English

Our Vision and Aims for English

English is a core subject of the curriculum, central to the wider curriculum and fundamental to every child’s learning both at school and in the world beyond. Children need to develop their use of language in order to learn and to play a full and active role as individuals in society. It is central as a medium of thought, learning and expression across the curriculum and also as a subject in its own right. The English curriculum promotes high standards of language and literacy by equipping pupils with a strong command of the spoken and written word and develops a love of literature through widespread reading for enjoyment.

The aims of English are:

• To foster in children the confidence, desire and ability to express their views and opinions orally, speaking clearly and audibly in ways which take account of their listeners;

• To enable children to adapt their speech to a wide range of circumstances and demands;

• To provide children with a language-rich environment that promotes a culture of communication, reading and writing;

• To develop in pupils a love of books along with a regular habit of reading;

• To encourage pupils to value and use books as a basis for learning, pleasure, talk and play;

• To encourage children to become enthusiastic and reflective readers through contact with challenging and lengthy texts;

• To help children enjoy writing and recognise its value;

• To enable children to write with accuracy and meaning in narrative and non-fiction through systematic teaching of spelling, handwriting, grammar and punctuation;

• To increase the children’s ability to use planning, drafting and editing to improve their written communication.

Reading

At Olive Hill, we place reading at the centre of our curriculum. Topics are planned around key texts which inspire children’s learning across the curriculum.

Through reading, pupils have a chance to develop culturally, emotionally, intellectually and spiritually. Encouraging pupils to enjoy reading not only fosters positive reading attitudes and behaviour for life, but also has strong links to raising attainment and it is therefore a key part of the reading strategy at Olive Hill.

Writing

At Olive Hill, we encourage our young writers to develop positive attitudes towards writing in a range of forms and for a myriad of purposes which make literacy learning meaningful and valued. Writing outcomes at Olive Hill are most often inspired by quality texts, sometimes inspired by cross-curricular learning or based on rich media, such as video, plays or blogs.

We have chosen to theme all books studied in English lessons across Year groups 1-6 each half term to enable children to deepen their understanding of key literacy themes, build on previous knowledge and use language progressively.

The themes children will study are:

Autumn 1 - Displacement
Autumn 2 - Environment
Spring 1 - Imagination
Spring 2 - Courage
Summer 1 - Relationships
Summer 2 - Change

Please see the books each year group will study under each term below.