English

Chigwell Row Infant School

English Intent Statement

 

Our Vision 

 


Through a caring, respectful, and successful environment, we provide the opportunity for every child to reach their full potential. 

 

At Chigwell Row, we strive for every child to have a love of English across the curriculum. We recognise that English consists of reading, writing and spoken language; quality first teaching promotes all three aspects and will be accessible to every child. Through being taught to write and speak fluently, pupils learn to communicate their ideas and emotions to others; through their reading and listening, others can communicate with them. Through reading in particular, pupils have a chance to develop culturally, emotionally, spiritually and socially. All the skills of language are essential to participating fully as a member of society. As a school we are dedicated to being life-long learners in English and recognise that children meeting at least Age Related Expectation allows them to thrive in their future. 

 

Teaching 

We provide opportunities for writing for purpose and we encourage pupils to see themselves as authors. English teaching happens daily and over the year the aim is to have 40% of lessons with a reading focus, 40% with a writing focus and the remaining 20% on spoken language. We recognise that often lessons show all three elements to varying degrees. When teaching fiction, teachers begin with a book that they are passionate about, as this in turn inspires the children with quality first teaching. The book chosen addresses a ‘bigger picture’ which is grounded in a social, moral, spiritual and cultural aspect. The teaching sequence may last several weeks and will culminate in a main writing task(s). There are many opportunities for children to apply their English skills across the curriculum and high expectations are embedded in the varied outcomes.

 

Spoken Language

Our aim is for children to become reflective communicators, displaying confidence and clarity. Effective communication consists of careful, attentive listening, meaningful talk and consideration of audience. The teaching of spoken language within English provides children with a tool for accessing other areas of the curriculum and is a fundamental pre-requisite for processing information and ideas, as well as verbal and written communication. It also develops social skills such as the ability to work in a team and form positive relationships. To develop spoken language skills children have opportunities to partake in:

  • Speaking
  • Listening
  • Group discussions and interaction
  • Drama and performance (hot-seating, conscience alley, freeze frames)

 

Assessment

Children are encouraged to make their own reflections and to edit their work, completing this using a green pen/ pencil. Formative assessment is ongoing throughout the day across the curriculum to inform planning and to meet the needs of individual children as well as groups and the whole class. Our assessment is based upon observations, marking and feedback (from pupils, other staff members, parents…).

The following summative assessment occurs through the course of a year:

EYFS:

  • Baseline
  • Teacher assessment (termly)
  • End of year profile KS1 
  • Termly assessment using a variety of assessment tools
  • End of Key Stage statutory assessments take place for Year 2 for reading and vocabulary, grammar, punctuation and spelling. Writing is teacher assessed and reported.
  • Phonics screening takes place in the Summer Term for Year 1 pupils and any Year 2 pupils that have since joined the school or did not reach the threshold in Year 1.

 

These summative assessments culminate in a written report sent to parents and carers at the end of the Summer Term.

 

Inclusion -Special Educational Needs Disability (SEND) / Pupil Premium / Higher Attainers

 

All children will have Quality First Teaching. We aim to provide for all children so that they achieve as highly as they can in English according to their individual abilities. We identify pupils or groups of pupils who are under- achieving and take steps to close the gap. There are a variety of interventions we use. Any children with identified SEND or in receipt of pupil premium funding may have work additional to and different from their peers in order to access the curriculum dependent upon their needs. Children working at Greater Depth are identified and suitable learning challenges provided.