English
Our English Curriculum Map
whole school curriculum map 1 .pdf
Communication and Language
Our over-arching intention is to provide our children with a solid foundation of literacy skills that will underpin all their future, life-long learning. At the end of KS1 most of our children have progressed from mark-making to a cursive script; from learning to read, to reading to learn; and have a tool-kit of writing know-how and a rich store-house of learned stories and poems to draw on in their own creative writing.
During Term 1 all our Reception children are assessed via Speech and Language Link, so that specific speech and language needs are highlighted at the onset and children offered appropriate provision, both in class and with our school-based speech and language practitioner, specific to their individual needs.
Speaking and Listening
Speaking and listening skills are vital in our infant school and teachers know that talk has to be prioritised and developed across all curriculum areas. We use a range of teaching strategies to get children talking, for example: daily use of ‘talk partners’ and group work, Talk-for-Write techniques which allow teachers to model progressively challenging sentence structures and vocabulary; role-play and drama - including techniques like, conscience alley, Edward de Bono’s thinking hats, hot-seating. Our aim is to create an inspiring, active-learning style, where children can explore and investigate ideas for themselves.
To ensure our children receive a daily diet of high-quality texts, each Year group has a different, carefully-curated collection of Core Books (stories, non-fiction and poetry) to use during daily story-times. Re-reading these ‘Core Books’ means children have a chance to develop ‘favourites’ and experience the sheer joy of books.
Phonics
Helps children to “crack the code” of reading. At Priory Infant School, we believe that all our children can become fluent readers and writers. So it is essential that our approach to teaching phonics and reading is accessible to all learners, regardless of background. This is why we teach reading through Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised, which is a systematic and synthetic phonics programme. We start teaching phonics in Reception and follow the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised progression, which ensures children build on their growing knowledge of the alphabetic code, mastering phonics to read and spell as they move through school.
Also see our webpage on Phonics
Reading
Teaching children how to read is at the heart of all we do at Priory Infant School. We teach early reading and phonics skills systematically, at the same time as creating a love of reading and nurturing the enjoyment of text and books by sharing high-quality reading experiences. We use systematic synthetic phonics teaching – Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised - as a powerful tool to teach young children to read and spell. We teach children to read through reading practice sessions three times a week. These sessions are taught by a fully trained adult to small groups of approximately six children. We use books matched to the children’s secure phonic knowledge using the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised assessments. They are monitored by the class teacher, who rotates and works with each group on a regular basis. Each reading practice session has a clear focus, so that the demands of the session do not overload the children’s working memory. The reading practice sessions have been designed to focus on three key reading skills:
- Decoding; learning to recognise and say sounds represented by a symbol
- Prosody: teaching children to read with understanding and expression;
- Comprehension: teaching children to understand the text.
In Reception these sessions start in Week 4. Children who are not yet decoding have daily additional blending practice in small groups, so that they quickly learn to blend and can begin to read books. In Year 2 we continue to teach reading in this way for any children who still need to practise reading with decodable books.
Home reading
A decodable reading practice book is taken home to ensure success is shared with the family. Decodable ebooks are also available online to all our families. Each child chooses a reading for pleasure books to go home for parents to share and read to children. We use the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised parents’ resources to engage our families and share information about phonics, the benefits of sharing books, how children learn to blend and other aspects of our provision, both online and through workshops.
Additional reading support for vulnerable children
Children in Reception and Year 1 who are receiving additional phonics Keep-up sessions read their reading practice book to an adult daily.
Writing
We are proud to use the Literacy Tree as the foundation for our writing curriculum. This high-quality, book-based approach is designed to inspire a love of reading and writing, while ensuring pupils develop strong skills in grammar, vocabulary, composition, and style.
The Literacy Tree is built around carefully chosen, high-quality children’s literature. Each unit is centred on a core text, enabling pupils to explore language and storytelling in depth. The books selected are diverse and rich in language.
By rooting writing lessons in real texts, children are able to:
- Engage deeply with language, structure and style
- Learn grammar in meaningful contexts
- Write for a wide range of purposes and audiences
- Develop their own voice as writers
What Writing Looks Like at Our School
Across each year group, pupils are taken on a writing journey that includes:
- Immersive reading of the core text
- Discussion and drama to deepen understanding and spark ideas
- Sentence-level work to build control of grammar and vocabulary
- Modelled and guided writing to support pupils as they craft their own pieces
- Opportunities to edit, improve and publish work
Children produce a variety of outcomes, including narratives, persuasive texts, non-fiction reports, letters, poetry, and more — all rooted in the themes and characters of the core texts.
Handwriting
Before children are asked to write, it is important that they are developmentally ready to do so. In YR the development of fine motor skills are prioritised with daily adult-led activities, such as dough disco and then throughout the school day in our continuous provision and child-initiated learning. Following guidance from the National Handwriting Association, our YR children are encouraged to develop a dynamic tripod grip, which provides stability while allowing the precise movements needed to form letters. YR children are taught printed letter shapes using the letter formation from Little Wandle Revised Letters and Sounds.
In KS1 we aim to teach a continuous cursive style of handwriting, where the children learn to shape letters in a form that is then easy for them to join together as soon as they can. This ‘flowing’ script helps children to learn to write in a way that is legible, fluent and fast.
Skills and Progression Maps
Year 1
Year 2
Information for Parents on our Literacy Tree Scheme
