Durlston English Policy

The general aims of English at Durlston Court School are:

• to enable children to speak clearly and audibly in ways which take account of their listeners;
• to encourage children to listen with concentration in order to be able to identify the main points of what they have heard;
• to enable children to adapt their speech to a wide range of circumstances and demands;
• to develop children’s abilities to reflect on their own and others’ contributions to discussions and the language used;
• to develop confident, fluent, independent readers through an appropriate focus on word, sentence and text-level knowledge;
• to encourage children to become enthusiastic and reflective readers through contact with texts, from a wide range of genres, responding in thoughtful and imaginative ways;
• to develop children’s ability to use information texts and locate, extract and use relevant information in the library and in ICT;
• to help children enjoy writing in all its forms and recognise its value;
• to enable children to write with accuracy and meaning in narrative and non-fiction;
• to develop children’s knowledge of punctuation and the grammatical structure of language;
• to increase the children’s ability to use planning, drafting, editing and good presentational skills to improve their work;
• to express themselves through the experience of performance.

At Durlston Court Prep. School we use a variety of teaching and learning styles in English lessons as recommended by the National Literacy Strategy and K.S.3 Framework for teaching English. Our principal aim is to develop children’s knowledge, skills and understanding in English. We do this through daily lessons in years 3-6 that combine whole-class and group teaching. These lessons may consist of whole-class shared reading or writing, focussed word or sentence activities and guided group or independent activities. A whole-class session to review progress, targets and learning should, in most cases, close the lesson. As well as normal English lessons, years 7 and 8 have extra English sessions where appropriate, and follow the National Framework for K.S 3.

Children have the opportunity to experience a wide range of texts although much work is based on the Collins Focus on Literacy scheme, Nelson schemes, Letts and Anthology (Collins) as well as a variety of novels from various genres. Any scheme should not be seen as exclusive or exhaustive. Each teacher’s own originality and creativity within the classroom can enhance the richness and diversity of the subject. Other resources such as dictionaries, thesauruses and videos are naturally encouraged. Children use ICT in English lessons where it enhances their learning, as in drafting their work or word processing.

English is linked to other subjects in an integral way and children are encouraged to use and apply their learning in other areas of the curriculum whenever possible, such as the humanities syllabus. English is unique in not only being a curriculum subject but also the medium of instruction and expression in all other subjects.

As a non-selective school, there are children of differing abilities within each class. At Durlston, we pursue goals that are designed to support the weaker pupils whilst stretching stronger, more academic children. Classes are set in English from year 4 to facilitate this.

We aim to provide suitable learning experiences and opportunities for all children by matching the challenge of the task to the ability of the child. We achieve this through a range of strategies. In some lessons there is differentiated group work, notably in spellings. In the majority of lessons we feel that we can ask children to work from the same starting point before moving on to develop their own ideas and to their ability. Extra work will be available to stretch the more able and to reinforce key objectives with the weaker pupils.

Teacher assessment and records of attainment are very important in this process, and we are careful to avoid differentiation purely by expectation and outcome. English differs from most subjects in that it is a skills based subject rather than knowledge based.

Reading in public or presenting work orally in class demands self-confidence and we place great emphasis on developing this valuable skill. Pupils will often be asked to give a talk about a book that they have read, or a topic of interest to them, or simply read aloud the first draft of a piece of creative writing.