At Oldfield Park Infant School we believe that English is the language of learning in every curriculum subject.  English allows children to learn independently and is therefore empowering.  We ensure that the teaching of English is enjoyable, motivating and challenging.  We not only teach basic skills but provide our children with a rich, meaningful and engaging learning environment.  We strive to inspire a love and appreciation of English and ensure that every child becomes a competent reader and writer.  

Intent:

At Oldfield Park Infant School it is our intent to provide all children in EYFS and Key Stage 1 with a broad, balanced and challenging English curriculum.  Children will embark on an exciting journey that supports and develops their speaking, listening, reading and writing skills.

The children will become confident speakers who initiate and engage in discussions with others.  We will equip children with the necessary skills required to become capable and confident readers, thus providing a lifelong love of reading and literature.  By immersing the children in a rich variety of texts we will inspire their imagination.  Children will develop an extensive vocabulary that will inspire them to write clearly and accurately for a range of contexts, purposes and audiences.  By developing children’s reading and writing we aim to prepare them for lifelong learning. 

Implementation:

These aims are embedded across our English lessons and the wider curriculum. We have a rigorous and well organised English curriculum that provides many purposeful opportunities for reading, comprehension, writing, grammar, speaking and listening and drama. Pupils are immersed into a range of fiction and non-fiction texts and through engaging lessons they are equipped with the skills to write for a range of contexts, purposes and audiences. We have carefully selected our topics alongside high quality texts which will not only drive our writing but will also expose children to high level vocabulary, inference, and a range of punctuation. These texts are selected to promote a love of reading, engagement and to improve the quality of our children’s writing. In EYFS and Key Stage 1 we use Essential Letters and Sounds to teach a fully inclusive phonics curriculum.

Impact:

The impact will be clear. Through the children’s progress, sustained learning and transferable skills across the curriculum. Writing journeys will be visible and documented within the children’s individual folders and books. Our children will develop skills that they require for the next key stage. We will ensure that children use their skills across all subjects, being able to write for different purposes.

 At Oldfield Park Infant School we carefully monitor the impact our English curriculum has on individual children’s progress and attainment through both external and internal assessments. The information from these assessments is analysed and informs us of areas of strength and our next steps for development. Furthermore, we have a comprehensive system for moderating children’s learning in their books through regular year group, whole school and PAT moderation meetings. We started our Essential Letters and Sounds journey in October 2021 and we are confident it will have a significant impact, thus ensuring our children make rapid progress in reading and writing. This, alongside our learning values, will create resilient happy children, who enjoy reading and writing.