English

At Cockwood School we believe that through speaking and listening, reading and writing, children learn to express themselves creatively and communicate with others effectively.

The study of English helps children understand how language works by looking at its patterns, structures and origins. This gives them the tools to choose what they write and say to adapt to different situations throughout their education and beyond.

We want our children to have the ability to speak eloquently, articulate their ideas and thoughts, and listen to each other’s ideas. We aim for pupils to ‘learn to talk’ and ‘learn through talk’ and as a school we are committed to becoming a Voice 21 School where oracy will be central to everything we do and golden thread throughout our curriculum. The benefits of oracy teaching also extend beyond the classroom, supporting the development of students ‘ confidence and self esteem; creating a space in which pupils can express their ideas , and know these will be listened to and valued.

Our aim is to develop confident and enthusiastic readers who enjoy reading for pleasure. We know that to access all aspects of the curriculum children need to be secure at reading and we start them on their reading journey as soon as possible. We use Accelerated Reader to track each child’s progress individually and provide Guided Reading opportunities to target their next steps. The library is well resourced and we constantly update books to ensure we have what the children want to read. We aim to expose children to a wide variety of texts within Literacy lessons including: Poetry and Shakespeare in UKS2. Children are motivated to write through many mediums including: digital media, debating and weekly dance lessons based on our Literacy unit.

We encourage pupils to develop a love of words and a curiosity to learn and explore subject specific vocabulary. Children show progression in spelling by working through a series of stages and grammar is taught within Literacy units so they are able to use and apply their knowledge in a useful context. This gives children the skills to be resilient writers who can adapt their knowledge to write in a range of genres whilst developing their own authorial voice.

Children craft and improve their writing by working through the various stages of the process, from planning to drafting, editing to revising and finally presenting their finished piece of work. They are taught strategies to self- edit and improve their writing at each stage which allows them the opportunity to make changes and understand the role of a writer is constantly evolving. We strive to have a meaningful purpose for our writing and look for interesting opportunities to share our work with a range of audiences.

Handwriting and presentation is taught and valued across the school; we use Letter Join to ensure a consistent approach to the formation of letters and we encourage pupils to use a joined cursive script. In KS2 we teach basic keyboard skills so they are able to word process successfully to present their work in a variety of ways, according to their audience.

We aim to inspire a love of Literacy in all its forms and expose the children to a wealth of literature from varied genres. We value the skill of speaking and listening and every child will take part in whole school shows, assemblies and Year 6 productions. We use our annual platform of Parliament Week to model the skills of debating and encourage the children to find their voice. Having the confidence to communicate will impact on the progress they make in all subject areas.