical patterns of language (and associated grammatical terminology), accurate use of punctuation and – building from the systematic synthetic phonics programme – learning to spell using the English alphabetic code.
• Writerly behaviours: knowing how writers think, act and behave, and learning to do this themselves as successful, independent and creative writers.

 

 

Curriculum Documents: English

 

An overview of the English curriculum can be found here

 

 

 

A sample of the school curriculum for English can be found here

 

 

 

A sample of the school assessment for English can be found here