English
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Our English Curriculum
In English, we ensure that work in 'speaking and listening', 'reading' and 'writing' is integrated.
During Early Years pupils learn to listen and speak confidently. They learn individual phonemes and then learn how to segment and blend those phonemes to read and write words.
During Key Stage 1 pupils learn to speak confidently and listen to what others have to say. They begin to read and write independently and with enthusiasm. They use language to explore their own experiences and imaginary worlds.
During Key Stage 2 pupils learn to change the way they speak and write to suit different situations, purposes and audiences. They read a range of texts and respond to different layers of meaning in them. They explore the use of language in literary and non-literary texts and learn how language works.
Reading Scheme
The school uses the Oxford Reading Tree reading scheme and you will hear your children talk about Biff, Chip, Kipper and Floppy, the four first characters in the series. As children progress they move onto ‘real’ reading books and we do supplement the Oxford Reading Tree with other scheme materials.
Reading is highly promoted throughout the school. We have introduced Power of Reading to the school which means the teachers use very good quality books and develop your child’s deep understanding of texts and ability to talk about books, characters and plots through oral sessions.
We also have a well-resourced library that each class visits weekly. We have a wide range of fiction and non-fiction texts and class Book Corners are changed termly using this resource. We also encourage our children to take part in the Community Library schemes which are held each Summer holiday.
Our Year 2 and Year 6 children also attend a Book Club run by the library which the children thoroughly enjoy.
Phonics Scheme
The school uses ‘Letters and Sounds’ to organise the teaching of phonics from Nursery. and we supplement this with Jolly Phonics. Jolly Phonics brings the teaching of phonics alive since the children learn actions alongside new sounds and digraphs. This helps them remember the sounds so they can use them to help read and write.
Grammar, Spelling and Comprehension
The school has purchased the Nelson scheme to teach spelling, handwriting, grammar and comprehension. This scheme covers all the elements of the National Curriculum and provides formal exercise for children to develop their skills. To help children remember these elements, we use VCOP displays in the classroom, these are displays of vocabulary, sentence openers, conjunctions and punctuation.
Writing
The children have an opportunity to write at length every fortnight. This opportunity allows them to apply the skills they have learnt in English lessons and develop their use of a wide range of vocabulary often called ‘WOW’ words.
These pieces of writing are worked on by the children and they develop their editing skills to correct punctuation, develop use of different sentence structures and use of vocabulary.
Teachers assess these pieces of writing closely to identify gaps in learning and plan their next lessons.
The Government have raised teacher’s expectations in the teaching and learning of English. Children have to learn specific terminology from a very young age.
The following guidance is for parents and carers to refer to when you are supporting your child with homework.
Parents’ Guide to Vocabulary, Grammar and Punctuation
Each year your child has to learn correct labels for grammar and understand how the words in the English language are put together to make sentences, paragraphs and longer pieces of writing.
The tables below show you what the children are taught each year.
Year 1
|
Word |
Regular plural noun suffixes –s or –es [for example, dog, dogs; wish, wishes], including the effects of these suffixes on the meaning of the noun Suffixes that can be added to verbs where no change is needed in the spelling of root words (e.g. helping, helped, helper) How the prefix un– changes the meaning of verbs and adjectives [negation, for example, unkind, or undoing: untie the boat] |
|
Sentence |
How words can combine to make sentences Joining words and joining clauses using and |
|
Text |
Sequencing sentences to form short narratives |
|
Punctuation |
Separation of words with spaces Introduction to capital letters, full stops, question marks and exclamation marks to demarcate sentences Capital letters for names and for the personal pronoun I |
|
Terminology for pupils |
letter, capital letter word, singular, plural sentence punctuation, full stop, question mark, exclamation mark |
Year 2
|
Word |
Formation of nouns using suffixes such as happiness, opener and by compounding [for example, whiteboard, superman] Formation of adjectives using suffixes such as harmful, –less (A fuller list of suffixes can be found on page 46 in the year 2 spelling section in English Appendix 1) Use of the suffixes –er, –est in adjectives and the use of –ly in Standard English to turn adjectives into adverbs such as faster/fastest/slowly |
|
Sentence |
Subordination (using when, if, that, because) and co-ordination (using or, and, but) Expanded noun phrases for description and specification [for example, the blue butterfly, plain flour, the man in the moon] How the grammatical patterns in a sentence indicate its function as a statement, question, exclamation or command |
|
Text |
