English
At Parklands Educate Together we strive to provide a high-quality education in English.
The study of English develops children’s abilities to listen, speak, read and write for a wide range of purposes, including the communication of their ideas, views and feelings. Children are enabled to express themselves creatively and imaginatively, as they become enthusiastic and critical readers of stories and poetry, as well as non-fiction texts.
It should provide opportunities for all pupils, whatever their age, gender, ethnicity, attainment and background. Quality texts are chosen to reflect our diverse community including characters and plots from all backgrounds and abilities. Children gain an understanding of how language works by looking at its patterns, structures and origins. Children use their knowledge, skills and understanding in speaking, listening, reading and writing across a range of different situations and through cross curricular activities.
English is a Core subject of the National Curriculum. It is broken into three strands within the curriculum (Reading, Writing and Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar).
English Writing
At Parklands we use two schemes to support the delivery of English writing – The Write Stuff and Talk for Writing.
The Write Stuff provides opportunities for children to build on knowledge and skills through experience days and sentence stacking lessons (‘stacking lessons’), all of which are linked to the class’s current core text (which changes termly). Through the ‘stacking lessons’ pupils explore the vocabulary and writing processes used by the author in detail. This helps pupils internalise the writing and language structures found in the core-text being studied, which encourages the pupils to apply these skills in their own writing. The approach moves from dependence towards independence with the teacher using shared and guided teaching to develop the ability in children to write creatively and powerfully.
Alongside The Write Stuff, we use elements of the Talk for Writing approach. The children use Talk for Writing planning structures to help plan their own writing pieces. All our narrative writing is based on the 10 types of narrative: wishing tale, warning tale, conquering the monster tale, finding tale, journey tale, losing tale, rage to riches tale, tale of fear, meeting tale, character flaw tale. This approach ensures the pupils understand the basic structures of different narrative types.
Spelling
More information coming soon.
Reading
At Parklands, we offer two schemes that foster a love for reading and support children’s literacy development: Read Write Inc. Phonics and Accelerated Reader. We also use a whole class guided reading approach too!
Read Write Inc. Phonics is a comprehensive phonics program designed to teach children how to read with fluency and accuracy. It follows a systematic approach that introduces children to sounds and letter formations in a structured and engaging manner. Through a combination of phonics lessons, interactive activities, and decodable books, our children acquire essential phonics skills, develop their vocabulary, and improve their reading comprehension. This program empowers our pupils to become confident readers, laying a strong foundation for their future academic success.
Once children become fluent, confident readers, we use a programme called ‘Accelerated Reader’. This is an innovative reading management tool that motivates and assesses students’ reading progress. It allows students to choose books that match their interests and reading abilities – even after they have finished a systematic synthetic phonics scheme. After reading a book, students take a short online quiz that measures their comprehension and vocabulary skills. This personalised feedback helps teachers track individual progress, identify areas for improvement, and provide targeted support. Accelerated Reader promotes a culture of independent reading, encourages critical thinking, and helps our pupils develop a lifelong passion for reading!
At Parklands, we also believe in the power of whole class guided reading to enhance students’ reading comprehension skills and foster a love for literature. Whole class guided reading is an interactive and collaborative approach where our teachers lead a reading session with the entire class. During these sessions, pupils engage in rich discussions, analyse texts, and develop critical thinking skills. By exploring a variety of fiction and non-fiction texts together, students build their vocabulary, expand their understanding of different genres, and deepen their comprehension abilities. Whole class guided reading creates a supportive and inclusive learning environment, allowing every student to actively participate, share their thoughts, and develop their reading skills alongside their peers.
Together, Read Write Inc. Phonics, Accelerated Reader and whole class guided reading are a powerful combination, fostering a supportive and stimulating environment where every child can flourish as a reader!
We understand the important role families and carers have in supporting their child’s reading and writing and we continue to think of new and innovative ways to develop the home-school partnership.
