Haslam Park Primary School

English at Haslam Park Primary School 

English subject lead:

Mrs E Griffin- BA (hons) English with Creative writing / NPQSL

English intent  

The overarching aim for English in the national curriculum is to promote high standards of language and literacy by equipping pupils with a strong command of the spoken and written language, and to develop their love of literature through widespread reading for enjoyment. The national curriculum for English aims to ensure that all pupils: 

• read easily, fluently and with good understanding 
• develop the habit of reading widely and often, for both pleasure and information 
• acquire a wide vocabulary, an understanding of grammar and knowledge of linguistic conventions for reading, writing and spoken language 

• appreciate our rich and varied literary heritage 
• write clearly, accurately and coherently, adapting their language and style in and for a range of contexts, purposes and audiences 
• use discussion in order to learn; they should be able to elaborate and explain clearly their understanding and ideas 
• are competent in the arts of speaking and listening, making formal presentations, demonstrating to others and participating in debate 

At Haslam Park Primary School, we believe all pupils (particularly SEND and disadvantaged pupils) are entitled to access a high-quality English curriculum which has been designed to not only allow them to fulfil their individual potential, but also reflects the unique cultural diversity of our school community in Bolton. Our English curriculum will not only fulfill The National Curriculum aims, but also allow our pupils to gain the basic skills, knowledge and cultural capital required to thrive in modern life and to access the next stage of their education. 

It is incredibly important to us that our pupils can relate to, and feel inspired by, the authors and texts they read. In order to achieve this, students are exposed to the rich heritage of literature that both Britain and the world possess. 

Reading underpins our entire curriculum and we strongly believe in the power of reading and its ability to unlock the curriculum and the world around our pupils. Teachers model a love of reading and pupils enjoy and benefit from not only being surrounded by adults who love books, but also from weekly visits to our beautiful, well-stocked libraries. We have sourced texts from across the world in order to ensure that they reflect the children here at Haslam Park. 

All children from Foundation Stage to Year 6 are provided with a range of opportunities to develop and apply their reading, writing and speaking and listening skills across all areas of the curriculum. We believe that a secure basis in all areas of English is crucial to a high-quality education and will provide our children the tools they need to participate fully as a member of society.  

English implementation: 

Phonics: 

Daily phonics lessons are delivered in EYFS and KS1, following Floppy’s Phonics. Floppy’s Phonics consists of a two-pronged approach to teaching early reading and spelling, which consists of a systematic and incidental approach: 

• The systematic approach to teaching phonics ensures that children progress speedily through the graphemes throughout the programme and develop their oral segmenting and blending skills. 
• The incidental approach focusses on using the alphabetic code chart to introduce children to graphemes that they haven’t been taught in their phonics lessons, but that they are using in their writing or have used incidentally on a daily basis. This approach ensures that pupils will be challenged early on and are introduced to many alternative spellings and pronunciations when the occasion arises before they are taught them in the systematic approach. 

Pupils are provided with home reading books that closely match their phonic ability and awareness in order to provide pupils with practice in applying what they've learned in their phonics lessons. Any pupils that have been identified as falling behind with their phonic knowledge and awareness are provided with catch up work using the phonics teaching books planned and monitored by class teachers and delivered by fully-trained staff members. Interventions in KS1 and KS2 are delivered to pupils who have yet to pass the phonics screening- this is planned carefully to ensure progress. The impact of interventions is tracked using Phonics Tracker. From year 2, pupils take part in daily spelling lessons using Spelling Shed scheme. Etymology, prefixes and suffixes along with the application of specific spelling patterns are studied and applied.  

Reading(comprehension): 

Pupils are taught that being a reader requires you to use a range of skills in the form of domains, and they are explicitly shared with the pupils. All pupils from year one-six receive daily reading lessons planned around: 

• Accessing quality texts and resources (current class texts or cracking curriculum texts) and  
• Answering domain- specific question stems.  

All reading domains (Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2) are covered across the academic year, following our domain progression document; opportunities to revisit and practice are built in across a range of texts to ensure depth of learning. 

Dedicated readers who demonstrate a love of reading are celebrated through our ‘reader of the half-term' celebration in which pupils receive a book of their choice as well as a certificate to take home. At Haslam Park, pupils also enjoy learning about a different author per half term (Key Stage One) and half term (Key Stage Two) through our ‘Author of the Half/Term’ approach. Each class will receive a collection of books written by their assigned author, and a display promoting the texts is updated at the same time. By the time our pupils leave to move onto secondary school, pupils will have been exposed to thirty authors. We are very proud of this initiative at Haslam Park. 