Correct choice and consistent use of present tense and past tense throughout writing Use of the progressive form of verbs in the present and past tense to mark actions in progress [for example, she is drumming, he was shouting] |
|
Punctuation |
Use of capital letters, full stops, question marks and exclamation marks to demarcate sentences Commas to separate items in a list Apostrophes to mark where letters are missing in spelling and to mark singular possession in nouns [for example, the girl’s name] |
|
Terminology for pupils |
noun, noun phrase statement, question, exclamation, command compound, suffix adjective, adverb, verb tense (past, present) apostrophe, comma |
Year 3
|
Word |
Formation of nouns using a range of prefixes [for example super–, anti–, auto–] Use of the forms a or an according to whether the next word begins with a consonant or a vowel [for example, a rock, an open box] Word families based on common words, showing how words are related in form and meaning [for example, solve, solution, solver, dissolve, insoluble] |
|
Sentence |
Expressing time, place and cause using conjunctions [for example, when, before, after, while, so, because], adverbs [for example, then, next, soon, therefore], or prepositions [for example, before, after, during, in, because of] |
|
Text |
Introduction to paragraphs as a way to group related material Headings and sub-headings to aid presentation Use of the present perfect form of verbs instead of the simple past [for example, He has gone out to play contrasted with He went out to play] |
|
Punctuation |
Introduction to inverted commas to punctuate direct speech
|
|
Terminology for pupils |
preposition, conjunction word family, prefix clause, subordinate clause direct speech consonant, consonant letter vowel, vowel letter inverted commas (or ‘speech marks’) |
Year 4
|
Word |
The grammatical difference between plural and possessive –s Standard English forms for verb inflections instead of local spoken forms [for example, we were instead of we was, or I did instead of I done] |
|
Sentence |
Noun phrases expanded by the addition of modifying adjectives, nouns and preposition phrases (e.g. the teacher expanded to: the strict maths teacher with curly hair) Fronted adverbials [for example, Later that day, I heard the bad news.] |
|
Text |
Use of paragraphs to organise ideas around a theme Appropriate choice of pronoun or noun within and across sentences to aid cohesion and avoid repetition |
|
Punctuation |
Use of inverted commas and other punctuation to indicate direct speech [for example, a comma after the reporting clause; end punctuation within inverted commas: The conductor shouted, “Sit down!”] Apostrophes to mark plural possession [for example, the girl’s name, the girls’ names] Use of commas after fronted adverbials |
|
Terminology for pupils |
determiner pronoun, possessive pronoun adadverbial |
Year 5
|
Word |
Converting nouns or adjectives into verbs using suffixes [for example, –ate; –ise; –ify] Verb prefixes [for example, dis–, de–, mis–, over– and re–] |
|
Sentence |
Relative clauses beginning with who, which, where, when, whose, that, or an omitted relative pronoun Indicating degrees of possibility using adverbs [for example, perhaps, surely] or modal verbs [for example, might, should, will, must] |
|
Text |
Devices to build cohesion within a paragraph [for example, then, after that, this, firstly] Linking ideas across paragraphs using adverbials of time [for example, later], place [for example, nearby] and number [for example, secondly] or tense choices [for example, he had seen her before] |
|
Punctuation |
Brackets, dashes or commas to indicate parenthesis Use of commas to clarify meaning or avoid ambiguity |
|
Terminology for pupils |
modal verb, relative pronoun relative clause parenthesis, bracket, dash cohesion, ambiguity |
Year 6
|
Word |
The difference between vocabulary typical of informal speech and vocabulary appropriate for formal speech and writing [for example, find out – discover; ask for – request; go in – enter] How words are related by meaning as synonyms and antonyms [for example, big, large, little]. |
|
Sentence |
Use of the passive to affect the presentation of information in a sentence [for example, I broke the window in the greenhouse versus The window in the greenhouse was broken (by me)]. The difference between structures typical of informal speech and structures appropriate for formal speech and writing [for example, the use of question tags: He’s your friend, isn’t he?, or the use of subjunctive forms such as If I were or Were they to come in some very formal writing and speech] |
|
Text |
Linking ideas across paragraphs using a wider range of cohesive devices: repetition of a word or phrase, grammatical connections [for example, the use of adverbials such as on the other hand, in contrast, or as a consequence], and ellipsis Layout devices [for example, headings, sub-headings, columns, bullets, or tables, to structure text] |
|
Punctuation |
Use of the semi-colon, colon and dash to mark the boundary between independent clauses [for example, It’s raining; I’m fed up] Use of the colon to introduce a list and use of semi-colons within lists Punctuation of bullet points to list information How hyphens can be used to avoid ambiguity [for example, man eating shark versus man-eating shark, or recover versus re-cover] |
|
Terminology for pupils |
subject, object active, passive synonym, antonym ellipsis, hyphen, colon, semi-colon, bullet points |
Grammar Glossary for Parents
Please find below a glossary of the terminology that children are expected to know by the end of Year 6.
