Intent
At Christ the King, we want all our pupils to be capable readers, writers, spellers, and speakers, who can transfer their English skills to other curriculum subjects and who are prepared for the next steps in their education. We know the value of excellent vocabulary, and this is developed and practised across our curriculum constantly.
Our pupils are encouraged to read for pleasure and to read widely through our reading scheme, class reading areas and the school library.
We develop writing skills so that our children have the stamina and ability to write at the age expected standard. We also intend to create writers who can re-read, edit and improve their own writing, and enable pupils to be able to confidently use the essential skills of grammar, punctuation and grammar.
We promote the importance of written work by providing a writing purpose and opportunities for children’s writing to be displayed around school, read aloud and listened to by an audience. We intend that pupils learn how to understand the relationships between words, word meaning and implied meaning within writing lessons, whilst ensuring that children are supported in their spelling strategies.
Writing key skills
Below is our progression of writing key skills document.
This document outlines the writing key skills that are taught at each phase and year group.
Key learning skills for reading
Key learning skills for writing
Examples of Writing Displays in School
English in Year 1
Autumn 1 English in Year 2 2023
During this half term, we have looked at the book 'A way for Wilf' and looked at non-fiction texts based on wolves and safari animals.
During the creating interest and reading phases of the narrative unit, we shared and explored in detail the text The Way Home for Wolf by Rachel Bright. We took part in a range of reading response lessons, during which short writing opportunities, both modelled and independent, featured. As part of the gathering content section, a non-fiction unit was embedded within the sequence, in which children had the opportunity to create a page for an information book based on their chosen animal. This was facilitated through both modelled and independent writing. Upon returning to the narrative unit, children then used this content about their chosen animal to inform the writing of their own story based on the original text The Way Home for Wolf.
Autumn 1 2023 English in Year 3
In English this half term we have been reading Michael Bond's Paddington Bear. We have learnt how to punctuate speech, practised our use of conjunctions and used prepositions. We have written diary entries as Paddington Bear and written letters to Aunt Lucy in Peru, keeping her up to date with all of Paddington's adventures. At the end of all our work on Paddington Bear, we wrote our own stories, based on the events of Paddington, but using a character we had created ourselves. Here is some of our work.
Autumn 1 2023 English in Year 4
During Autumn 1, we learned lots of fascinating facts about the Loch Ness Monster and wrote our own magazine articles about it. After lots of speaking and listening activities and reading analysis, we gathered ideas for our own stories. The children developed their sentence level skills and included some dialogue in their stories.
Autumn 2 Literacy: Year 4
This half term we read ‘Rumaysa’ by Radiya Hafiza. We wrote our own stories based on this book. We developed our understanding of expanded noun phrases and revised the use of inverted commas. The children also started using adverbials in their sentences.
Spring 1 Year 4
This half-term, we read 'Balaclava Story' by George Layton and created our own stories based on the theme of issues and dilemmas. We also looked at the key features of persuasive adverts before writing our own persuasive advert.
Autumn 1 2023 English in Year 5
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
During this unit, the children studied evacuation during World War II and engaged in a reading phase, short and longer writing opportunities including diaries, poetry and narrative writing. In the reading phase, the children took part in reading response and reading analysis lessons before gathering content for a final independent, extended write.
Autumn 1 2023 English in Year 6
In Year 6 this term, we have based our work on The Nowhere Emporium by Ross Mackenzie. This amazing story inspired us to write in a range of styles and for different audiences, and also helped us develop our grammar, punctuation and spelling skills, and our speaking and listening skills.
Autumn 2: A Christmas Carol
For the second part of the Autumn Term, we looked at the clasasic novel by Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol. The unit began with a number of lessons to immerse the children within this wonderful piece of fiction. The unit had three parts, with oral or written outcomes and assessment opportunities at regular intervals. The final outcome was for the children to write their own story in the style of the author. Opportunities for short and extended writing were embedded within the unit along with daily grammar staters.
Spring 1: Street Child
For the start of the Spring Term, we looked at Berlie Doherty's wonderful book Street Child. This unit had three parts, with oral or written outcomes and assessment opportunities at regular intervals. Children explored the main characters and events through discussion, investigation of historical sources, drama and they produced short and extended pieces of writing in the style of the author. We also worked on grammar, punctuation and spelling. Here are some examples of the children's work.
EXAMPLES OF WORK
