English
At Ickworth Park Primary School, our English curriculum is designed to be ambitious, engaging and accessible for all pupils, building progressively on knowledge and skills from the Early Years to Year 6.
Our Intent
At Ickworth Park Primary School, our English curriculum is designed to:
- Develop pupils’ confidence to become effective communicators.
- Master the key skills of punctuation, sentence structure, transcription, spelling and redrafting so that they are able to express themselves accurately.
- Create a language rich environment, both spoken and written which we model to our pupils in each lesson.
We aim for all pupils to:
- Develop a curiosity surrounding language and vocabulary that they can draw upon as they develop their oracy and writing skills.
- Have opportunity to write for authentic purposes across a range of genres and curriculum subjects.
- Take pride in their presentation and handwriting, selecting pieces of work to share in their presentation books.
Our Approach
We use ‘The Write Stuff’ as a foundation for our writing curriculum. Teachers adapt this to reflect the needs of our pupils.
Key Skills are captured through:
- The FANTASTICS (the ideas of writing), the GRAMMARISTICS (the tools of writing) and the BOOMTASTICS (the techniques of writing).
- The teacher models the thought processes of a writer as they craft sentences and draft their own and shared ideas.
- A class sentence stack is curated over the course of the lessons to celebrate children’s’ sentences and demonstrate the value given to their ideas.
Progression
Learning in English begins in the Early Years when children are introduced to the key skills of oracy and transcription. Handwriting and spelling are taught to foster mastery of key transcription skills. This links closely with the ‘Little Wandle’ scheme used to teach our reading curriculum.
As pupils move through the school:
In Key Stage 1, pupils begin to develop automaticity in these skills, continuing to use the Little Wandle handwriting scheme in Year One and moving to a cursive script using ‘Letterjoin’ in Year 2 which is continued throughout Key Stage 2. The children write across a range of genres and develop their skills of sentence construction.
In Key Stage 2, pupils develop these skills, learning to adopt a range of writing styles as befit the audience for their work. Editing and drafting becomes more purposeful and automatic as they write with fluency and control.
By Year 6, pupils are able to:
Write effectively for a range of purposes and audiences, selecting language that shows good awareness of the reader. In their narrative writing they can describe different settings, characters and atmosphere and they can use a range of devices to build cohesion and integrate dialogue to advance the action. They are accurate in using a range of punctuation, able to spell accurately and handwriting is fluent and joined.
Inclusion
All pupils are supported to access the English curriculum.
This includes:
- Scaffolding and adapted resources. Word mats are use, writing slopes are available for pupils who have difficulty with written communication, digital solutions are available.
- Clear modelling and vocabulary.
- Practical and engaging experiences: each writing topic begins with an experience day to excite and enthuse the children.
We ensure all pupils can participate fully alongside their peers.
What Makes English Special at Ickworth Park
At Ickworth Park, we enhance our English curriculum through:
- Our use of experience days linked with the genre of writing being taught. This often involves drama, art, cooking or research.
- Opportunities for real life experiences that enrich the curriculum. Our children in Early Years visit the pantomime at the end of their first term for an experience of live theatre, while our pupils in year 5 and 6 visit our local high schools to watch theatrical and musical performances by pupils who are studying drama as they progress towards university.
Impact
- Our pupils develop the ability to apply learnt grammatical and vocabulary skills across all areas of the curriculum.
- They have the confidence to check, refine and polish their own writing, having developed the resilience to persevere.
- They have the knowledge and skills to communicate fluently.
They leave Ickworth Park as creative and fluent writers, with mastery of key skills and the confidence to express their ideas and emotions.
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