Art

Computing

DT

English

French	Geography	History
Maths	Music	PE
PSHE	RE	Science

Intent

At Lethbridge, English is at the heart of everything we do. We want every child to communicate effectively in spoken and written language, and to become a lifelong reader who reads for pleasure as well as to learn. Pupils have daily reading and writing lessons, and use and apply their English skills across the whole curriculum.

In line with the national curriculum, we want every pupil to:

• read easily, fluently and with good understanding
  
  
• develop the habit of reading widely and often, for both pleasure and information
  
  
• acquire a wide vocabulary, an understanding of grammar and knowledge of linguistic conventions for reading, writing and spoken language
  
  
• appreciate our rich and varied literary heritage
  
  
• write clearly, accurately and coherently, adapting their language and style for a range of contexts, purposes and audiences
  
  
• use discussion in order to learn, and elaborate and explain clearly their understanding and ideas
  
  
• become competent in the arts of speaking and listening, making formal presentations, demonstrating to others and taking part in debate.

Our English curriculum reflects our motto, Firm Foundations, Bright Futures. Secure phonics, fluent reading, clear handwriting and accurate spelling and grammar are the firm foundations on which everything else is built. Confident speakers, keen readers and skilful writers are ready for bright futures, in secondary school and beyond.

Spoken language and oracy

Talk underpins reading and writing. Pupils learn to listen carefully, ask questions to deepen their understanding, explain and justify their ideas, and speak audibly and fluently to different audiences.

• Talk for writing. Pupils say out loud what they are going to write and rehearse sentences orally before writing them, from Year 1 onwards.
  
  
• Drama. Pupils act out stories, hot-seat characters, create freeze frames and perform scripts. Each class read and core text gives pupils the chance to step into a character’s shoes.
  
  
• Poetry Slam. Each year, every class learns and performs a new poem in our whole-school Poetry Slam, using intonation, tone, volume and action to bring out its meaning.
  
  
• Debate. Pupils learn how to build an argument and respond to others respectfully, through class debates in subjects such as geography and in Year 5 preparation for the Brick Debate.
  
  
• Performances. Class assemblies, productions and presentations give every pupil the experience of speaking to an audience.

Reading

Phonics and early reading. Reading begins with a systematic synthetic phonics programme, taught daily from Reception. In Years 1 and 2, pupils follow Twinkl Phonics, learning new sounds each week, together with the common exception words for their year group. Pupils are taught to hear and say sounds, form the letters that represent them, blend sounds to read words and segment words to spell them. Lessons in the summer term of Year 1 prepare pupils for the phonics screening check, and pupils who need it keep practising blending and segmenting through Year 2 and beyond.

Pupils take home a decodable reading book closely matched to the sounds they know, so that they can practise and succeed, together with a book to share with their family for pleasure.

Reading in class. Reading is taught every day.

• Guided reading. Pupils read and discuss high-quality texts together, building fluency, vocabulary and comprehension. In the early years and key stage 1, pupils talk about what they have read and begin to make inferences. From Year 2, they learn to find and use evidence in the text to support their answers.
  
  
• Reading aloud. Teachers read aloud to their class every day, sharing fiction, non-fiction and poetry, so that every pupil hears texts they could not yet read for themselves.
  
  
• Class reads and core texts. Each term, a class read and carefully chosen core texts link to the topic and give a rich model for writing.
  
  
• Independent reading. Pupils choose books to read for themselves, building stamina and their own reading tastes.

Reading for pleasure. We want reading to be something every child enjoys.

• Our school library is looked after by Year 6 librarians, and key stage 1 classes visit Swindon’s Old Town Library.
  
  
• Our annual Lethbridge Literature Festival and reading week, and World Book Day with its focus on authors, celebrate books and the people who write them.
  
  
• Book buddies bring older and younger pupils together to share stories.
  
  
• Pupils are rewarded for reading at home, with stickers and prizes as their total number of reads grows. The prizes are chosen by our school council.

Reading at home. We ask families to read with their child for 10 to 15 minutes, at least five times a week, and to talk with them about what they have read.

Writing

Writing is taught through sequences of lessons linked to our termly topics, so that pupils have real knowledge to write about. Each sequence starts with a stimulus, such as a core text, poem, short film, educational visit or science investigation, and leads to an extended piece of writing for a clear purpose and audience. Over the year, pupils write narrative, poetry and a range of non-fiction, including reports, recounts, explanations, instructions, persuasive writing and discussion.

Key stage 1. Years 1 and 2 follow our two-year cycle, so they learn the same topic at the same time, with writing adapted to each year group’s objectives.

