“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you will go” 

Dr Seuss

 

English Intent Statement 

At Mersey Park Primary School, we have developed our English curriculum following the Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage and the National Curriculum for Key Stage 1 and 2.  We believe that a high quality, effective English curriculum should develop children’s love of reading, writing and discussion. In an area of high disadvantage, we are even more passionate about ensuring all children become confident and enthusiastic lifelong readers and writers.  Our children are quickly taught to have a Mersey Park Mindset – giving them the resilience to succeed in all aspects of English.

As many of our children enter school with limited vocabulary, we quickly work to expose them to a wealth of sounds, words, rhymes and stories. In Foundation Stage there is a huge emphasis on developing listening skills and early oracy.

We believe that rigorous, daily, carefully structured direct phonics teaching provides the foundations for learning in literacy and helps our children to catch up from low starting points. For this reason, we follow the Little Wandle letters and Sounds Revised programme. Once in Foundation 2, the children are taught to read in small, fluid guided reading groups. We also establish home reading and regular communication regarding reading at this point, something that is carried on throughout the school. We provide support sessions for our parents, helping them develop the skills and confidence they need to support phonics and reading at home. Interventions are quickly put in place for children who require it and regular tracking and assessment ensures that these children are identified swiftly.

With high quality chosen texts, from a range of authors and cultures, at the heart of our English curriculum, we expose all pupils to a wealth of great literature. We foster a love of language at Mersey Park and ensure that we expose our children to a range of challenging vocabulary, beyond their life experiences. We have an ethos where our children are word curious and excel at acquiring new vocabulary. The use of Word Walls and Word Pots help our children to retain new vocabulary and use it throughout their education.

We recognise the importance of nurturing a culture where children take pride in their writing across the curriculum. We teach and model continually so they can write clearly and accurately, adapting their language and style for a range of contexts. We place a strong emphasis on presentation and handwriting both in school work and homework. We use a cursive script throughout school. To help our children grow as writers, we teach them a progressive range of sentence types. These sentence structures and an ever-growing bank of vocabulary, work alongside the Talk for Writing approach – enabling our children to develop their confidence and stamina for writing. We use additional teaching staff to make group sizes smaller so that all children can be supported effectively in reading, spelling and writing.

We also want to inspire our children to be confident in the art of speaking and listening. Through P4C, spoken language, presentations and drama, we give the children opportunities to present ideas, share knowledge, debate and discuss, accept, question and further their learning. We teach our children good manners and how to speak appropriately to different audiences and in different situations. Our English curriculum is enhanced through memorable additions such as author visits, vocabulary parades, drama workshops, poetry weeks and local library visits.

At Mersey Park, we provide a secure basis in English that is absolutely crucial and will give our children the tools they need to participate fully as a member of society. We hope that as our children move on from us to further their education, that their creativity and passion for English and high aspirations travel with them and continue to grow and develop as they do.

ENGLISH REPORT TO GOVERNORS 

English Report for Governors Summer 2023