English

English

Our goal in English is to ensure every child has the self-belief and skill-set to consider themselves a reader and an author. Through an immersion in books – whether that be the latest and/or important high-quality texts readily available to all children, teacher-pupil reading dialogue or text-based topics in English and wider-curriculum lessons – we want all children to develop a strong foundation in English, beginning with developing a lifetime love for reading.

Here at St. Michael’s we are firm believers that ‘writing floats on a sea of talk’ and we place great value on speaking and listening within the writing process. Throughout their journey in English, our young authors will learn to understand the purpose of their writing and always consider who their audience is. Children will be guided through the creative process of writing, igniting and harnessing their imaginations, enabling them to realise they are artists and composers who can select from a range of skills, an ever-broadening vocabulary and grammatical structures to create work which has a desired impact on the reader. Children at St. Michael’s also understand that just like other artists, writers should constantly review their own work, looking for ways to increase the impact of their creation and so proof-reading and editing plays a vitally important role with our English lessons too.

 

Spelling in KS2

In Key Stage two we continue to build on the phonics foundations laid in Key Stage one by developing children’s knowledge and understanding of spelling patterns and rules. As well as the national curriculum, we also use Spelling Shed as our scaffold for spelling lessons however, here at St Michael’s you won’t always see the same spellings taught at the same time every year as we pride ourselves on knowing and understanding our children. This means that our teaching shifts each year in relation to the children’s needs. Spelling is taught daily through engaging and investigative lessons that will help lock these spelling rules, patterns and strategies into children’s long terms memories. These rules and patterns are then consolidated throughout the curriculum where children will be seen applying their spelling knowledge within their writing.