Term	Cycle A	Cycle B
Term 1	Percy the Park Keeper: Poetry Slam; character description; animal fact file	Blast Off!: Poetry Slam; planet riddle; fact file about Neil Armstrong; diary based on Man on the Moon
Term 2	Top Toys: new ending for Ruby; poster about old and new toys	Helpful Heroes: emergency services poster; character and setting description; retelling a story
Term 3	Chocolate: riddles; letter in character from Chocolatina; science explanation	Moats, Turrets and Drawbridges: acrostic poem; recount of our castle visit; knight’s adventure story
Term 4	Here Comes the Sun!: acrostic poems; diary of a holiday in the past	Growing Dragons: instructions for growing a bean; dragon adventure story linked to The Boy Who Grew Dragons
Term 5	Wish You Were Here!: setting description and story from a short film; holiday brochure	Time Travellers: poetry and diary writing
Term 6	All About Me: poem based on I Remember; instructions for making a smoothie	Ready, Set, Go!: poetry; letter inviting a sports hero to school; instructions

Key stage 2. In key stage 2, writing is planned year by year and linked to each year group’s topics. The table shows Cycle A.

Term	Year 3	Year 4	Year 5	Year 6
Term 1	Poetry Slam; story opening; diary of a Victorian child	Poetry Slam; persuasive letter; description of the workhouse; character description	Poetry Slam; Greek myth character description; suspense writing based on Pandora’s Box	Poetry Slam; narrative based on Who Let the Gods Out; informal letter to Year 5
Term 2	Character description based on Escape from Pompeii; report on volcanoes	Story opening based on Escape from Pompeii; explanation of volcanoes; kennings	Story adaptation of Lost and Found; Shackleton’s diary; Literature Festival	Shape poem for the Literature Festival; newspaper report on Shackleton’s expedition; descriptive writing
Term 3	Riddle poetry; legend based on Beowulf; science explanation	Myth based on Beowulf; report on a mythical creature; haiku	Report on the planets; STEM Week explanation; debate	Suspense narrative based on a short film; science write; diary
Term 4	Explanation of the water cycle; recount of a visit	Script writing; writing for the wordless book Flotsam; recount of a visit	Potion instructions; letter home from Hogwarts; back story for a minor character	Descriptive narrative; potion instructions
Term 5	Diary of a Viking invasion; instructions for caring for a dragon	Limericks; diary; instructions for caring for a dragon	Report on the Maya; poetry in different forms	Biography
Term 6	Desert adventure story; leaflet; newspaper report; persuasive advert	Character comparison; leaflet about deserts; instructions on being a good friend	Persuasive letter proposing an eco-friendly change in school	Narrative based on the wordless book Journey

Grammar, punctuation and vocabulary are taught within writing, so that pupils learn to use them for effect rather than as separate exercises. Each sequence has a clear focus, and earlier learning is revisited regularly.

Year	Examples of grammar and punctuation focus
Year 1	Capital letters, finger spaces, full stops, question marks and exclamation marks; statements and questions; nouns, adjectives and verbs; joining words and clauses with ‘and’; suffixes -s, -es, -ing, -ed, -er and -est; the prefix un-
Year 2	Statements, questions, exclamations and commands; past and present tense, including the progressive form; joining ideas with or, and, but, because, when, if and that; commas in lists; expanded noun phrases; apostrophes for contraction and possession; suffixes -ful, -ly, -less, -ness and -ment
Year 3	Paragraphs around a theme; headings and subheadings; introducing speech marks; ‘a’ or ‘an’; the present perfect; conjunctions, adverbs and prepositions to show time, place and cause; similes
Year 4	Paragraphs; headings and subheadings; speech punctuation; adverbs, conjunctions and prepositions; word families and root words; homophones
Year 5	Modal verbs; relative clauses; building cohesion within and across paragraphs, using adverbials of time, place and number
Year 6	Subordinate and coordinate clauses; adverbial phrases; active and passive voice; parenthesis, hyphens, colons and semi-colons; bullet points and layout features; inverted commas

Teachers model writing, and pupils write together with the teacher in shared writing before writing on their own. Pupils learn to plan, draft, edit and improve their work, on their own and with a partner, and to proofread for spelling and punctuation. Vocabulary is taught explicitly, including synonyms and antonyms and using a thesaurus, so that pupils choose words precisely.

Spelling

In key stage 1, spelling is taught through daily Twinkl Phonics lessons, together with the common exception words for each year group and the suffixes and prefixes set out in the national curriculum.