Every pupil reads their home-school reading book with an adult at least once per week in years 1-6, with disadvantaged pupils reading with an adult 3 times per week. The questions asked during these sessions are carefully-considered and aligned with our domain-focussed reading curriculum. Assessment information is gathered during 1:1 reading sessions in our ‘blue books’ and regular progress checks are conducted to ensure pupils are reading the correct stage of book for their current level of attainment.  

Writing: 

Pupils are taught how to write effectively for a range of reasons by reading, analysing and writing about a current class text, following our ‘Haslam Park Writing Spine’ of texts. The texts were selected after consultation with pupils and staff with the sole intention of not only honouring cultural heritage texts, but also ensuring our pupils can relate to and identify characters in texts and dilemmas and situations they may have faced in real life. This allows us to share British Values and common SMSC themes presented in a wide range of texts.  

Pupils are taught writing daily with teachers following our ‘pathway to writing’ format. Pupils analyse their current text, tease out and practise applying genre-specific grammar features before applying their current learning to a written outcome. Teachers model handwriting, sentence types, grammar and tone during this process and this is shared on working walls to provide pupils with a constant point of reference. Pupils also benefit from a weekly sentence lesson which follows the pattern of ‘Model, analyse, say, write’. We use Alan Peat sentences to ensure that our pupils are exposed to, learn from and begin to apply a range of interesting sentence types from year 1. The weekly sentence lessons are ringfenced time for SEND pupils to work on specific writing targets and objectives.  

Speaking and Listening: 

Our bespoke weekly sentence lessons (as mentioned above) provide our pupils with the opportunity to orally rehearse sentences before they write them- allowing them time to edit and improve as well as orally structuring grammatically correct sentences. We found this to be crucial to our English catch up curriculum, following the COVID 19 pandemic. Pupils are also given opportunities to debate, discuss and present their written work including poems and short creative writing pieces across the curriculum.  

Enrichment: 

Pupils take part in World Book Day events, (including decorate a door competition and live zooms with published authors) book fairs from Scholastic and annual Shakespeare workshops to honour William Shakespeare’s birthday. A different play by William Shakespeare is studied each year (‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ in 2021 and ‘The Tempest’ in 2022 for example) to ensure depth of understanding of the impact made by William Shakespeare on modern literature. We additionally take part in ‘National Poetry Day’ as a whole school with live performances of traditional nursery rhymes alongside modern poetry. Pupils in Key Stage Two write their own, original poems and perform them to their classmates. 

English Impact:  

The progress made by pupils is gathered in the following ways:  

Writing:  

Pupils’ writing is assessed against Oxford Owl writing criterion three times per academic year. During assessment week, pupils are asked to independently produce a piece of previously taught genre of writing. Teachers use this piece (along with writing from the pupils’ English books) to make a well-informed judgement of a pupils’ attainment. By revisiting a previously-taught genre, teachers are gleaning the retained knowledge and skills.  

Reading:  

At Haslam Park, we use NfER assessment papers three times per academic year. This information is then used to produce question level analysis, ensuring teachers have a deep understanding of retained reading skills and domain understanding as well as to inform subsequent teaching.  

Spelling:  

Pupils from year 3 upwards take a weekly spelling test based on the spelling list from that week. Teachers also administer a spelling assessment three times per academic year as part of their SPaG assessments.  

Phonics:  

Pupils in year 1 are regularly assessed using Phonics Tracker. Pupils who have yet to pass the phonics screening test are also regularly assessed with this information passed onto teachers so that their interventions reflect the gaps in sounds.  

Assessment data 2022. The impact of our English curriculum (including reading, SPaG, writing and phonics) is detailed below. Progress measures are to be released in December 2022. 

Our Approach to Teaching Phonics

Key Curriculum Documents for Writing: 

Please find attached our Genre Map and Book Spine relating to our text-based approach to writing (this is our curriculum overview) as well as our bespoke sentence progression curriculum (taught weekly years 1-6). All texts have been chosen to reflect our children's desires to read texts containing relatable characters and topical issues, resulting in well-informed written outcomes. 

You may notice that we provide the children with a wide range of genres to read, write and learn about. It is very important to us at Haslam Park that our children learn to write for a range of purposes; you will find all of the information regarding how this is structured below:

Key Curriculum Documents for Reading: 

The reading domains form a vital part of our pupils’ reading learning. Comprehension skills underpin our curriculum at Haslam Park, and we take pride in our approach to teaching our pupils how to not only read the text, but to comprehend and answer a wide range of questions. In order for pupils to develop the full range of comprehension skills, teachers are to follow the suggested sequence of learning below, building new learning into each half term in a progressive approach. However, if an opportunity to teach a different domain arises, teachers are also encouraged to utilise the opportunity and model appropriate answers.  

