English
What does English look like at Brill?
At Brill Church of England School, we believe that English unlocks the whole curriculum. The ability to read, write, speak and listen confidently gives children the tools to learn, communicate, imagine, question and understand the world around them.
We want our children not simply to be able to read and write, but to love books, find their voice, communicate with confidence and recognise the power of language.
Our approach provides consistency and progression throughout a child’s journey at Brill:
Phonics – Supersonic Phonic Friends
Writing – Talk for Writing from Reception to Year 6
Reading – Solomon Kingsnorth approach to guided reading
Together, these provide strong foundations while developing children into confident, thoughtful and increasingly independent readers, writers and communicators.
INTENT
Our English curriculum is ambitious for every child.
We aim to develop children who are fluent and enthusiastic readers, confident and creative writers, and articulate speakers and listeners.
Reading
Reading sits at the heart of our curriculum. We want every child to develop a lifelong love of reading and to understand the extraordinary power of books to transport us to other worlds, introduce us to different lives and perspectives, build knowledge, provoke questions and bring joy.
Throughout their time at Brill, children encounter a rich and varied range of high-quality texts including fiction, non-fiction and poetry. Carefully chosen literature helps children build vocabulary and background knowledge while exposing them to different authors, cultures, experiences, genres and ideas.
We want our children to see themselves reflected in the books they read while also opening windows onto lives and worlds beyond their own.
Writing
We want every child to recognise themselves as a writer.
Writing is taught as a meaningful and powerful form of communication. Children learn how successful writers make choices and develop the knowledge, vocabulary and techniques they need to make those choices for themselves.
They learn to write for different purposes and audiences, developing their own authorial voice while becoming increasingly accurate, ambitious and independent.
Spoken Language
Speaking and listening are fundamental to children’s success across the curriculum.
We want Brill children to have the confidence to find their voice and use it well. Children are taught to listen thoughtfully, articulate their ideas, ask questions, explain their thinking, build upon the contributions of others and respectfully challenge different viewpoints.
Through a carefully sequenced English curriculum, knowledge and skills build progressively from the Early Years to Year 6, preparing every child for their next stage of education and life beyond Brill.
Our ambition is for children to be bold in their ideas, brave in expressing them and Brill-iant in the way they communicate them.
IMPLEMENTATION
Early Reading and Phonics – Supersonic Phonic Friends
The journey to becoming a reader begins as soon as children arrive at Brill.
In EYFS and Key Stage 1, phonics is taught systematically through Supersonic Phonic Friends. Children develop secure phonological knowledge and decoding skills through a carefully structured and progressive programme.
Children are given regular opportunities to practise and apply the sounds and patterns they have been taught, developing increasing accuracy, automaticity and fluency.
Carefully matched reading materials support children in applying their phonics knowledge successfully, helping them experience success and develop confidence as readers.
Children who require additional support are identified quickly so that appropriate teaching and intervention can help them keep up and develop the secure foundations they need for future reading.
Reading – Developing Fluent and Thoughtful Readers
As children’s reading develops, our approach to guided reading follows the Solomon Kingsnorth approach.
Through carefully structured teaching and high-quality, increasingly challenging texts, children develop their fluency, vocabulary, comprehension and ability to think deeply about what they read.
Children are taught to:
- read with increasing accuracy, automaticity, expression and fluency;
- retrieve and interpret information;
- explore and understand increasingly sophisticated vocabulary;
- make connections within and between texts;
- infer meaning using evidence;
- predict and justify their thinking;
- consider authors’ vocabulary and structural choices;
- discuss themes, viewpoints and ideas; and
- explain and justify their responses using evidence from the text.
Importantly, reading is not viewed simply as the completion of comprehension activities. Through discussion, modelling and carefully chosen questions, children learn how to think as readers.
Reading for Pleasure
Alongside the explicit teaching of reading, we place great importance on developing a strong culture of reading for pleasure.
Children are introduced to a broad and diverse range of high-quality literature and are encouraged to explore their own reading interests and preferences.
Adults share their enthusiasm for books, stories and authors, and children are given opportunities to talk about, recommend, share and enjoy what they read.
Our aim is that children leave Brill not only able to read successfully, but wanting to read.
Writing – Talk for Writing
From Reception to Year 6, Talk for Writing provides a consistent approach to the teaching and development of writing at Brill.
At the heart of Talk for Writing is the understanding that children benefit from being able to say it before they write it.
Children are immersed in high-quality model texts and explore the language, vocabulary, structure and techniques that make writing effective.
Through storytelling, oral rehearsal, discussion, drama, shared writing and teacher modelling, children internalise patterns of language and build a repertoire of techniques they can draw upon in their own writing.
As children progress through the school, this develops in sophistication. They increasingly analyse the choices writers make and learn how to manipulate language and structure deliberately to achieve particular effects.
Children learn to:
- generate and develop ideas;
- consider purpose and audience;
- draw upon increasingly rich and precise vocabulary;
- construct and vary sentences effectively;
- apply increasingly sophisticated grammar and punctuation;
- understand and use the structures and features of different forms of writing;
- draw upon models while developing their own ideas;
- plan and organise their writing;
- draft, revise and edit their work;
- evaluate the effectiveness of their writing; and
- develop their own distinctive voice as writers.
The ultimate goal is independence. Children build a bank of knowledge, vocabulary, structures and writing techniques that they can select and apply confidently when creating their own work.
Vocabulary and Oracy
Vocabulary development and spoken language run throughout our English curriculum.
Children need opportunities to hear language, say language, play with language and understand language before they can use it confidently and independently.
Through Talk for Writing, guided reading and the wider curriculum, children regularly retell, rehearse, discuss, perform, question, explain, present and debate.
New vocabulary is explicitly explored and revisited, helping children develop an increasingly rich language repertoire which they can draw upon in their reading, writing and spoken communication.
English Across Brill Horizons
English does not exist only within the English lesson.
Reading, writing and spoken language are woven throughout our Brill Horizons curriculum, giving children meaningful opportunities to apply their skills and deepen their knowledge across different subjects.
Children read to discover and investigate. They write to explain, inform, persuade, describe and reflect. They discuss ideas, ask questions and communicate what they have learned.
High-quality texts and purposeful writing opportunities are carefully chosen to complement and enrich wider curriculum learning where appropriate, helping children build background knowledge, vocabulary and connections between subjects.
In this way, English becomes what we believe it should be: a tool for accessing, understanding and communicating learning across the whole curriculum.
IMPACT
By the end of their Brill journey, we want our children to see themselves as readers, writers and communicators.
We want children to leave Brill able to:
- read accurately, fluently and confidently;
- read independently for both pleasure and knowledge;
- engage thoughtfully and critically with increasingly challenging texts;
- draw upon a broad and rich vocabulary;
- write accurately, creatively and purposefully for different audiences and contexts;
- make deliberate choices about language, structure and style;
- independently plan, draft, revise and improve their writing;
- communicate their ideas clearly and confidently;
- listen to and engage respectfully with the ideas of others; and
- use their English knowledge and skills successfully across the wider curriculum.
Most importantly, we want our children to understand that their words matter.
Whether they are reading the words of others, crafting their own or finding the courage to speak, we want every Brill child to have the knowledge, confidence and curiosity to communicate, create, question and make their voice heard.
Be Bold. Be Brave. Be Brill-iant.
