English Policies |
Our lessons:
Early Years (EYFS) and Key Stage 1 (KS1):
In EYFS and KS1, children follow the Read, Write Inc scheme (RWI) until they have successfully completed this and are able to efficiently decode all 44 common sounds in the English language. To find out all about the RWI journey, please look on the RWI section of our website. Alongside this, children in KS1 complete their Friday 'big writes' to apply all of their learning in a different context. Once children have completed their RWI journey in Year 2, they move on to daily 1 hour English lessons with lessons focused around a new class text each half term. For those in Year 1, these children have guided write sessions for half an hour 4 x weekly in place of guided reading. This ensures they have daily opportunities to write at length with key grammar and vocabulary foci. For those in Year 2, guided reading sessions are for 30 minutes with 4 sessions a week. Each week the focus text is either a fiction, non-fiction or poetry text which rotates on a cycle so that children are shown a wide variety of different texts over each half term.
Key Stage 2 (KS2):
In KS2, children have daily 1 hour English lessons with lessons focused around a new class text each half term as well as a 30 minute guided reading session, 4 times a week. Like in KS1, each week the focus text changes from fiction to non-fiction and then moves on to poetry or another alternative text style, such as; lyrics, picture books or videos. This allows children to develop and apply their comprehension skills across different styles of writing as well as across videos.
Our School Learning Journey:
Take a look at our writing journeys across our time at St Matthew's below. Across each year, we look at a variety of fiction and non-fiction genres of writing and learn to write for a variety of purposes. Each half term, we have a new focus text that gives us inspiration for our writing and helps us learn lots of new vocabulary.
English Curriculum |
Our '5 Reads':
From Autumn 2 of 2022, we have extended our KS1 '5 reads' to every year group across the school. Each half term, every year group has a set of 5 picture books to focus on in their daily story time. These are read alongside their longer class novel reads to provide the children with an ever expanding range of books and authors to engage and interest them in reading for pleasure. Check out our class pages to see what each year group is reading this half term.
Learning at home:
To support our children's reading at home, the children have access to Reading Eggs which supports children learning to read and also helps to develop their understanding of what they have read. Your child will have their own username and password - if you need help with this, please ask your child's class teacher.
What's Happening at St Matthew's...
National Poetry Day 2023:
On Thursday 5th October, we took part in the National Poetry Day which had the theme of 'refuge' this year. Each class looked at a poem and then performed the poem in our Show & Tell assembly on the Friday morning. The children all had lots of fun learning a new poem and practising their performing skills.
World Book Day 2023:
On the 2nd March 2023, we had a fantastic day dressed as our favourite book characters and reading books by the famous author, Oliver Jeffers. In each class, the children completed activities linked to the story and presented their work in the whole school assembly at the end of the day. We also all took part in our 'Potato Challenge' where we had to make a potato into a book character with the winners chosen by our School Council.
Parent/Carer Reading Afternoons - Autumn 2022:
We are so happy to finally welcome parents/carers to our beautiful, new library after such a strange few years. We started our reading afternoons on Friday 25th November with Year 4F (Goldfinches). It was a fantastic turn out and we are so grateful to everyone who came.
Author Afternoon - Autumn 2022:
On Friday 18th November, each class across the school looked at a different author. This half term we looked at non-fiction authors and discussed the importance of non-fiction books to help us use our reading skills to help us learn further about the things we are interested in. Take a look at all the wonderful books, authors and activities we learned about below.
National Poetry Day 2022:
On Thursday 6th October, we took part in the National Poetry Day which had the theme of 'environment' this year. Each class looked at a poem and then performed the poem in our Show & Tell assembly on the Friday morning. The children all had lots of fun learning a new poem and practising their performing skills.
After School Reading Clubs:
Across the key stages, all children have the opportunity to join our after-school readings clubs. We love to spend time in our beautiful, new library reading with our cuddly animals! Take a look at us caught reading our books...
World Book Day 2022:
On the 3rd March 2022, we had a fantastic day dressed as animals and reading 'The Barnabus Project'. In each class, the children completed activities linked to the story and presented their work in the whole school assembly at the end of the day. We also all took part in our 'Potato Challenge' where we had to make a potato into a book character with the winners chosen by our School Council. Take a look at everything we got up to...
Author Zooms 2021-2022:
Our children were so lucky to interact with lots of fantastic authors via zoom. The children listened to the authors share their latest books, reading extracts, completing activities together and asking lots of super questions on how to become writers! Here's who our children have seen so far...
Take a look at our photos from some events:
We were very excited to win some books from Adam Hills, take a look at the winners in Years 4 and 5 of 'The Rockstar Detectives' by Adam Hills:
National Poetry Day 2021:
On Thursday 7th October, we took part in the National Poetry Day which had the theme of 'choice' this year. Each class looked at a poem and then performed the poem in our Show & Tell assembly on the Friday morning. The children all had lots of fun learning a new poem and practising their performing skills.
No Pens Day Wednesday 2021:
On Wednesday 24th November, we took part in 'No Pensday Wednesday' where we were not allowed to use pens for the whole day! Each class spent lots of time improving our speaking and listening skills through drama, debating and discussion work in each of our subjects.
Author Afternoon 2021:
On Friday 3rd December, each class across the school looked at a different author. This half term we looked at BAME (black, Asian and minority ethnic) authors and discussed the importance of representation in books of all people from all different countries. Take a look at all the wonderful books, authors and activities we learned about below.
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