Writing at Shakespeare Infant School

Intent

At Shakespeare Infant School our integrated curriculum sets out to develop resilient, inquisitive and independent learners. Our aim is to ensure that the children are supported to leave our school being able to read, write and able to communicate their ideas.

We believe in an integrated approach where learning is purposeful and cross curricular. The projects in each year group are recursive and have been carefully sequenced to enable children the time to revisit and then build upon prior skills. English is at the heart of each of our projects allowing the children to regularly experience a wide, ambitious and exciting variety of reading and writing opportunities.

We believe that all children should have the opportunity to become confident readers. We want our children to have a varied reading diet, with exposure to a range of authors, allowing them to make sense of the world around them. We want to work alongside our school’s parents and carers as we understand that together with consistent commitment we can enable each child to become a lifelong reader.

We understand the importance of talk in our English lessons as it allows children to develop their vocabulary in a sociable yet focused way. We want to provide regular opportunities for the children to be able to communicate with their peers and in turn become a great listener.

Our English curriculum has been designed to be inclusive of all of our children. Staff at our school are reflective to ensure that each child’s literacy journey will be personal and ambitious. We care that all children feel a sense of achievement and therefore feel motivated to learn.

Implementation

The day to day delivery of English in our school is through well-sequenced, practical and creative tasks designed to engage the children’s preferred learning styles. The writing, reading and vocabulary teaching in our school is made meaningful because of our unique integrated English curriculum which allows the children to become fully immersed in their learning because of the strong, cross curricular links.

Our exciting projects start with a hook and then end with an outcome. Therefore, the children are motivated to acquire new skills and vocabulary. Our school boasts magnificent, newly developed grounds that inspire the children and are regularly used to enhance and provide first hand experiences in English lessons for our learners.

High quality, engaging texts are an integral part of our school’s English curriculum. This allows for the endless literacy benefits and enjoyment that regular reading time can bring and a visual context that furthers children’s understanding and allows them to make stronger links in each project.

Our English lessons are carefully sequenced to cover relevant skills and to enable our learners to revisit prior learning frequently. Quality time is dedicated to talk, vocabulary and oracy skills at the beginning of each writing journey. In the classrooms you will see these skills being practised through games, talk partner time, character hot seating, drama and role play.

Overall, our English curriculum plays a lead part within all of our projects. Our projects are shaped around the children’s interests and deepening their knowledge of the local and wider world around them. This provides a foundation and ample opportunities for children to be expressive, resilient, individual and inquisitive and as a result, better prepared for their next learning chapters.

Please click on the link to the National Curriculum Programmes of Study for English.  

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/335186/PRIMARY_national_curriculum_-_English_220714.pdf

Handwriting at Shakespeare Infant School

We teach pre-cursive handwriting from the start in Reception and children progress to continuous cursive in Year 2. We use the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised mnemonics to support children's letter formation.