Intent 

At Purley Primary School, we believe that a quality English curriculum should develop children’s love for reading, writing and discussion. One of our priorities is to develop children’s love for reading and we aim to achieve this by providing the children with access to high quality texts across all year groups. We believe that by beginning with high quality literature as a starting point, children will be inspired and take an active role in their learning. We recognise the importance of nurturing a culture where children can discuss these texts and share their opinions with others.  We want to inspire children to be confident in the art of speaking and listening and to use discussion to communicate and further their learning. 

We believe that children need to develop a secure knowledge-base in English, which follows a clear pathway of progression as they advance through the primary curriculum. A solid grounding in literacy skills is essential for a high-quality education, equipping our students with the tools they need to fully engage and succeed as active members of society.

Implementation 

The national curriculum for English aims to ensure that all pupils:

 ● Read easily, fluently and with good understanding.
● Develop the habit of reading widely and often, for both pleasure and information.
● Acquire a wide vocabulary, an understanding of grammar and knowledge of  

   linguistic conventions for reading, writing and spoken language.
● Appreciate our rich and varied literary heritage.
● Write clearly, accurately and coherently, adapting their

   language and style in and for a range of contexts,  

   purposes and audiences.
● Use discussion to learn; they should be able to

   elaborate and explain clearly their understanding and

   ideas.
● Are competent in the arts of speaking and listening,

  making formal presentations, demonstrating to others

  and participating in debate.

The teaching of these skills is embedded within each unit of work and children are given explicit opportunities to apply them in their writing across a wide range of genres.

Greg Botrill’s Drawing Club is used in Reception to harness the magic of stories.

Each week a wide range of story books, storytelling, or animation is used to broaden the children’s exposure to new vocabulary using actions, and encourages their imagination by exploring the story through drawing.  Children are encouraged to talk about their drawings by having back and forth conversations with their peers and adults, listen to others’ ideas and use the new vocabulary. The children develop their fine motor control through drawing and using their phonic knowledge to add labels and messages to their drawings.

We have a rigorous and well-organised English curriculum and framework that provides many purposeful opportunities for reading, writing and discussion. The wide variety of quality texts that we use, motivate and inspire our children. Teachers also ensure that relevant and insightful links are made to other areas of the curriculum. The children at Purley Primary School are given a wide range of “real life” writing experiences in which to practise and apply the skills that have been taught. These have included: writing wanted posters about the Gruffalo, writing instructions for growing a dragon from 'How to Train Your Dragon', writing formal letters complaining about the wind farmer to the council, writing diary entries about life in the stone age from ‘Stone Age Boy’ and writing balanced arguments to hold a class debate e.g. “Was Dooby a good leader?” from ‘Floodland’.

At Purley, we have dedicated significant time and resources to developing our reading program, rooted in a strong belief that children best learn to read through a phonetic approach. Our quality teaching of synthetic phonics is enhanced by our expanding collection of fully decodable reading books. Since introducing Twinkl Phonics in September 2022, we have seen increased engagement and growing confidence among our pupils. For our Foundation Stage and Key Stage One learners, the phonetic progression in Reading Rhino books aligns seamlessly with our Phonics instruction, ensuring that all children, regardless of ability, can apply their learning directly in their reading. In addition to these decodable texts, we offer a rich variety of fiction and non-fiction materials, further supporting the development of essential comprehension skills. From Y2 we teach the Spelling Shed Programme which children can access in school and at home to support their learning.

At Purley Primary School, we identify children who need support and provide intervention in the most effective and efficient way that we can. We run intervention phonic and reading groups and are fortunate to have volunteers who come in regularly to hear children read. Most children on the SEND register have reading and comprehension as one of their targets. Teachers plan and teach English lessons which are differentiated to the needs of each child.  We help our pupils to maximise their potential by providing support where necessary, whilst striving to make children independent workers once they are equipped with the confidence, tools and strategies that they need. 

Marking is rigorous in English and across the curriculum, with regular ‘Feedback and Response Times’ and spelling corrections to help children correct and consolidate their work. English book scrutinies are carried out to check all teachers are following our marking policy rigorously.

Impact 

Children at Purley enjoy sharing their learning with others and talk with enthusiasm about the texts they are reading both in class and for pleasure at home. 

As English is a core component of the curriculum, we have seen significant improvement in cross-curricular writing standards. The skills taught in English lessons are being effectively applied across other subjects, demonstrating a strong consolidation of learning. This transfer of knowledge reflects a deeper understanding of when and how to use specific grammar and punctuation objectives in a variety of contexts. The impact of this robust curriculum is identified using a range of assessment measures. These include:

1. Termly grammar tests from Y2 to Y6
2. Termly independent writing tasks which are teacher assessed
3. Standardised spelling and reading tests may also be carried during the year to monitor progress and support teacher assessment
4. Termly reading and comprehension tests
5. Termly phonic assessments are carried out in FS and Y1 to determine children's GPC knowledge and their ability to apply this when blending the segmenting. 

Following on from these assessment we adapt and review our planning and teaching to meet the needs of our diverse range of children.

 

Please click on the relevant year group overview below for details of our curriculum coverage.