The English Curriculum

Subject Intent

At Lincoln Carlton Academy, the English curriculum is designed to inspire, develop communication skills and provide our children with the tools they need to express their ideas, views and feelings. Spoken language underpins the development of reading, writing, spelling and grammar at LCA and high-quality speech is modelled to our children at all times. Through discussion, drama and role play, all children have the opportunity to verbalise their thoughts, ask questions, justify and explain their ideas. These are all key skills in the wider world and once developed, our children will have the tools needed to achieve success at school, in further education and the wider world.

Children are also enabled to express themselves creatively and imaginatively as they become enthusiastic and critical readers and writers of stories, poetry and non-fiction texts. Our scheme of work is designed to provide the children with a range of genres throughout the year and across Key Stages. The curriculum builds upon previous knowledge and skills, giving the children a deeper understanding of text types. This enables children to create texts which will have an impact on both listeners and readers.

Our core text cannon drives our English curriculum and these have been chosen to expose our children to a diverse range of texts from different periods, cultures and genres, which they might not have otherwise encountered. In doing this, we will broaden the horizons of our pupils and their aspirations will be raised.

Subject Implementation

Reading

At Lincoln Carlton Academy, we believe that the ability to read and comprehend is central to learning and should be part of every child’s daily diet. Not only does reading regularly promote word reading and fluency, but it also helps children to acquire new knowledge and expand their vocabulary. We recognise that teaching the skills of reading to children is the key to them being competent and confident readers. We aim to develop a love for reading and give children the opportunity to read a range of fiction and non-fiction texts across genres. Texts to be shared with each year group are carefully mapped out on our text overviews (Appendix 1) and have been chosen to ensure children are exposed to a range of fiction, non-fiction and poetry texts across the year, covering the expectations as set out in the National Curriculum.

Phonics

At Lincoln Carlton Academy we follow the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Programme and this starts in the first two weeks of the EYFS Reception year. Phonics is taught for 30 minutes every day and the sessions are always whole class. Any child who is assessed and found not to be at the expected standard, is immediately added to the Little Wandle Keep Up and Catch-Up Programmes. Children are given a phonic based reading book to take home after they have read it with their teacher during the week. It is very closely matched to their phonic ability. These books are kept by the child at home for one week so that they are able to read it fluently.

Writing

Throughout the year, every year groups writes a variety of different genres. There is a balance of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry as well as a mixture of authors, modern texts and classics. Every unit is based on a high-quality text from the core text canon.

In the first stage of the framework, children become immersed in the text, perhaps through an engaging ‘hook’ or WOW day. We know that children learn best when they are exposed to the background knowledge needed to understand a text. This stage is centred around speaking, listening and language development and children are exposed to new and exciting tier 2 and 3 vocabulary. They really get ‘under the skin’ of the text and work how what the purpose of the text is and who the audience might be. This will support them through the rest of the framework.

The second stage uses the text as a model for the child’s own writing. The focus is on teaching, modelling, and developing the key processes and skills needed for the child to be successful in stage three. There will a combination of shared writing, guided writing, and independent, short pieces of writing. The learning is carefully sequenced and will also include opportunities for children to work on their own individual targets in writing. Throughout this stage, children are encouraged to proofread their work and act on feedback from their teacher.

Stage three is when children apply the skills they gave learnt with greater independence. They will use an age-appropriate planning format to plan their piece of writing, followed by a series of drafts and redrafts where appropriate. Children are expected to continually improve their work by acting on feedback to edit and improve their writing whilst always keeping the audience and purpose in mind. Where appropriate, they may publish their work so that it can be shared with the intended audience.

Subject Impact

Children who leave Lincoln Carlton Academy at the end of their full programme of study in English will:

• Speak clearly and audibly and take account of their listeners.
• Listen with concentration to identify the main points in what they have heard.
• Be able to adapt their speech to a wide range of circumstances and demands.
• Have an extensive vocabulary that is used accurately in speech and when writing.
• Be confident, independent readers, through focus on word, sentence, and text-level knowledge.
• Be enthusiastic and reflective readers who understand the audience and purpose of a text type.
• Have fostered the enjoyment of writing and recognition of its purpose and value.
• Write accurately and purposefully, both in narrative and non-fiction form.
• Have the knowledge needed to plan, draft, and edit their written work.

Further details of how our English curriculum is implemented can be found in the English Curriculum document (link below).