English

OUR AIMS

We want our pupils to:

• Respect themselves, respect others, respect all property, and respect their community and the World around them.
• Have a positive attitude that encourages self-belief and confidence
• Achieve high standards in all areas of the curriculum.
• Respond to challenges and seize new experiences whole–heartedly.
• Take an active lead in their own learning and development throughout their life.
• Develop the spirit of enquiry leading to life-long learning.

OUR VISION FOR THIS SUBJECT

At Cheswick Green Primary, we want all children to enjoy reading, be fluent, competent and to have read widely so that they have a growing understanding of the world.  As a school, we believe that creating a culture of reading is a vital tool in ensuring our children are given the best life chances. Cultivating readers with a passion for a wide range of materials will ensure that children’s love of reading will extend far beyond the classroom and allow them to build on their skills independently through a real curiosity and thirst for knowledge.

SPEAKING AND LISTENING INTENT  

Speaking and listening is central to the Cheswick Green Curriculum and is developed from EYFS and beyond. We want children to be able to express themselves with confidence as we believe that it is central to their learning. We nurture children’s speaking and listening skills through a variety of approaches. We develop these skills so that our children are capable of expressing their own ideas clearly and confidently, in a safe and supportive environment, in all aspects and areas of their school life. These skills are being encouraged in every area of our curriculum as good communication skills can enhance every type of learning. The children are encouraged to explore ideas through talk; challenge each other’s opinions and develop their own reasoned arguments, as well as talking in full sentences with a clear and confident voice.

SPEAKING AND LISTENING IMPLEMENTATION

All children are provided with a wealth of opportunities to develop their speaking and listening skills. Children are encouraged to articulate themselves in a range of contexts, in all aspects of the curriculum and as a prerequisite to developing reading and writing skills. Pupils have a range of planned oracy experiences including: drama; the use of talk partners; planned discussion activities; paired and collaborative work; problem solving in maths; presentation of learning; parent share events; circle time; school council and other pupil voice activities.

SPEAKING AND LISTENING CURRICULUM IMPACT

• An inclusive curriculum which meets the needs of all learners;
• Staff who are enthusiastic in their approach to speaking and listening
• A curriculum which equips pupils for the next phase of their education and beyond;
• Confident children who can articulate themselves for a range of purposes and contexts;
• A body of staff who are continuously evolving and improving to meet the needs of pupils as they move through the school;
•  A governing body who are clear about what the English teaching and learning of speaking and listening provision looks like within the school.

EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES IN SPEAKING AND LISTENING

Where children have a physical disability or have SEND, we aim to provide resources and learning experiences that will support their learning in speaking and listening. We do this by setting suitable learning challenges, responding to each child’s different needs and providing learning opportunities that enable all pupils to make progress.

Activities should be carefully planned by the class teacher and be differentiated where appropriate for children with SEN and equally the more able and Gifted and Talented children. All resources/materials have been reviewed with equal opportunities in mind, e.g. race, gender, ethnicity. Learning experiences in music will be available to every child, regardless of race, gender, class or ability. Pupils will be encouraged to value social and cultural diversity through musical experiences. They will listen to, and participate in, a variety of experiences in a positive and constructive role.

INCLUSION

Inclusion is about every child having educational needs, that every child is special and the School is meeting these diverse needs in order to ensure the active participation and progress of all children in their learning.

Inclusive practice in speaking and listening should enable all children to achieve their best possible standard; whatever their ability, and irrespective of gender, ethnic, social or cultural background, home language or any other aspect that could affect their participation in, or progress in their learning. 

We recognise that in all classes, children have a wide range of musical ability, and so we seek to provide suitable learning opportunities for all children by matching the challenge of the task to the ability of the child. We achieve this in a variety of ways:

• setting tasks which are open-ended and can have a variety of responses;
• setting tasks of increasing difficulty;
• grouping children by ability and setting different tasks for each group;
• grouping children in mixed ability groups;
• providing resources of different complexity, depending on the ability of the child;
• using classroom assistants to support the work of individuals or groups of children.