At Wheatlands Primary School we believe the study of English develops children’s ability to listen, speak, read and write for a wide range of purposes, including the communication of their ideas, views and feelings. Children are enabled to express themselves creatively and imaginatively as they become enthusiastic and critical readers of stories, poetry and drama, as well as of non-fiction and media texts. Children gain an understanding of how language works by looking at its patterns, structures and origins. Children use their knowledge, skills and understanding in speaking and writing across a range of different situations.
Our objectives in the teaching of English are:
• to enable children to speak clearly and audibly, and to take account of their listeners;
• to encourage children to listen with concentration, in order to identify the main points of what they have heard;
• to show children how to adapt their speech to a wide range of circumstances and demands;
• to teach children effective communication, both verbal and non-verbal, through a variety of drama activities;
• to help them to become confident, independent readers, through an appropriate focus on word, sentence and text-level knowledge;
• to develop enthusiastic and reflective readers, through contact with challenging and substantial texts;
• to foster the enjoyment of writing, and a recognition of its value;
• to encourage accurate and meaningful writing, be it narrative or non-fiction;
• to have fluent and legible handwriting
• to improve the planning, drafting and editing of their written work.
Planning is based upon the learning objectives in the National Curriculum and each child’s progress in achieving the key objectives is regularly assessed and this information is used to inform our planning.
Our policy can be downloaded below.