English

INTRODUCTION

It is the overall concern of the English Department to foster a love of language, and to help all pupils to develop to the full their capabilities in the three National Curriculum modes of language:

Speaking and Listening
Reading
Writing

The emphasis we place on English is to evoke an enthusiasm and appreciation for the rich diversity present in language.

RATIONALE AND AIMS

Rationale

The English Curriculum is valuable to our children because it is central to children's intellectual, social and emotional development. It has an essential role in all areas of the curriculum. Language is our world. A pupil's progress, throughout school and beyond, is inextricably bound up with his or her growing ability to use and understand English. Children develop at different speeds and at different times and in different ways. As such, the learning experiences provided by Sedbergh Junior School focus on differentiation and individuality, assisting the children under our care to become competent and confident in English.

Competence in English will enable students to examine their own and others' experiences, feelings and ideas, giving them order and meaning. It assists them to learn about themselves, to communicate their thoughts and feelings, to participate in society, to make informed decisions about personal and social issues, and to discover and use their analytical and imaginative capacities.

Aims

A functional view of language underpins the Sedbergh Junior School syllabus. This view of language is concerned with relationships between context, language structure and meaning.

To encourage children to develop a love of language in all its forms
To enable pupils to use language effectively as listeners, speakers, readers and writers
To foster opportunities for pupils to find enjoyment and success in their English work, nurturing a community of learners in which all are welcome to contribute
To foster a transactional process whereby the teacher models and supports good practices, leading the child to discover new concepts
To enable pupils to understand and use appropriate language for different purposes
To foster a partnership with parents to support pupils' language development
To prepare the children for the needs of the society of which they are part, enabling pupils to communicate effectively using a full range of tools, including ICT
To provide opportunities to monitor and assess the language development of each pupil

THE INDEPENDENT CURRICULUM

From September 2012, the English Department will be using the Independent Curriculum (IC) to deliver its English teaching. As with all other subjects in the IC, the programme content for English is presented through Knowledge Strands and Learning Skills. The strands show what to learn and the skills show how to learn it. The strands are shaped and informed by the ISEB syllabus, the Attainment Targets of the NC in KS2 and 3, the National Literacy Strategy, the twelve strands of the New Primary Framework and the core text books- Junior English 1-3 and So You Really Want To Learn English 1-3. English is very much a skills-based subject, rather than one in which separate knowledge can be compartmentalized and allotted each year. In English, the same elements are revisited, honed and augmented as the children grow into accomplished readers and effective writers.