English at Broomgrove Junior School.

At Broomgrove Junior School, we support children's progress in English with a consistent approach to the planning and organisation of our curriculum. Writing, reading, spelling, grammar and handwriting are taught and monitored across all year groups. This page will give you a little more information about how we teach English according to the National Curriculum.

Beneath that, there is a list of useful websites.

Writing
 

We structure our writing to ensure a balance of English themes and topics in each year group and a progression of skills across the school. We link work to other areas of the curriculum where this is most appropriate but also teach purely text-based literature units of work, poetry and non-fiction. 

The Write Stuff.

The Write Stuff is our main writing scheme. Using this approach, teachers demonstrate to children how to write by modelling the complete writing process in collaboration with them. We plan and execute the writing process with the children so that they have an example of a text type (for example, a story) to use when they complete their independent writing. If you want to find out a little more about this approach please follow the link below or ask your child's teacher.

Whole school long term planning for writing

Reading

Reading underpins learning at every level, and in every subject of the curriculum. For that reason, we employ a number of approaches to supporting children's learning in reading. 

Accelerated Reader

Accelerated Reader (often referred to as AR), is a highly effective electronic system of monitoring children's reading.

It enables teachers and children to see how many books they have read each half-term and how they have scored in their book quizzes (comprehension assessments). Teachers and parents know what children are reading and what they understand, and children are aware of their own progress.

Each term, children take a STAR test, which is a full assessment of their reading level. This supports children, teachers and parents in making good choices when deciding which book to read next.

This system is highly motivating for children and gives the adults around them all the information they need to praise them when they have made progress. We can also give early support when progress is not made.

For more information on Accelerated Reader (AR), please follow the links below.

Reading lessons

Children are taught the skills of reading in lessons. Examples of these skills are; retrieving information from a fiction or non-fiction text, deducing and inferring, predicting and summarising. Children will learn these skills across a range of different texts, such as; stories, information texts, leaflets and diaries.

Whole school long term planning for reading.

This plan outlines the learning as children progress from years 3 and 4 to years 5 and 6. 

Other ways in which we support reading 

Our Library

On Monday 9th October 2017 the Mayor of Wivenhoe kindly visited our school to officially open our library.

Reading is a thread which runs through all areas of the curriculum and is a feature of many lessons. Children will be given the opportunity to:

• Spend time reading their book in class
• Reading one of our whole class texts while the teacher reads aloud to the class. 
• Visit our school library (although sadly, this shared space is not in use at the moment due to Covid-19).

Suggested books for each year group.

Below are lists of suggested reads for each year group. Children are welcome to read below or above their age range; enjoyment is a crucial part of reading. Some themes might not be right for some children. Therefore, it is always a good idea to assess the content before a child reads a book.

Spelling 

Childen are taught spelling using the multi-sensory No Nonsence Spelling Scheme, which covers the requirements of the National Curriculum. 

Please find below:

• The No Nonsense Spelling Pathway, which outlines the spelling which is taught in each year group.
• Our 'Tips for Learning Spellings at Home' document.
• The statutory word lists for years 3 and 4, and years 5 and 6.

The word lists for years 3 and 4 and years 5 and 6 are statutory. The lists are a mixture of words pupils frequently use in their writing and those which they often misspell. Some of the listed words may be thought of as quite challenging, but the 100 words in each list can easily be taught within the four years of Key Stage 2 alongside other words that teachers consider appropriate. 

The Department for Education 

The word lists for Years 3 and 4 and for Years 5 and 6 can be found below:

Grammar

Grammar is taught as an integral part of our writing lessons, but we recognise that sometimes, it needs to be taught discretely too.

This document outlines the grammar requirement of the National Curriculum.

World Book Day 2022

Staff and children dressed up (if they wanted to) to celebrate this special day. Upper and lower school held assemblies, and children were involved in many special activities across our school to celebrate reading; quizzes, raps, drama and, of course, time to read and share books.

Year 3 paired up to share favourite books. What a pleasure to see them enjoying the day!

Useful websites