English

 The early systematic teaching of phonics plays a crucial role in giving students the skills needed to decode words for reading and to segment for spelling with accuracy, fluency and understanding. For some of our pupils, this systematic approach is still necessary to allow students to approach the rest of the curriculum with confidence and enjoyment.

At Connie Rothman, the teaching of phonics aims to ensure that all pupils:

• Have access to high quality systematic progressive phonics teaching where needed.
• Have secure phonetic knowledge, understanding and skills, so that they can decode words confidently and apply this when reading and writing.
• Have a growing knowledge of common exception words and subject-specific vocabulary that they can independently use in reading and spelling.
• Can use and apply phonic knowledge across the wider curriculum.

• Students identified as needing support with reading or spelling are assessed for phonic knowledge using Twinkl Phonics Level 5 Assessments.
• Assessments are then used to plan a systematic programme to address the specific needs of the student. DfE validated phonics scheme Twinkl Phonics and the Twinkl Phonics Codebreakers Intervention programme are used for this.
• Weekly lessons are delivered in small groups, targeted at the gaps in learning. These sessions follow the Revisit, Teach, Practice, Apply structure. This is then revisited throughout the week by the English teachers/ TAs in the school and feedback given. Students are supported further through using Reading Plus as a tool to match text accurately to ability
• Half termly assessments monitor progress.
• Once confident at level 6, students can move on to learn spelling strategies using the Twinkl Planit spelling progression and supplemented with No Nonsense Spelling.

By the end of their time at Connie Rothman:

• Students will become confident and resilient in tackling unfamiliar words by applying learnt knowledge and skills to segment, blend, read and spell with enjoyment.
• Students will have an increased recognition of common exception words and subject specific vocabulary that they can use across the curriculum in reading and spelling.

Irrespective of our students journey to Connie Rothman, our intent is to join and share a love of our subject and the text rich curriculum that we offer. We want to give students the skills they will need to read, understand and comment upon a variety of fiction and non-fiction texts as well as developing their technical accuracy and oracy skills.

• Pupils will develop the core English skills of Reading, Writing, and Spoken Language. Our curriculum covers a range of different areas including reading and writing fiction and non-fiction, studying literary texts and creative and transactional writing.
• In reading, students develop the core skills of locating information, effects of language and structure, responding to statements made and summarising and comparing.
• In writing, pupils demonstrate creative and imaginative ideas and improve their technical accuracy.
• SPaG is taught explicitly as there are often gaps in student knowledge as our students’ educational journey has often been disrupted.
• In speaking and listening, Students will gain opportunities to engage in debate, presentations skills and performance. This will build confidence in communication and positive relationships whilst also working on their listening skills.
• Students will be equipped with the skills required to continue studying English at A-level, deepening their knowledge and preparing them generally for further education in other subjects.

English is delivered in the following ways:

1. Tailored Learning Paths: We understand that every pupil has individual needs and learning styles. Our curriculum offers personalised learning paths that cater to diverse abilities and backgrounds. We identify knowledge gaps and scaffold learning where necessary; as well as provide differentiated instruction, visual and practical approaches to ensure all our learners can gain access to the English Language/Functional Skills curriculum.

2. Progressive Skill Development: Our curriculum is structured to build confidence slowly. We offer a skills-based approach to ensure that our learners build up their skills in critical thinking, creative exploring and technical accuracy in a supportive and encouraging environment. We start with foundational concepts that work towards Functional Skills Level 1 and 2 as well as enjoying a range of literature texts to encourage a joy of reading, engaging, and understanding. Model responses and careful structuring empower our students to achieve their very best.

3. Assessment: We prefer to focus on sustained progress rather than rapid progress. Students become confident and familiar with small and manageable tasks and build on this over time. We tend to circle back to key concepts at the end of each unit/scheme of work with a short assessment as many of our students need to revisit key ideas so we can show them that learning never ends, it’s a lifelong process.

The impact of the English Curriculum is that our pupils will make progress in all key areas of English. Pupils develop confidence in reading, writing and spoken language key skills. For Key Stage 3, pupils develop an appreciation and love of reading, they understand more challenging texts, read critically, begin to write accurately and fluently, consolidate, and build on grammar and vocabulary, enhance spelling, punctuation and develop their speaking and listening skills.  All of this is done at their own pace and within a timeframe that is appropriate to their learning.

Some students will attempt the Functional Skills Level 1 by the end of Key Stage 3. 

Irrespective of our student’s journey to Connie Rothman, our intent is to join and share a love of our subject and the text rich curriculum that we offer. We want to give students the skills they will need to read, understand, and comment upon a variety of fiction and non-fiction texts as well as developing their technical accuracy and oracy skills.

