At Bowdon Church School, our vision in English is for our children to acquire the substantive and disciplinary knowledge they need to be successful: capable, confident readers, skilful and creative writers, and effective and articulate orators.
Key principles underpinning our English curriculum:
English has an extremely high priority in our school in terms of timetabling, school environment (library, displays and even poetry in the loos!), budget allocation, staff PD, in communications with stakeholders (parent meetings, coffee mornings), whole school events (National Poetry Day, World Book Day), competitions (BBC 500 Words, Portico Library) and in outward-facing activities such as author and theatre visits.
The implementation of our English curriculum is carefully and cumulatively sequenced and structured to ensure all children become confident and competent readers, writers, listeners and speakers.
The following outlines how our curriculum is enacted across its different strands:
Reading
7. Strategies for Struggling Readers:
Reading provides the knowledge and skills to unlock the rest of the curriculum. It is children’s birthright and entitlement to be taught to read well. Thus, we are laser-focussed on closing the gap between our lowest-attaining readers and their peers:
Writing
Grammar, Punctuation, and Spelling (GPS)
Oracy
Homework and Parent Engagement
Assessment and Inclusion
Impact
1. Performance in Statutory Assessments:
KS1 - our goal is for 100% of our children to pass the KS1 Phonics Screening Check (PSC) by the end of Year 2. Over the past 3 years, over 90% of our Year 1 children have passed, which has left <10 children, the majority of whom have passed in Year 2. By the end of Year 2, only children with suspected or diagnosed learning differences do not pass, and as stated above, we continue to work with them in Lower KS2 to ensure optimal progress. By the start of Year 4, it is exceptionally unusual for a BCS child to have not passed the PSC.
KS2 - our goal is for 100% of our Year 6 children to meet Age-Related Expectations (ARE) in Reading, or if not, to perform in line with or exceed their own prior attainment. We also aim, based on prior attainment, for >50% to attain at the higher level in KS2 SATs. We have achieved these goals every year since SATs were relaunched in 2016, despite our cohort size increasing from 60 to 90.
Our goal is for 100% of our Year 6 children to meet ARE for Writing, or if not, to perform in line with or exceed their own prior attainment, and for >30% to attain Greater Depth. We have achieved these goals every year since 2016.
Our goal is for 100% of our Year 6 children to meet ARE for GPS, or if not, to perform in line with or exceed their own prior attainment, and for >50% to attain Greater Depth. We have achieved these goals every year since 2016.
As of the academic year 24-25, we measure progress and attainment in Oracy through our bespoke Oracy framework and end-points, across 3 areas: Speaking, Listening & Collaborating. These areas include tracking children’s small-step development across the 4 strands of Oracy as described by Voice 21, which are Physical, Linguistic, Cognitive and Social & Emotional.
2. Vocabulary and Knowledge
3. Engagement, Motivation and Optimism
4. Adaptive Teaching/Inclusion
5. Strong School-Wide Reading Culture
6. Transition Success
Through ongoing assessment, targeted interventions, and a focus on high-quality texts and teaching, we believe that we are successful in delivering upon our statement of intent : our children are capable, confident readers, skilful and creative writers and effective and articulate orators.
We fix firm foundations which serve our children well in education and in life.