HOLY TRINITY CATHOLIC SCHOOL ENGLISH CURRICULUM The English curriculum at Holy Trinity has taken many of the content and principles of ‘Mastery’ in mathematics. We have developed a curriculum which ensures children spend longer being taught the common features and skills in reading and writing in order to have a more coherent English curriculum and therefore be able to develop mastery in English. The curriculum has been adapted using various methods such as: talk for writing, having a strong grammar focus, using high quality novels and books as well as using a range of drama conventions. The Principles and Features Characterised in Our Curriculum: • • • •
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Teachers reinforce an expectation that all pupils are capable of achieving high standards in English. The large majority of pupils progress through the curriculum content at the same pace. Differentiation is achieved through additional support and encouraging children’s individual flair and fluency. Interventions focus on gaps in knowledge and developing a growth mind-set in order to ensure all children achieve. Teaching is underpinned by using high quality texts and high quality examples from the teacher which focus on skills to be taught. These texts are then analysed in depth with the children in order for them to learn and apply those skills. Grammar and punctuation skills are practised and consolidated until all children have a firm understanding of how to apply them into their own work. Teachers use precise questioning in class to develop the children’s thinking and explanations, helping children to make literary choices in their writing.
Reading begins in Foundation Stage through sharing books with simple or no text so that the children can learn how to tell a story using images. Children progress through the reading bands accordingly with each book level introducing new reading and comprehension skills. There is an emphasis on children learning to decode through daily phonics teaching and