The aims of English at Parbold Douglas CE Academy are:

• To enable pupils to communicate effectively and to articulate their ideas, thoughts and opinions through fluent speaking and writing. 
• To support pupils to become fluent and confident readers.
• To enable pupils to find out about and engage in the world around them, developing them socially, culturally, spiritually and intellectually. 
• To develop the skills necessary to access and enjoy learning across the wider curriculum, underpinning a life-long love for learning. 

Our school values in English

Through English, our pupils are equipped to live out our shared Christian values and let their light shine by being able to engage in and respond meaningfully to the world around them. By learning to write effectively for a purpose, children understand how they can use their voice to create community and influence others to build hope. By writing and reading of a rich variety of texts, reflecting a range of cultures, experiences and journeys, our children develop an understanding of – and compassion for – the experiences of others. Engaging with texts meaningfully, our children are able to explore all of our Christian values and show love by empathising with others. 

Meeting the needs of our pupils in English

Across all year groups, there is a focus within English on the importance of communicating confidently and clearly. Through the development of talk for writing, performance poetry and fluency and prosody in reading, we enable our children to be able to speak articulately in front of an audience, presenting their thoughts, emotions and ideas coherently. By enjoying texts that reflect a diverse range of people and experiences, we help our children to recognise, appreciate and value diversity within and beyond our community. 

Overview

Our English curriculum covers all aspects of the National Curriculum.  We teach early reading in a systematic and focussed way, using Read Write Inc. Phonics as our central resource. We have also developed a programme called Phonics to Fluency to support our children in developing fluent reading with accuracy and prosody. We use Talk for Writing to engage children in, and teach, our wider English curriculum. Grammar, punctuation and spelling are taught within the contexts of these units or, where appropriate, are taught explicitly.   

We make use of additional resources to support our children’s learning including Spelling Shed, SpellingFrame and Accelerated Reader which contribute effectively to our curriculum aims.  Further information about our English curriculum is published on the school website.

To find out more about English, please contact the Curriculum Lead (Miss Bixter) or our English Leads (Miss Eccles and Miss Johnson).

Our Curriculum Policy can be found on the Policies page (link below).

Good Works

At the heart of our English curriculum is Good Works - a scheme that we have developed to combine RE teaching with the national curriculum for English. Click here to discover more.

Phonics

Please follow the link below to find out more about the teaching of early reading at Parbold Douglas.

Spelling

Please follow the link below to find out more about the teaching of spelling at Parbold Douglas.

Useful Resources