English

At Crossdale, we aim for all our children to have a love of reading and writing and to be equipped with high standards of literacy skills that will enable them to participate fully as a member of society.

We aim to inspire children to become effective and expressive communicators, engaged and avid readers and capable, fluent writers.

English teaching focuses on immersing children in a literature rich environment in an exciting and cross-curricular way so that knowledge and skills can be progressively developed and built upon as they move through school.

Reading, in particular, is integral for accessing all areas of the curriculum so that pupils can develop culturally, emotionally, intellectually, socially and spiritually – reading is a tool for life. 

At Crossdale, we aim to:

• Develop fluent readers by using high quality class texts, RWI phonics and whole class reading sessions. 

• Create a story telling school with effective speaking and listening skills that allow pupils to become effective communicators who use a broad and rich vocabulary.

 • Use Talk 4 Writing to develop writers who are motivated to write, and fluent in a range of text types.   

• Ensure pupils have a good understanding of grammatical devices and apply this in their writing.

 • Have high expectations for spelling and handwriting which are discretely taught and applied across the whole curriculum.

We implement our vision by teaching the National Curriculum and inspiring texts to foster engagement, purpose and passion. Through a reading rich environment, English is taught daily with opportunities to read each day.

 Early Reading :  Daily synthetic phonics sessions, systematically taught and assessed using Read Write Inc.

Reading Comprehension:  In KS2, high quality texts are used for whole class reading comprehension sessions, taught three times weekly using reading fluency strategies.

Writing:  Writing begins with a rich and interesting hook and models Talk 4 Writing strategies throughout; text immersion, innovation and then invention that promote pupils who are fluent and confident writers and use aspirational vocabulary.

Handwriting:  We use Letter-join as the basis of our handwriting policy, which covers all the requirements of the 2014 National Curriculum, and aspire for everyone to write in a neat, cursive/joined-up handwriting style.

Spelling: Spelling is taught discretely using the Twinkl spelling scheme, pupil practice daily and are tested weekly from Year 2.  

Grammar: Grammar lessons explicitly teach new learning for year groups and daily grammar bursts ensure that children can consolidate learning and apply this effectively in their speaking and writing.

Speaking & Listening:  Unit design, as well as the structure of reading sessions, equip pupils with a strong command of the spoken and written English language and allows them to participate in discussions by communicating their ideas, emotions and opinions with others using appropriate vocabulary.

Curriculum Documentation

The 'Crossdale English Curriculum' document below includes:

• Page 4: English Unit Overview
• Page 5: Pedagogy and Provision - our whole school approach to teaching English
• Page 6: Reading Book Spine
• Pages 8-10: Whole Class Reading approach and unit overview per year group. 
• Pages 13-20: Spelling approach and unit overview per year group.
• Pages 22-34: Progression in grammar.
• Pages 39-41: Handwriting.
• Pages 42-43: blueprints for T4W unit planning.

Please note there is a separate tab and curriculum document for phonics.

Crossdale English Curriculum Document	Sample Whole Class Reading Unit