Each year group to have questions pertinent to their level of reading and ability to produce written outcomes.  

Reading at Home: 

Our pupils self-select their home reading books from our extensive collection of Oxford Owl reading books. The pupils are encouraged to read widely and to select books they are not only matched to their ability, but that they will enjoy.

Parents are encouraged to make use of our subscription to Oxford Owl e-library:

https://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/for-home/find-a-book/library-page/

Logins are available from class teachers. 

Reading in School:

To support our pupils, every child in school is read with at least once per week, and the discussions, sounds and questions covered in the sessions are recorded in our 'blue books'. They form part of our assessment across school and have become part of our bespoke reading approach. 

Every class in school has a weekly slot in our school's new lending library. Upon consultation with our school council, the library has received extensive funding and is now stocked with wonderful new books, written by a culturally-diverse range of authors alongside traditional authors and familiar modern names. 

2022-23

Black History Month

As part of our ongoing commitment to honouring Black History Month, each class used their reading lessons during the week of 17th-21st October to read, learn and write about a significant figure in Black History. The theme for Black History Month 2022 was 'Time for Change: Action Not Words' so each class carefully selected a significant figure who has spearheaded change and progress through meaningful actions. 

Our pupils learned about the following amazing individuals: 

Our pupils practiced a range of reading domain skills such as the meaning of words in context, retrieval and summarising to learn about their individual and present a final piece of work. 

Scholastic Book Fair-

We love a book fair at Haslam Park and our 2022/23 fair didn't disappoint. 

Scholastic visited our school on September 25th and our pupils loved visiting our book fair in the morning and coming back to purchase some lovely books after school.

We raised money to supplement our class libraries with fantastic new reads. 

Poetry Week

https://nationalpoetryday.co.uk/celebrate-national-poetry-day/

On October 6th,  it was National Poetry Day,but this wasn't enough for us at Haslam Park Primary School- we wanted a whole week! Each class either recited, learned and performed or wrote a poem and what fun we had! 

Year 1- learned and recited the poem 'The Owl and the Pussycat' 

Year 2- wrote poems about Queen Elizabeth II in honour of our wonderful Queen.

Year 3- Creative poetry writing based on 'The Dragon Who Ate Our School'

Year 4- Creative writing based on Roald Dahl's 'Revolting Rhymes'. 

Year 5- wrote haikus based on their current text 'The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse'

Year 6- wrote cinquains based on 'The Journey' by Francesca Sanna. 

Readers of the Half- Term (Autumn 1)

 Well- done to all of the pupils who were selected as 'Reader of the Half-Term'. Their commitment to reading in school and at home earned them a shiny, brand new book and a certificate. Keep it up, everyone!

2021- 2022

Readers of the Half Term: 

Each half term, teachers celebrate the achievements of readers who have demonstrated commitment to reading both at home and in school. Each child selected as a winner is able to choose a prize from our extensive selection of books. Here are some of our winners:

World Book Day 2022: 

Please follow the link below to watch the video  of our World Book Day celebrations. From crazy costumes, live zooms with authors to our school-wide 'decorate a door' competition...we had it all! 

Autumn Term

Poetry Week.

As part of National Poetry Day, on October 7th, our pupils (year 1- 6) took part in a whole school week of poetry. Each class either learned, recited or wrote poetry of their own. 

Year 1- learned and recited the poem 'The Owl and the Pussycat' 

Year 2-learned and recited the poem 'The Owl and the Pussycat' 

Year 3- Creative poetry writing based on 'The Dragon Who Ate Our School'

Year 4- Creative writing based on Roald Dahl's 'Revolting Rhymes'. 

Year 5- wrote haikus based on their current text 'The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse'

Year 6- wrote cinquains based on 'The Journey' by Francesca Sanna. 

2020-2021

Reading Comprehension

We teach reading in a number of ways including: phonics, 1:1 reading, reading of class novels and through whole class reading comprehension lessons. This is a skill that are children are learning all through their journey at Haslam Park. Look at some of the wonderful examples of whole class reading activities that our children have taken part in.

Autumn 2 Readers of the Half Term- well done to all of you!

Autumn 1 2020- Readers of the Half Term

Today we have celebrated a reader from each class who has gone above and beyond with their reading and we have awarded them with a certificate and book. We were very lucky to have some brilliant books donated from the Manchester United Foundation- thank you!

14th-18th September 2020

This week, we have had a whole-school reading event. As part of this, we have been taking part in a sponsored read and we also dressed up for Roald Dahl's birthday- take a look at our amazing outfits. The winners for the 'best dressed' from each class won a fantastic book to take home.  We managed to raise a HUGE £343.87 to spend on books. Thank you so much to all of our wonderful parents and carers for your support!

