English
English forms the foundation of life-long learning
The English curriculum intent is for children to experience an immersive, creative and imaginative curriculum, which encompasses a love for reading, a flair for meaningful writing and the tools to communicate effectively.
Each child at Lisburne follows a bespoke path for learning, based on level of need and attainment rather than age related expectations. Our English curriculum is broken down to meet the needs of the individual; this includes learning through real life contexts, generalisation of concepts and developing core skills, which underpin all areas of learning.
English is split in to three key areas, communication, reading and writing. The teaching of each key area is ‘blocked’ to allow time for the children to embed their learning and make progress towards their individual targets; this will look different within each class and pathway. Due to the variety of needs of our children, the focus of our key areas is to develop the initial building blocks of English, understanding the function for communication, developing a love for reading and the understanding the purpose of writing.
Communication is at the core of our English teaching; the aim is for our children to become active communicators, using their ‘voice’ to the best of their ability, this is achieved through the total communication approach.
Our English curriculum is enhanced through the use of a range of immersive learning strategies such as Special DEAL (Drama, Engagement and Active Learning) Sign and Shine and Attention Autism.
Every child has access to a synthetic, systematic Phonics program, built on a range of differentiated approaches enabling all of our children to reach their potential.
Formative assessment is used continually through the teaching of English to inform personalised next steps and future planning. English assessments are recorded and monitored through Classroom Monitor, which is a bespoke assessment tool, created to reflect our curriculum.
Little Wandle Phonics Program
The Little Wandle scheme is a complete Systematic Synthetic Phonics (SSP) program designed to teach children to read and spell. It's based on the original government-recommended Letters and Sounds but has been fully revised and updated to ensure it's a rigorous, fast-paced, and highly effective program, meeting all the Department for Education's validation criteria.
For more information about Little Wandle, please click here
To see our DEAL Vision, please click here
Interventions
SERI (Stockport Early Reading Intervention)
SERI is an individual reading intervention programme consisting of a 20 minute reading / writing lesson four times a week for approximately 10 weeks.
Prior to commencing the programme, a detailed assessment of the child’s reading and writing takes place. This ensures individualised learning is tailored to each child’s needs.
The SERI programme is highly effective, with children increasing their reading age in a short period of time and significantly increasing phonic and writing skills.
Sign and Shine
A reading scheme built on repetitive sight reading strategies
Initially taught with Makaton to support sight recognition
Blocks of 12 words are taught at a time
Words are taught individually, then as part of a sentence, then within a reading book
Once the Sign and Shine scheme is completed, children will be able to decipher 80% of all written text
Useful Literacy Websites:
http://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/freeIndex.htm - Very useful website about phonics which includes a parents section and lots of games too!
http://www.ictgames.co.uk/ - A whole range of lovely interactive games for Primary aged children.
http://www.starfall.com/ - For early years – American site so watch the accent but the children love it!
http://www.sebastianswan.org.uk/ - Sebastian swan big books to share with the class, including some questions about the text (also available in French and Welsh!!!)
http://www.magickeys.com/books/index.html - Scroll down the page for free online animated stories.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/wordsandpictures/index.shtml - BBC website based on ‘letter and sounds’. Includes some great online games and activities – particularly the blending games.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/websites/4_11/site/literacy.shtml - The Primary Literacy zone from BBC schools.
http://www.seussville.com/ - Games based on the stories
http://www.usborne-quicklinks.com/uk/uk_menu_areas_pages/reading_programme/reading_programme.asp?type=subject&menu=s115 - Links for books on the Usbourne reading scheme but also helpful for topic work as it has good hyperlinks.
https://www.topmarks.co.uk/english-games/7-11-years/reading
https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/school-radio/nursery-rhymes-songs-index/zhwdgwx
