English

Our Approach to Teaching and Learning in English

At Avenue Junior School, we recognise English is at the heart of all learning opportunities for every child. We aim for engaged, interested and motivated pupils to develop the skills needed to continue their educational journey into high school and beyond.

We strive to nurture a lifelong love of reading in our children. Our reading-rich curriculum seeks to share a wide range of styles, genres and themes, which all pupils can engage with. Our age-appropriate reading spine ensures consistent challenge and engagement for students across their time at Avenues. This spine consists of: Shakespeare and Archaic texts; Children’s Classics; Modern Narratives; “In Their Shoes” and Myths, Legends and Fantasy. Through revisiting these areas of study across Key Stage 2, children will build upon prior learning and leave school with a rich knowledge of different authors and texts. Children need diverse books to be able to relate to them on a personal level, but they also need them in order to understand more about the wider society around them. The literature and texts will be chosen to represent a range of cultures, experiences, family structures and voices to ensure that our children are able to understand, engage with and even celebrate the wonderful diversity within our world.

Our school seeks for children to become confident, capable and enthusiastic writers. We aim to empower and inspire children to create their own high-quality writing by presenting them with good-quality texts, drama opportunities and experiences. Each unit of writing begins with a stimulus, and follows a carefully planned journey towards independently producing an extended outcome. We encourage high standards of presentation, with a particular emphasis on handwriting. Children will be supported towards the goal of developing clear, cursive handwriting. Additionally, spelling is taught to ensure accuracy and precision.

All areas of the English curriculum are underpinned by the children’s ability to speak and listen with proficiency. Being able to express their thoughts, feelings and ideas, as well as respecting and valuing the thoughts, feelings and ideas of others are a key skill for all children, and we seek to create an environment where children can develop these skills with confidence.

Lower Key Stage 2 – Years 3 and 4
Reading – Core Knowledge and Skills	Writing – Core Knowledge and Skills
Read books written at age-appropriate levels	Write with a reasonable degree of accuracy with good sentence punctuation
Decode unfamiliar words with accuracy	Developing the effectiveness of their writing
Developing understanding of and enjoyment of stories, poetry, plays and non-fiction	Use of varied grammar, vocabulary and narrative structures
Justifying their views about what they have read	Write at pace, with joined handwriting.
To retrieve and record key information from a text	Correct spelling of common words
To begin making inferences	To plan, draft and write a range of text types
To make informed predictions of a text	To evaluate and edit their own and others’ writing

Upper Key Stage 2 – Years 5 and 6
Reading – Core Knowledge and Skills	Writing – Core Knowledge and Skills
Read a wide range of books written at age-appropriate levels	To write at pace, with accurate grammar and punctuation
Work out unfamiliar words with ease	Showing awareness for the audience when writing
To read widely, presenting and discussing the themes of the text	Use of varied grammar, vocabulary and narrative structures. Understanding how choices can change and enhance meaning
To retrieve and summarise main ideas from a text
To make inferences with evidence	Spelling words with taught rules accurately
To make informed predictions of a text	To plan, draft and write a range of text types
To read aloud with confidence	To evaluate and edit their own and others’ writing

These are a selection of some of the texts currently being used as part of our evolving curriculum. As we learn about new texts, or new texts become available, this selection may change.