English
We teach children to love English, to read and write to a very high standard and for pleasure.
We also teach them to speak to a range of different audiences and to listen well and with skill.
We aim to encourage children to feel passionate about reading and writing, and to inspire personal interest and curiosity about a range of literacy activities as well as working towards all children achieving National Standards in literacy.
The curriculum includes reading, writing, spelling, handwriting, grammar, speaking and listening and drama. Each unit of work taught lasts from 2 to 4 weeks and helps the children to develop specific skills.
An overview of the school's English Curriculum is available to view here: Years 1 and 2, Years 3 and 4, Years 5 and 6.
Throughout their time at Goodrich, children will cover a large range of fiction genres as well as reading and writing different non-fiction text types.
As a school we have developed our own reading scheme to ensure children make outstanding progress. Reading scheme books are levelled and colour-coded to ensure an accurate match for each individual reader. We use books from a range of schemes including Bug Club, PM Readers, Oxford Reading Tree, Tree Tops, Project X and Collins Big Cat. In teaching phonics throughout the school we use Letters and Sounds as well as Jolly Phonics to provide a broad and balanced programme.
English is also closely linked with other areas of the curriculum. In order to support writing across the curriculum, children visit museums and other places of interest for history and geography, they watch plays by visiting theatre groups, work with authors and participate in writing and drama workshops. All of these experiences are used to help inspire and extend writing.
From September 2016, Goodrich will be using a new handwriting scheme, to be taught in two 45 minute lessons each week and practised every day. More information on the scheme can be found here.
If you are interested to find out more about the school's English curriculum, contact Roxxana Summer, English Co-ordinator, via the school office (details below).