English

English in Valley Road Academy

Hi! I am Jill McDaid, the Literacy Subject Leader at Valley Road.

At Valley Road, English is at the heart of everything we do and skills in reading and writing are taught across the whole curriculum. Teachers promote a love of the English language through daily, engaging lessons. We aim to ensure that all children foster a love of reading and writing and that we prepare children for the next phase of their education. We teach English through dedicated English lessons across the school, as well as continuously developing the skills across the curriculum and believe that our children will develop a lifelong appreciation of and desire for quality literature.

Early Years

In the Early Years Foundation Stage, there is a great emphasis on speaking and listening as well as phonics. Children have daily English sessions and phonics sessions, which are taught in ability groups. Reading and writing is planned around relevant, exciting texts, which foster a love of reading, speaking and listening, and writing.

Key Stage 1

In Key Stage 1, all pupils have daily phonics sessions, which are taught in ability groups. They also have a daily English lesson; this involves speaking, listening, reading and writing which usually lasts for one hour. Children are taught the skills which are needed in order to become confident readers and writers and to write for a range of different purposes and audiences. We always start with a book and plan our lessons around the texts. We plan, draft, edit and publish and range of genres. Additional time is also given in the school day devoted to group and individual reading.

Key Stage 2

In key stage 2 classes have differentiated English lessons to ensure that they have targeted support where needed in punctuation, grammar and spelling. Similar to previous years, they work around different text examples and teachers plan a variety of writing genes to meet the needs of the group. They build in the plan, draft, edit and publish rotation so that children develop the key skills needed for writing and become confident in a number of  different text types. As in Key Stage One,  additional time is also devoted to group and individual reading.