As you can see it does get rather technical, so please do not worry about coming to ask for further explanation if required.
Active Voice
When the subject of the sentence is doing something the verb is active.
e.g. the police caught the thief
Adjective
A word that describes a noun
e.g. the cat is very happy
Adverb
A word that describes a verb, an adjective or another adverb
e.g. the cat is extremely small / the cat moved stealthily
Ambiguity
Ambiguity means to have more than one meaning – e.g. "I know a man with a dog who has fleas" it is unclear - ambiguous - whether it is the man or the dog who has fleas. It is the syntax not the meaning of the words which is unclear.
Antonym
A word opposite in meaning to another, e.g. hot/cold, fast/slow
Bracket
Brackets are used to enclose an aside or to add information or ideas which are not essential. You should be able to remove the brackets and their contents and be left with a sentence which makes sense e.g. The shoes (made of patent leather) were all scuffed and dirty.
Bullet Points
Capitalise the start of every bullet point
Be consistent, information next to bullet points should either be written in full sentences or in fragments but not a mixture of both.
Clause
A clause is a building block for sentences. It helps to develop and expand the sentence as necessary. A clause can be a sentence in its own right (main clause), but can also be just a part of the sentence.
Cohesion
Cohesion is the term used to describe the grammatical means by which sentences and paragraphed are linked and relationships between them established. In English, the principal means of establishing cohesion is through the use of pronouns, determiners and conjunctions.
Colon
The colon has two main uses.
1) To introduce an idea that is an explanation or continuation of the one that comes before the colon, e.g. Africa is facing a terrifying problem: perpetual drought. The colon can be considered as a gateway inviting the reader to go on.
2) The second main use of the colon is to introduce a list. You need to take care; many people assume that a colon always precedes a list. This is not the case. Again it is important to remember that the clause that precedes the colon must make complete sense on its own.
E.g. The potion contained some exotic ingredients: snails' eyes, bats' tongues and garlic.
Conditional tense
What could/would happen
Conjunction/Connective
A word that joins a group of words e.g. and / or
Consonant
The letters: b, c, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, q, r, s, t, v, w, x, y, z
Dash
The single dash is normally a feature of informal English and is used, especially in narrative, to create suspense or to indicate that what follows is an afterthought or something to be emphasised.
e.g. There is was again, that creak on the staircase. Pamela sat upright in
bed, eyes wide open in the darkness. Just Marmalade her cat, she
thought – or was it?
Definite article
The
Indefinite article
A or an
Demonstrative Adjective
This, that, these, those
Determiner
A determiner is used to modify a noun. It indicates reference to something specific or something of a particular type. There are different types of determiners: articles (a, an, the), demonstratives (this, that, these and those), possessives (my, your, his, her, its, our, your, their, mine, his, hers, yours, ours) and quantifiers (some, any, few, little, more, much, many, each, every, both, all, enough, half, little, whole, less etc).
Direct Speech
Direct speech where the exact words spoken are put into speech marks.
Ellipses
An ellipsis (plural: ellipses) is a punctuation mark consisting of three dots. Ellipses can express hesitation, changes of mood, suspense, or thoughts trailing off. Writers also use ellipses to indicate a pause.
