English at Southroyd

At Southroyd Primary and Nursery School we believe that English is a fundamental life skill. Our intent is for every child, as far as they are able, to be 'primary literate' by the time they leave KS2. This is to prepare them for life, not just for high school.

English develops children’s ability to listen, speak, read and write for a wide range of purposes. Children are enabled to express themselves creatively and imaginatively as they become enthusiastic and critical readers of stories, poetry and drama, as well as of non-fiction and media texts. They gain an understanding of how language works by looking at its patterns, structures and origins. Children use their knowledge, skills and understanding in speaking and writing across a range of different situations. 

Through the teaching of English at Southroyd, our intent is to:      

• Provide multi-sensory English education for all children in school, irrespective of gender, ability or ethnicity, which fulfils the requirements of the National Curriculum, Early Years and Foundation Stage Curriculum.
• Develop children’s ability through an integrated programme of Spoken Language, Reading and Writing.
• Provide effective differentiation and challenge by extending and enabling, in order to meet the English needs of every child.
• Enable all children, as far as they are able, to be ‘primary literate’ pupils by the time they leave at the end of Key Stage 2.
• Reading
• Teach and support children to become fluent and confident readers
• Foster an interest in texts of different genres and media, and an appreciation of the value of books for learning and enjoyment.
• Help children develop a love of reading and introduce them to texts that represent our literary heritage
• Develop reading comprehension skills to enable children to analyse and appreciate a range of texts
• Writing
• Foster an enjoyment of writing, helping children learn how to write in the style of these different genres and in doing so, develop recognition of the value of writing.
• Help children learn increasingly how to adapt this writing to a target audience and specific purpose.
• Develop an interest in words, both their application and meaning, and a growing personal vocabulary of both spoken and written words.
• Develop a range of strategies to enable them to spell a wide variety of words.
• Develop their powers of imagination and inventiveness.
• Spoken Language
• Encourage all children to feel confident enough to explore and articulate their thoughts, feelings and emotions.
• Use drama and role play, where appropriate, to give the children contextual experiences in which to in which to learn.
• With maturity, encourage children to adapt their speech to a range of different situations and purposes.
• Foster an atmosphere of constructive awareness of their own, and others’ English abilities and how to improve them.  
• Teach children the value of focused listening in both teaching and social situations.

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To discover more about our excellent English curriculum, follow the links below:

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Our English Policy

This will tell you more about what English looks like in our school:

https://www.pudseysouthroyd.leeds.sch.uk/school-information/policies

English Learning Expectations for each year group:

https://www.pudseysouthroyd.leeds.sch.uk/learning/learning-expectations

All our Southroyd Book Lists:

https://www.pudseysouthroyd.leeds.sch.uk/learning/suggested-reading

Non-Negotiables for each year group:

 https://www.pudseysouthroyd.leeds.sch.uk/learning/non-negotiables

See below for an example of our Southroyd book lists. These book lists are used to promote both a love of reading and exposure to different texts, genres and authors.