January 28th-30th Our second book fair

What an incredible turn out from children and parents for this week’s book fair. All of the books were half price and they were flying off the shelves!

Prize Winners!!!

These children won £5 to spend at our book fair. Look at their fantastic entries of them reading in an unusual place- well done!

Readers of the Half Term for autumn

Each of our winners got to choose from one of these fabulous book, which were presented by our governor-Rita- on her retirement

Our children enjoying our fantastic new school library! 

Roald Dahl Day- 13th September 2019

Our first book fair of the year- September 2019 

Summer Term  2021 Snapshot

Working from home is not easy, but here at Haslam Park, we aren't afraid of a challenge. Our pupils and teachers have worked really hard to ensure that a week of remote learning doesn't hold us back. With lots of our pupils working at home, we have had to change our approach slightly, but just LOOK at some of the work they have produced! From non-chronological reports in year2, to lovely descriptive sentences in year 3, book reviews in year 5 all the way to newspaper reports in year 6.   Take a look at the high-quality work produced by our children even from the comfort of their own home!

Spring Term 2021 Snapshot

The learning didn't stop just because we were working at home! Not only did we still have daily reading and writing lessons, we also took part in a competititon held by The Manchester United Foundation.

The whole of Key Stage 2 were invited to write an adventure story based on Fred the Red. We had to think of a wild and wacky adventure that Fred could go on...it could be anything we liked! 

The teachers were blown away by the entries: they were imaginative, hilarious and so well-written! Unfortunately, there could only be one entry submitted to The Manchester United Foundation. It was SUCH a hard decision, but the overall winner was Adam T, year 3 Attenborough Class. 

You can read his story below- we're sure you will be able to see why his was chosen. Adam's story has now been submitted and he is in with a chance of winning a SIGNED MANCHESTER UNITED FOOTBALL! Fingers crossed everyone.

English Working Walls 20-21

At Haslam Park, we have spent lots of time thinking about how our learning environments help our children to learn and developing our use of working walls around school.

We have thought carefully about the content of our working walls ensuring that they are purposeful, interesting and reflective of current learning. 

Our working walls are designed to include key vocabulary, images and examples of grammar skills and modelled writing to help our children to become independent learners who seek answers to their own questions from their environment. Here are some examples of excellent working walls around school.

AUTUMN TERM-SNAPSHOT 

Please find below a selection of learning opportunities that have happened in Autumn 2. From retweets and virtual Q & As with some of our favourite authors to hot-seating in drama sessions, we’ve had a great time in our English sessions. Year 6 spent the whole month of October  reading poems and books that celebrate black history. Year 3 and 4 have done a fabulous job of linking their history’s learning about Pompeii and volcanoes with their writing. Year 5 have also thoroughly enjoyed exploring Wizards of Once by Cressida Cowell. 

Knowledge Organisers 2020-2021

As with previous years at Haslam Park, we teachers have started a new academic year raring to go - armed with a huge collection of books we would like our wonderful children to read and learn from. 

We have thought very carefully about the books we would like to read and have planned some exciting opportunities for writing into our English lessons. 

You will find below some of the knowledge organisers and final written pieces from the first few weeks of Autumn 1. Please click on each individual link to see the knowledge organisers and final written outcomes. 

I'm sure you will be absolutely blown away by the quality of work produced across school! The knowledge organisers really give us as teachers the chance to organise and think very carefully about what we teach and when.  The children always enjoy seeing a brand new organiser in their books. 

Autumn 1

EYFS

Knowledge organiser- Owl Babies.

Writing found in the learning environment.

Year 1

Knowledge organiser:  Handa's Surprise

Example of work.   

Year 2

knowledge organiser: What Made Tiddalik Laugh

Example of work. 

Year 3

Knowledge organiser: Aesop's Fables.

Example of work. 

Year 4

Knowledge organiser: The Firework Maker's Daughter.

Example of work. 

Year 5

Knowledge organiser: The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse. 

Example of work. 

Year 6

Knowledge organiser: Who Let the Gods Out?

Example of work. 

Knowledge Organisers 2019-2020

At Haslam Park, our pupils learn how to write effectively, and for a range of purposes, through reading high-quality books. 

All elements of English are taught through reading, comprehending, analysing the use the spelling, punctuation and grammar and learning about the structure of a text type from talented authors and poets. 

When we start reading a new text, our amazing teachers create a 'curriculum organiser' which includes the text types and grammar features that will be included in the learning. 

Please see below, the curriculum organisers and examples of our children's INCREDIBLE writing outcomes from Autumn 1.