English

what do we say about english at dean bank

Jessica Y6 – “I like writing narratives best and I particularly enjoy when we get to write stories about whatever we want.”

Annalise Y4 – “I really like reading about different characters and then creating my own.”

Connor Y2 – “I like writing because it’s fun. I really enjoyed writing about Black History Month.”

our intent

At Dean Bank Primary School, we believe that reading, writing and spoken communication are key life skills that every child should develop so they are prepared for the next steps in their learning. We use the English curriculum (using cross curricular links where appropriate) to develop the skills, knowledge and understanding that will enable our pupils to communicate effectively and creatively in spoken and written forms.

We strive for our pupils to develop the habit of reading widely and often, for both pleasure and information; acquire a wide vocabulary; develop a secure understanding of English grammar and punctuation; and acquire a knowledge of linguistic conventions for reading, writing and spoken language.

Our English long term planning includes a wide range of texts to support children’s understanding of social and ethical issues, their understanding of specific authors, a range of cultures, language and vocabulary development and appreciation of classic texts. We aim for our pupils to develop mastery of the curriculum content for their year group and be confident enough to be able to apply the skills taught in English lessons in their other subjects.

We strive for children to become more independent writers who develop confidence with the editing and redrafting process and can use self and peer assessment to reflect on their own and others’ writing.

planning

English Texts LTP
Poetry LTP 2023-2024

reading and phonics

For more information regarding Reading and Phonics please click here.

guided reading

prepositions

English in action 2023-2024

October 2023 – Free Writing Day

For the last English lesson of the term, we had a ‘Free Writing Day’ where the children could write about anything that they wanted. It could be fiction or non-fiction and about any topic. Many chose to base their writing on Halloween as it was also non-uniform day with the children dressing up in Halloween costumes. The children really responded well to the freedom of being able to write whatever they wanted and produced some very spooky stories, setting descriptions and interesting fact files amongst others!

October 2023 – Scholastic Book Fair

Thank you so much for all of the support with our Scholastic Book Fair. We managed to earn an amazing £177.32 in rewards to spend on books for school!

This money will be used to buy some of the most popular books from the fair for the school libraries and book corners.

It’s been such a success that I’m sure we’ll organise it again for next year!

October 2023 – Y1 Library Visit

Our Y1 children had a brilliant afternoon visiting Ferryhill library. They listened to some stories, did an activity and had some time to explore some of the books that interested them. They can’t wait to go again!

October 2023 – National Poetry Day

For National Poetry Day this year, the theme was ‘Refuge’ and each class read a poem or selection of poems about this.

Some classes then created their own versions of poems and others discussed them in detail to ensure everyone understood the message behind the poems.

September 2023 – Roald Dahl Day

Every year, on 13th September, we celebrate one of our best loved authors – Roald Dahl. This year, the children were invited to dress up as Roald Dahl characters or wear yellow which was Roald Dahl’s favourite colour. We had an assembly about why Roald Dahl is so special and then each class completed some activities linked to Roald Dahl stories including artwork of the enormous crocodile in EYFS and persuasive writing and speeches linked to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in Y4.