Fronted Adverbial
A fronted adverbial goes at the beginning of a sentence. It describes the verb in the sentence. It describes where, when or how. E.g As soon as he could, Tom jumped off the train.
Future tense
What will happen in the future
Hyphen
Hyphens are used to make new words out of two existing words or parts of words.
It’s worth noting that, nowadays, the hyphens in many words are just missed out. Head-ache is now headache, and city-centre is now city centre.
Infinitive
The basic form of the verb, as it is found in the dictionary (nothing has been added or taken away).
e.g. to drink / to sleep
Imperative verb
A bossy verb, used in instructions/directions
e.g. Take that road.
Inverted commas
Inverted commas can be single - ‘x’ - or double - ‘’x‘’.
They are also known as quotation marks, speech marks, or quote marks.
Irregular verb
Verbs that don’t follow a set pattern of rules.
e.g. take becomes took rather than ‘taked’
Main clause
A sentence that functions independently
e.g. I’ll feed the dog.
Modal verb
Modal verbs are used to express ideas such as possibility, intention, obligation and necessity.
CAN, COULD, WILL, WOULD, SHALL, SHOULD, OUGHT TO, DARE and NEED are some examples.
Noun
A naming word (person, place or thing) e.g. giraffe / telephone
Object
The subject of a sentence does something to an object. The object is the thing or person which is affected by the subject and the verb. E.g. Patricia ate the cake.
The subject of this sentence is Patricia. She is the 'star actor'. The verb is ate and this tells us what she does. The object of the sentence is the cake.
Parenthesis
Parenthesis is the addition of extra information to an already formed sentence. A parenthesis can be separated from the sentence with dashes, commas or brackets, and these are known as parentheses.
When the parenthesis is removed from the sentence, it should still be grammatically correct. So, to make sure that you have included a parenthesis correctly, reread the sentence to see if it makes sense without it. If it does, then you have successfully added a parenthesis.
Passive Voice
When the object of the sentence is having something done to it, the verb is passive.
e.g. the thief was caught by the police
Past tense
Says what happened in the past
Plural
More than one thing
Pronoun
Pronouns are short words like 'it', 'she', 'he', 'you', 'we', 'they', 'us', 'them'. They are used instead of names.
Personal pronoun
Refers to people
e.g. I / you / he / she / we / you / they
Possessive adjective
Indicates possession
e.g. mine / yours / his
Possessive pronoun
Mine, yours, his, hers, its, ours, theirs are the possessive pronouns used to substitute a noun and to show possession or ownership.
Prefix
Prefixes are groups of letters that can be placed before a word to modify its meaning.
e.g: impossible (the prefix im- modifies the meaning to produce a negative sense)
Preposition
A word that gives information, such as time, location or direction
E.g on, at, between
Present tense
What is happening now
Pronoun
A word that replaces a noun
e.g he / she / it
Reflexive pronoun
Myself / yourself / himself
Relative clause
An important type of subordinate clause is the RELATIVE CLAUSE. Here are some examples:
The man [who lives beside us] is ill
The video [which you recommended] was terrific
Relative clauses are generally introduced by a relative pronoun, such as who, or which.
Relative pronoun
Relative pronouns, such as That, Who, Which, Whose and Whom can be used to introduce clauses in sentences:
The woman who interviewed me was very friendly.
I can't stand dogs that bark loudly.
Semi-colon
The semicolon (;) has only one major use. It is used to join two complete sentences into a single written sentence when all of the following conditions are met:
(1) The two sentences are felt to be too closely related to be separated by a full stop;
(2) There is no connecting word which would require a comma, such as and or but;
(3) The special conditions requiring a colon are absent.
Singular
One thing
Subject
The person doing the action
e.g. the monkey eats banana
Subordinate clause
A part of the sentence that is dependent upon another part
e.g. I’ll feed the dog [main clause] when he barks [subordinate clause]!
Synonym
Synonyms are words with the same or nearly the same meaning as another word in the language. E.g. pupil and student.
Verb
An action word
Vowel
The letters: a, e, i, o, u
Word family
Groups of words that follow the same spelling pattern or root word.