English

English at Junction Farm

Curriculum Intent

• We aim to help children develop a love for the English language through spoken and written word.
• We strive for children to value the knowledge of English as a lifelong skill.
• We recognise that English is a core subject within the National Curriculum and a pre-requisite for educational and social progress.
• Mastery over language empowers children to communicate creatively and imaginatively, as well as allowing them to engage with the world at large.
• We view the acquisition of language skills to be of the utmost importance and so the teaching of all aspects of English is given a high priority.
• We recognise the importance of language in the social, emotional and intellectual development of children.
• We aim to develop pupils’ abilities within an integrated programme of spoken language, reading and writing striving for accelerated personal progress for all.
• Pupils will be given opportunities to interrelate the requirements of English within a broad and balanced curriculum.
• Opportunities are given to consolidate and practise ‘taught’ English knowledge in cross curricular activities.
• We aim for children to explore a wide range of genres both in the written and verbal form and magpie from these to create meaningful, purposeful work of their own.
• The aim is for past knowledge to be revisited and consolidated to maximise progress for all.
• The aim is for children to know more and remember more.

Curriculum Implementation

As a school we follow the objectives within the National Curriculum Framework aiming for an in-depth understanding with regards to both skills and knowledge.

To develop our pupils spoken languages:

• Give them opportunities to express their ideas to a range of audiences.
• Give them opportunities to take part in group discussion and drama activities.
• Encourage them to listen and respond appropriately to others.
• Help them to understand the need to adapt their speech to different situations.
• Give them opportunities to evaluate and reflect on their own speech.
• Encourage them to use the vocabulary and grammar of Standard English whenever appropriate.

To develop our pupils as readers we:

• Teach them to read accurately and fluently using a range of strategies.
• To provide children with a firm foundation in phonics – through access to a systematic synthetic approach to allow all children to crack the phonics code.
• To provide all children with books that directly reflect their phonics ability mirroring teaching in class.
• Give individual reading targets to children allowing them access to a banded, progressive reading scheme.
• Help them to understand and respond to what they read using inference and deduction where appropriate.
• To expose all children to a wide variety of progressive quality texts.
• To ensure reading is a focus across the wider curriculum.
• Encourage them to read a wide range of genres.
• Encourage them to read independently and with enjoyment.

To develop our pupils as writers we:

• Teach them to write effectively for a range of purposes and reasons, adapting their vocabulary and style as appropriate.
• Teach key vocabulary explicitly ensuring word meaning is understood.
• Encourage them to write with interest, commitment and enjoyment – providing memorable experience days to raise levels of engagement and help children know more and remember.
• Show them how to write in a variety of forms such as stories, poems, reports and letters.
• Show them how to evaluate and edit to improve their own writing.
• Give individual writing targets and personalised feedback after final writing of extended pieces.
• Show them how to use punctuation to make meaning clear to their reader.
• Give them the knowledge and the strategies to become confident and accurate spellers.
• Teach them a fluent, cursive and legible style of handwriting, promoting an understanding of how to present work appropriately in-line with our school handwriting scheme.
• Teachers monitor progression through effective questioning and on-going formative assessment of lesson outcomes

Writing at Junction Farm

Spelling at Junction Farm

Year 1 Spelling

Year 2-6 Spelling

Parent Information

Vision Academy Trust Spelling Bee 2023

On Friday 24th March, 12 children from Junction Farm competed in the Trust Spelling Bee. It was a fantastic competition and our children from Y1 up to Y6 tried really hard and made us really proud with their super spelling skills and exemplary behaviour.

Spoken Language at Junction Farm

Writing across all ages at Junction Farm

Here are example pieces of writing from each year group. Some pieces are of the children’s ‘big write’ at the end of the week whilst others are taken from the different component lessons leading up to the ‘big write’.

Autumn 1 – Reception – Big write work
At this stage the children do lots of practical and teacher led work to lead up to their big write. Children are provided with scaffolding so all children can be successful. This prepares them to achieve at the end of the week.

Autumn 1 – Year 1 – Big write work and editing skills
At this stage the children are learning new skills such as drafting and editing together. Planning is done as a class and all SPaG and vocabulary are taught interactively using whiteboards.

Autumn 1 – Year 2- SPaG lesson, genre mat, drafting/editing and big write
At this stage in Year 2 the children are starting to apply drafting and editing skills, this is still adult led. Planning is done as a class and all SPaG and vocabulary are taught interactively using whiteboards. However as the term progresses we will start to move into books for these.

Autumn 1 – Year 3- Big write work and experience, planning and SPaG work

Autumn 1 – Year 4 – Big write work and drafting/editing work
At this stage in Year 4 children are focussing on expanded noun phrases, so the generation of adventurous vocabulary is important. The children are making their writing more interesting by being creative with sentence starters/the formation of fronted adverbials.

Autumn 1 – Year 5 – planning, drafting/editing work and big write

Autumn 1 – Year 6 – Big write work, planning, vocabulary and SPAG work
At this stage in Year 6, pupils build on their knowledge of sentence types. Semi-colons and colons to join main clauses are a main focus. Pupils are encouraged to use a thesaurus to upgrade and use adventurous vocabulary. Editing is a key feature of our writing process.

Working Walls
Each working wall features the same key elements from Reception to KS2. Each working wall has the genre, features, vocabulary, SPaG, planning and examples displayed as well as a PAF/F display. As the age group progresses the children start to have more direct input on the wall.

Vocabulary lesson across Junction Farm
Across school the children have access to a vocabulary lesson for every genre of writing. The aim for this lesson is for children to develop their understanding of higher-level vocabulary and be able to use this within their independent writing. Children can add vocabulary to their genre mat and they can refer back to this when they are drafting.

Year 6

Year 5

Year 4

Year 3

Year 2

Year 1

EYFS

Easter Egg Competition
Congratulations to Joshua M in Y2C for winning the Easter Reading Competition. Joshua received a lovely certificate and an Easter egg.