Literacy at Barwic Parade

At Barwic Parade, we passionately believe that an excellent foundation in Literacy is essential for all children. Literacy includes the key skills of speaking, listening, reading and writing. We believe that literacy skills stem from a love of books and so we surround the children with books in all areas of the curriculum. We understand that these areas of literacy do not stand in isolation and that the skills children learn in each strand interconnect with all other areas of the curriculum and beyond.

The aims of our English curriculum:

• To develop a life-long love of reading and writing.
• To encourage children to be critical thinkers and listeners, able to communicate with confidence.
• To ensure that English is taught in an engaging, inspiring and motivating way that instils enthusiasm in children.
• To raise attainment in all areas, providing children with a strong primary foundation on which to build.
• To develop children’s vocabulary, closing the word gap and expanding on their knowledge and ability to communicate effectively.

Spoken language

At Barwic Parade, we understand that developing strong spoken language skills is vital for children's development cognitively, socially and emotionally. We also recognise that speaking and listening are at the heart of communication in all forms, including reading and writing. We want children at Barwic to:

• Listen and respond appropriately to adults and their peers.
• Ask relevant questions to extend their understanding and knowledge.
• Use relevant strategies to build their vocabulary.
• Articulate and justify answers, arguments and opinions.
• Give well-structured descriptions, explanations and narratives for different purposes, including for expressing feelings.
• Maintain attention and participate actively in collaborative conversations, staying on topic and initiating and responding to comments.
• Use spoken language to develop understanding through speculating, hypothesising, imagining and exploring ideas.
• Speak audibly and fluently with an increasing command of Standard English.
• Participate in discussions, presentations, performances, role play, improvisations and debates.
• Gain, maintain and monitor the interest of the listener(s).
• Consider and evaluate different viewpoints, attending to and building on the contributions of others.
• Select and use appropriate registers for effective communication.

Implementation

• Spoken language skills are taught at a level appropriate to the age of the pupil. Teachers follow a progression of skills and the oral language skills that have been taught in preceding years is built upon each subsequent year.
• Children are given the opportunity to revisit, practise and repeat learning in order to deepen understanding and develop a mastery of skills.
• Teachers actively make links across subjects within the curriculum to deliver writing is such a way that it is interesting, engaging and stimulating to children. Spoken language skills underpin these lessons through discussion, sentence or paragraph rehearsals, performances, listening to ideas or speaking aloud to evaluate or edit work.
• Children are given the opportunity to work in groups of different sizes – pairs, small groups, larger groups, whole class, whole key stage, whole school and whole school community.
• Children can practice their speaking and listening skills during classroom debates or discussions, poetry recitals, circle time, drama, assemblies, Christmas/end of year productions to parents and the school, with visitors to the school/class and on school trips.

Impact

Constructive, formative feedback is provided to pupils regarding speaking and listening skills in order to improve their knowledge and establish a solid foundation for children to build upon and secure during their primary education and into secondary school. Spoken language and vocabulary development is championed by all staff which, in turn, encourages more and more pupils to show excitement about language choices and gain confidence in speaking or performing aloud. Children are able to articulate their thoughts and discuss their learning with a range of familiar and unfamiliar adults.

Click on the links below for more detail about specific areas of our curriculum.