English

At Our Lady of Good Help, we strongly believe that the development of language is of the upmost importance because the English language is the gateway to understanding and to the rest of the curriculum. Furthermore, we believe that reading is a fundamental life skill that can enhance a child’s life forever. Therefore, we have created a reading-rich environment for all of our children in order to develop a love and enjoyment of reading from a young age. We place a huge emphasis on the significance of reading and on making it a fun and enjoyable experience. Our aim is for all children at Our Lady of Good Help to develop the necessary skills they need to become effective and confident users of the English language, regardless of their background. We inspire them to develop their imagination, creativity and speaking and listening skills within a broad and balanced curriculum so that each and every child can fulfil their true potential.

Early Reading & Phonics

At Our Lady of Good Help, we:

  • Use Read Write Inc. Phonics Scheme to teach children to read;
  • Ensure children are given ‘home’ reading books which are closely matched to sounds that they are currently learning in phonics lessons;
  • Give children other reading books to share with an adult at home for enjoyment;
  • Practise frequently with those children who need additional support to make sure all of our children can be successful readers;
  • Foster a positive attitude and nurture a love of reading through devices such as paired reading, end of the day story time, library time and book clubs;
  • Promote independent reading skills.
  • Improve our children’s spoken vocabulary through reading good quality texts;
  • Develop comprehension skills through reading a range of short stories, novels, poems and non-fiction materials.
  • Strive to achieve a high level of literacy in all pupils.
Reading Beyond Phonics

At Our Lady of Good Help, we:

  • Help children to read with growing confidence, fluency and understanding;
  • Closely monitor their progress through Oxford Reading Buddy online programme;
  • Allow children to choose their own books at the correct stage and, when they are ready, children become ‘free readers’;
  • Improve children’s understanding of a range of text types and genres through whole-class ‘Active Reading’ sessions;
  • Promote a love of reading for pleasure – every child is given silent reading time and each class reads stories linked to current lessons or ones chosen by the children;
  • Empower children to develop their imagination, inventiveness and critical awareness by reading appropriately challenging texts.
Writing - Grammar, Punctuation & Spelling

At Our Lady of Good Help, we:

  • Give prominence to the importance of sentence construction, punctuation, grammar and correct spelling and support children to apply it to their own writing;
  • Explicitly teach spelling constructs from EYFS through to Year 6;
  • Embed the teaching of grammar into writing lessons which helps with its application;
  • Teach the children grammar, punctuation & spelling that is appropriate to their age and stage;
  • Seek opportunities to hook, inspire and excite the children at OLGH so that writing is an enjoyable experience;
  • We model great handwriting (cursive in Key Stage 2), provide opportunities for the children to practise their handwriting and we maintain high expectations with regards to children’s presentation.
Speaking & Listening

At Our Lady of Good Help, we:

  • Allow the children to experience drama, poetry recitals, role play, presentations, performances, improvisations and debates to inspire ideas;
  • Develop and sustain ideas through talk;
  • Teach children to successfully work and talk with partners in class;
  • Help children to maintain concentration and take part in collaborative conversations;
  • Enable children to have a suitable technical vocabulary to articulate their responses;
  • Develop a growing vocabulary in spoken and written forms;
  • Support children to speak audibly and fluently with an increasing command of Standard English.

English Curriculum

Downloads

National Curriculum for English

English Texts Yearly Overview

Grammar & Punctuation Progression Map

Spelling Progression Map

Speaking & Listening Progression Map

OLGH English on Twitter

Link to #OLGHEnglish for more tweets 

Virtual Tour

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