English

English has a pre-eminent place in education and in society. A high-quality education in English will teach pupils to speak and write fluently so that they can communicate their ideas and emotions to others and through their reading and listening, others can communicate with them. Through reading in particular, pupils have a chance to develop culturally, emotionally, intellectually, socially and spiritually.

National Curriculum 2014

Intent - What Do We Aspire for Our Children?

Our Curriculum Intent for English

At Cuddington, children are encouraged to develop their analytical reading and writing skills through high-quality texts that enhance learning across the curriculum. By fostering a love for reading, we equip pupils with the vocabulary and confidence needed to communicate effectively. Our word-rich curriculum explicitly teaches diverse vocabulary, aiming to close the gap for disadvantaged children. Well-structured writing lessons help pupils adapt their language for different contexts and audiences, enabling them to apply their transcription skills throughout the curriculum. By the end of their time at Cuddington, pupils will have mastered essential skills in speaking, reading, and writing, preparing them for further education and life beyond school.

Our Whole School Literature Spine

At Cuddington, we believe that beautiful picture books should be at the core of our English curriculum. Our literature spine ensures that children are immersed in six stunning texts each year. Each book is studied in-depth with children producing two pieces of extended, independent writing every half term. This ensures children have studied a breadth of texts and experienced writing in a range of genres, forms, and styles. 

Inclusion for English:

Here at Cuddington, we strive to meet the needs of all our children, including those with Special Educational Needs (SEND), with disabilities or high need. All staff approach Teaching and Learning at the point of need, addressing where all our children's starting points are. By implementing a variety of effective assessment strategies, we gain a robust knowledge of all our pupils' writing skills and knowledge and are able to identify gaps. We ensure that individual reasonable adjustments are in place to support oracy, writing and reading though visual prompts, additional resources and personalised learning resources. Regular meetings with our SEND families, strenghtens the parent-school partnership and enables all pupils to make good progress across their English curriculum. 

Implementation - How Will We Deliver the Curriculum?

The Teaching of Reading

Our teaching of reading is delivered through ‘Steps to Read'. Steps to Read is a planning support for whole class shared reading through carefully crafted units of work.   These units of work also help our teachers to provide curriculum knowledge for foundation subjects. Our coherently planned reading curriculum ensures that we teach all aspects of word reading and comprehension through high-quality fiction, non-fiction, and poetry texts. Our reading curriculum provides a clear teaching sequence to reading sessions that explicitly teach reading skills and strategies in a cumulative way through evidence-based approaches. These comprehensive units have been constructed so that the entire statutory curriculum for reading is covered from EYFS to Y6.  

Reading lessons follow a rigorous, research-informed lesson design to ensure there is a balance between teacher-led instruction, children practicing, and independent application. 

Read to Write 

We use a research-informed ‘read to write’ approach to our teaching of English, drawing on both reading and writing skills. We use carefully selected, vocabulary-rich texts as a vehicle for teaching reading and writing.

Children follow clear, sequential episodes of learning based around an ambitious model text, that allow for the development of vocabulary and contextualised spelling, punctuation, and grammar. Units start by engaging children in a variety of reading activities, so that they fully understand the text and are able to ‘read as a writer’. Reading as a writer is a key component out our approach and involves children analysing the model text to understand the techniques the author has used and the subsequent effect on the reader. Throughout the writing process, the teacher models writing and undertakes shared writing and guided writing to develop the children’s knowledge and skills, in readiness for independent writing. By providing children with a range of writing opportunities, they are given the chance to draw on their reading and to adapt their language and style for a range of contexts, purposes, and audiences.

Each unit of work follows the structure outlined below (timings vary):                                                     

By using this approach to writing our curriculum is coherently planned to ensure that all objectives are taught and revisited throughout a year group and age phase. 

Impact - How Do We Know Our English Curriculum is Effective?

Pupil Voice

Our curriculum ethos is that children produce two pieces of high-quality, extended writing each half term based on the focus text. Writing is planned, drafted, redrafted, and then published into ‘Curriculum Books’ as a celebration of children's achievements. We believe that if children have become knowledgeable and skillful authors and readers then they will be able to articulate their understanding with confidence. This is why pupil voice is an important tool in assessing whether children have made progress

Summative Assessment

In the Autumn and Summer Term, children (Year 2 - Year 6) complete an NTS (National Test Style) standardised reading assessment. These assessments help us to appraise the impact of our curriculum, whilst also informing teachers' planning for the coming term. 

For further enquiries please contact Mrs Mills (in Mrs Potter's absence - currently on maternity leave) head@cuddington.cheshire.sch.uk

Mrs Potter; deputy@cuddington.cheshire.sch.uk 

Discrete Teaching of Spelling

At Cuddington, we teach spelling daily through our Phonics scheme (ELS) in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2.

From Year 3 to Year 6 we teach spelling 3 times a week using Ready Steady Spell 

Discrete Teaching of Handwriting

At Cuddington, we use 'Letter-join' to support the teaching and learning of letter formation and joins. Please see below our new and revised Handwriting policy. 

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