At Holley Park Academy we believe that a quality English curriculum should develop children’s love of reading, writing and discussion.

One of our priorities is helping children read and develop their all-important comprehension skills.

We recognise the importance of nurturing a culture where children take pride in their writing, can write clearly and accurately and adapt their language and style for a range of contexts.

We want to inspire children to be confident in the art of speaking and listening and who can use discussion to communicate and further their learning.

Spoken Language

At Holley Park Academy, we want to ensure that our pupils have the skills required to effectively communicate socially and formally in a variety of ways. We recognise the importance of spoken language in pupils’ development across the whole curriculum – cognitively, socially and linguistically. Spoken language underpins the development of reading and writing. The quality and variety of language that pupils hear and speak are vital for developing their vocabulary and grammar and their understanding for reading and writing.

Reading            
Reading is a vital skill that will support children’s learning across the whole curriculum. As a school, we will ensure that our children are taught to read with fluency, accuracy and understanding through a variety of discreet and cross-curricular learning opportunities. Above all, we want children in our school to become enthusiastic, independent and reflective readers. Essentially, we want children to enjoy reading.
 

Reading is taught regularly, right through school from Nursery. Children begin their reading journey in Nursery developing their 'Foundation for Phonics' skills. This concentrates on developing speaking and listening skills and has an emphasis on enabling children to become attuned to the sounds around them whilst developing the skills of oral blending and segmenting. In Nursery, this is a time where pupils are given an opportunity to familiarise themselves with books. Pupils learn how to hold a book the right way, how to turn pages, how to explore pictures, and are exposed to hearing stories - all vitally important skills to begin the reading journey. Within Reception, reading is taught through both literacy-focused activities based on books and through specific teaching of the Little Wandle phonics programme.

The skills of reading comprehension are taught discreetly throughout school from Years 2 to Years 6 and through daily whole class or guided reading sessions 

Key Performance Indicators for reading are provided for each year group for each term to ensure progression in reading throughout each year. Key texts are suggested for each Year group covering archaic texts; texts with non-linear time sequences; texts with complexity in the narrator or plot and resistant texts.

Writing

Our long term Writing curriculum outlines key writing outcomes for fiction and non-fiction writing in each year group with clear lines of progression built in across the three terms. Challenge is provided through suggestions on how the writing can be transformed so pupils are applying skills independently and are adapting writing based on audience and form thus providing opportunities for pupils to work at a greater depth within each writing outcome.

At the end of each term a set of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are provided to enable teachers to assess key aspects of the curriculum pupils need to be secure in against what has been taught over the term. 

SEND

Our English curriculum puts all pupils, regardless of their needs, at the heart of what we do. By building mutual respect, we accept others for their differences believing that everyone is special and everyone has something to offer. Our inclusive and enriching curriculum, written for all children, provides pupils with meaningful and aspirational experiences as well as promoting personal growth for life-long learning. When the curriculum needs adapting, to suit the needs of individual children, appropriate modifications are made by the class teacher with support of the SENDCo and the Curriculum Subject Lead.

Should you wish to know more about the English curriculum at Holley Park Academy, please contact the English Subject Lead via the school office.