In key stage 2, pupils follow Spelling Shed. Weekly lessons follow the same structure, so that pupils know what to expect:

• Revise: a quick recap of the previous week’s spelling rule.
  
  
• Introduce and teach: the new rule or pattern is explained and modelled.
  
  
• Practise: pupils sort words, map out syllables and sounds, and segment words using sound buttons and Elkonin boxes.
  
  
• Consolidate: pupils apply the rule in dictation and in their own writing.

Every sixth week is a challenge week focused on the statutory word lists for each year group. Spelling bees during the year celebrate pupils’ progress, and dyslexia-friendly dictionaries support pupils who need them.

Handwriting

We follow the Twinkl Handwriting Scheme, The Journey to Continuous Cursive, so that pupils develop a fluent, legible, joined style. Letters are taught in families that share the same formation pattern.

Year group	Focus
Reception	Building strength and control in the shoulders, arms, hands and fingers through Dough Disco, ribbon sticks, Squiggle While You Wriggle and finger rhymes; developing a tripod grip; forming letters alongside phonics, with explicit handwriting teaching from the spring term
Year 1	Stage 2: sitting correctly and holding a pencil comfortably; forming lower-case letters, capital letters and digits correctly, starting and finishing in the right place
Year 2	Stages 2 and 3: letters of the correct size relative to one another; beginning to use the diagonal and horizontal strokes needed to join
Year 3	Stage 3: pre-cursive letters with lead-ins, ready for joining
Year 4	Stage 4: joining letters, and knowing which letters are best left unjoined
Years 5 and 6	Stage 5: building fluency, speed and a personal style, and choosing the right style of writing for the task

Left-handed pupils are supported with seating, paper position and grip, and pupils who need extra help receive targeted handwriting and fine-motor interventions.

How we teach English

• Daily English. Pupils have daily reading and writing lessons, as well as daily phonics in Reception and key stage 1.
  
  
• Topic-linked writing. Writing is linked to our history, geography and science topics, so that pupils write with knowledge and purpose. Educational visits, science investigations and STEM Week all give pupils something real to write about.
  
  
• High-quality texts. Class reads, core texts, poems and short films are chosen to stretch pupils’ vocabulary and imagination and to model the writing they will produce.
  
  
• Modelling and shared writing. Teachers show pupils how a good writer thinks, then write alongside them before pupils write independently.
  
  
• Revisiting and remembering. Spelling rules, grammar and punctuation are revisited throughout the year, so that they become secure and automatic.
  
  
• English across the curriculum. Pupils use their reading and writing in every subject, from science writes and history diaries to geography debates.
  
  
• Whole-school events. Our Poetry Slam, Literature Festival, World Book Day, reading week and spelling bees build a shared love of language across the school.

Inclusion

English is an entitlement for every pupil, including disadvantaged pupils and those with SEND.

• Teachers adapt how English is taught, not what is taught, using visual supports, word banks, modelling, pre-taught vocabulary and oral rehearsal.
  
  
• Pupils who are not keeping up with phonics receive extra daily practice, so that they catch up quickly.
  
  
• Targeted interventions in reading, spelling and handwriting support pupils who need them, and dyslexia-friendly resources are available in every class.
  
  
• Reading for pleasure, our library and whole-school book events give every pupil, whatever their background, access to a wide range of books.

Assessment and impact

We measure impact by how well pupils speak, read and write.

• During lessons: teachers question, listen to pupils read, check understanding and give feedback, and adjust teaching straight away.
  
  
• Phonics: pupils’ phonics knowledge is checked regularly, so that pupils who need extra support get it quickly. Year 1 pupils take the national phonics screening check.
  
  
• Writing: our writing skills grids track each extended piece of writing against the year group’s objectives for punctuation, grammar, vocabulary, spelling and handwriting, so that teachers can see what each pupil has secured and what to teach next. Writing is moderated within school and across the Blue Kite Academy Trust.
  
  
• Statutory assessment: pupils take the national tests in reading and in grammar, punctuation and spelling at the end of Year 6, alongside teacher assessment of writing.
  
  
• Subject leadership: English leaders look at pupils’ work, listen to pupils read, talk with pupils, visit lessons and use what they find to refine the curriculum and support staff.

By the end of Year 6, pupils will be fluent, confident readers who read widely and often, for pleasure and to learn. They will write clearly and accurately for a range of purposes and audiences, with neat, joined handwriting, and speak with confidence and clarity. They will leave Lethbridge with firm foundations in English, ready for secondary school and for bright futures.