• Pupils will develop the core English skills of Reading, Writing, and Spoken Language. Our curriculum covers a range of different areas including reading and writing fiction and non-fiction, studying literary texts and creative and transactional writing.
• In reading, students develop the core skills of locating information, effects of language and structure, responding to statements made and summarising and comparing.
• In writing, pupils demonstrate creative and imaginative ideas and improve their technical accuracy.
• SPaG is taught explicitly as there are often gaps in student knowledge as our students’ educational journey has often been disrupted.
• Students will be equipped with the skills required to continue studying English at A-level, deepening their knowledge, and preparing them generally for further education in other subjects

1. Tailored Learning Paths: We understand that every pupil has individual needs and learning styles. Our curriculum offers personalised learning paths that cater to diverse abilities and backgrounds. We identify knowledge gaps and scaffold learning where necessary; as well as provide differentiated instruction, visual and practical approaches to ensure all our learners can gain access to the English Language/Functional Skills curriculum. 

2. Progressive Skill Development: Our curriculum is structured to build confidence slowly. We offer a skills-based approach to ensure that our learners build up their skills in critical thinking, creative exploring and technical accuracy in a supportive and encouraging environment. We start with foundational concepts that cover Functional Skills Level 1 and 2 that can then be developed into a more advanced GCSE curriculum. Model responses and careful structuring empower our students to achieve their very best.  

3. Real-world Relevance: Functional Skills is presented through real world examples of Reading, Writing and Speaking and Listening activities making it more relatable and applicable to everyday life. It is further studied at English Language GCSE where students can become critical thinkers and form independent ideas and theories.  

4. Assessment: We prefer to focus on sustained progress rather than rapid progress.  Students become confident and familiar with small and manageable tasks and build on this over time. We tend to circle back to key concepts at the end of each unit with a short assessment as many of our students need to revisit key ideas so we can show them that learning never ends, it’s a lifelong process.  

By the end of Key Stage 4

The impact of the English Curriculum is that our pupils will make progress in the key areas of English. Pupils develop confidence in reading, writing key skills in English. In Key Stage 4, pupils develop an appreciation and love of reading, they understand challenging texts, read critically, write accurately and fluently, consolidate, and build on grammar and vocabulary, enhance spelling, punctuation and develop their speaking and listening skills.  All of this is done at their own pace and within a timeframe that is appropriate to their learning. 

Students will begin by completing Functional Skills assessments to build up to achieving GCSE’s and on to A-Level courses.  

Irrespective of our student’s journey to Connie Rothman, our intent is to grow and share a love of our subject and the text-rich curriculum that we offer. We want to give students the skills they will need to read, understand, and comment upon a variety of fiction texts as well as developing their technical accuracy, oracy and evaluation skills and show an understanding of writers’ social, historical and cultural contexts to inform these evaluation skills. Our curriculum will deliver the following requirements of the AQA specification for GCSE English Literature.

• Literal and inferential comprehension: understanding a word, phrase or sentence in context; exploring aspects of plot, characterisation, events and settings; distinguishing between what is stated explicitly and what is implied; explaining motivation, sequence of events, and the relationship between actions or events
• Critical reading: identifying the theme and distinguishing between themes; supporting a point of view by referring to evidence in the text; recognising the possibility of and evaluating different responses to a text; using understanding of writers’ social, historical and cultural contexts to inform evaluation; making an informed personal response that derives from analysis and evaluation of the text
• Evaluation of a writer’s choice of vocabulary, grammatical and structural features: analysing and evaluating how language, structure, form and presentation contribute to quality and impact; using linguistic and literary terminology for such evaluation
• Comparing and contrasting texts studied, referring where relevant to theme, characterisation, context (where known), style and literary quality; comparing two texts critically with respect to the above

1. Progressive Skill Development: Our curriculum is structured to build confidence in line with our students’ capabilities. We offer a skills-based approach to ensure that our learners build up their competency in critical thinking, creative exploring, and technical accuracy in a supportive and encouraging environment. We select texts that we think will appeal to our student cohort and are sensitive to some of the wider issues that come with close analysis of certain themes. Model responses and careful structuring empower our students to achieve their very best.  

2. Real-world Relevance: English Literature helps students learn about the world on a broader scale by facing texts with challenging or difficult subject matter and offering them a chance to develop their own conclusions about the world around them.  The accumulation of cultural capital is very useful for future life. 

3. Assessment: We prefer to focus on sustained progress rather than rapid progress.  Students become confident and familiar with small and manageable tasks and build on this over time. We tend to circle back to key concepts at the end of each unit with a short assessment as many of our students need to revisit key ideas so we can show them that learning never ends, it’s a lifelong process. 

By the end of Key Stage 4:

The impact of the English Curriculum is that our pupils will make progress in the key areas of English Literature. Pupils develop confidence in reading, writing and analytical skills in English Literature. They will have an appreciation of the depth and power of literary heritage and be able to make links between themes, characters, and plots of the texts they study.  All of this is done at their own pace and within a timeframe that is appropriate to their learning. Students will sit GCSE English Literature exams when they are ready and fully equipped with the skills and confidence.  This can then be taken forwards into further study at KS5 in any qualification they feel best suits them.