Overview
Language (speaking and listening) and literacy (reading and writing) underpin all aspects of our everyday lives whilst giving us rich opportunity for play, shared experience and creativity. They help us to orientate ourselves in our environment, access services, socialise and communicate effectively and can enable access to a range of hobbies. Ultimately, through our English teaching, we strive to give our students as much independence as possible within their world. It links strongly to the wider curriculum and we maximise every opportunity to make cross-curricular links.
English teaching and learning looks very different across our three Pathways. It is sequenced so that it progresses on from wherever individual students are with their learning in reading, writing and communication. A range of teaching methods are utilised to ensure equal access and opportunity for all learning styles and strengths. Regular and meaningful assessment of students’ abilities in reading, writing and communication both tracks students’ progress and informs future planning. Teachers and TAs formatively assess skills through regular 1:1 reading, class work in English lessons and also skills applied across the wider curriculum. English Pathway frameworks on Evidence for Learning provide a progression of skills on which to track attainment and progress for students at all stages of development. This is shared with parents at annual reviews and parents evenings.
English – and especially a shared enjoyment of book-based learning and experience – is something our students respond well to and is the foundation of much rich learning. Our English teaching supports challenging EHCP targets and important communication outcomes. It prepares students for their world beyond Highfield and prepares many for college, adult life and the workplace.
English Across the Pathways
English is taught to our students through a sensory approach. This is through all five senses to engage pupils and immerse them in the current topic. Pupils are exposed to English learning throughout their day in all opportunities to allow them to experience this within relevant contexts.
English Annual Plan
Whole School Book Map
Impact
We know from working with our students, their parents/carers, further education providers and external professionals that our English curriculum has the following impacts:
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learners from all Pathways are more confident communicators and have made significant progress from their starting points
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students are more able to access the world around them because they have developed the communication, reading and writing skills to do so
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pupils are able to access the next steps of their journey - whether they be educational or within the world of employment
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pupils are more independent young people, able to travel, live with or without support and can engage in their communities
Qualifications
In Upper School, Yellow Pathway students will complete ASDAN Lifeskills Challenges in English, from Entry Level 1 to Level 1. Green and Blue Pathway learners will undertake an ASDAN Life Skills Challenge in English, working towards Entry Levels 1 and 2.
Progression
English teaching in all Pathways and at all stages will aim to foster a love of books and reading and will provide students with a rich variety of fiction, non-fiction and poetry experiences.
The Engagement Model
Phase 1 Letters and Sounds are taught through an approach appropriate to the learner. Phase 1 concentrates on developing students' speaking and listening skills and aims to get students attuned to the sounds around them and ready to begin developing oral blending and segmenting skills.
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Exploration |
Realisation |
Anticipation |
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Shared Experience Shares space with an adult who is reading a story. Experiences rhythm in stories and names. Experiences body percussion. |
Shared Attention Actively listens and/or looks. |
Sensory Response Responds to sensory stimuli. |
Sensory Participation Sensory responses show early imagination. Explores materials and objects as part of sensory stories. |
Enjoyment Recognises the reading experience and responds positively. |
Attention Tunes into and attends to sounds and sensory experience. Matches sounds with objects. |
Control Attempts to stop or change an experience |
Anticipation – stimuli Tracks objects + reaches for them. Anticipates repetitively presented stimuli showing a learned response over time. |
Anticipation – story structure Indicates a knowledge/ awareness of what happens next within a familiar story. |
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Persistence |
Initiation |
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Making Links Make links between sounds and their source (real or visual). |
Interaction Seeks to find out more and interact with experience. |
Attention – sustains attention for whole or parts of story experience. |
Choice Makes a choice of stimuli or text. Favourites emerge over time. |
Seeks More Indicates wish for more, including exploring story props. Turns the pages of a book. |
Investigation Explores and investigates a stimuli in different ways – developing independence. |
Phase 1 is divided into 7 aspects:
■ Aspect 1: General sound discrimination – environmental sounds
■ Aspect 2: General sound discrimination – instrumental sounds
■ Aspect 3: General sound discrimination – body percussion
■ Aspect 4: Rhythm and rhyme
■ Aspect 5: Alliteration
■ Aspect 6: Voice sounds
■ Aspect 7: Oral blending and segmenting
While there is considerable overlap between these aspects, the overarching aim is for children to experience regular, planned opportunities to listen carefully and talk extensively about what they hear, see and do. The boundaries between each strand are flexible and not fixed: practitioners should plan to integrate the activities according to the developing abilities and interests of the children in the setting.
Each aspect contains 3 strands:
Tuning into sounds (auditory discrimination)
Listening and remembering sounds (auditory memory and sequencing)
Talking about sounds (developing vocabulary and language comprehension)
Phonics
Phonics is taught using the Little Wandle scheme for all pupils in Primary and older learners on the Green Pathway.
Phonics - Key concepts and skills
Concept 1
Sounds (phonemes ) are represented by letters (graphemes)
Concept 2
A phoneme can be represented by one letter (grapheme) or by a group of 2 or more letters; e.g. ‘sh’, ‘igh’)
Concept 3
The same sound (phoneme) can be represented (spelt) more than one way; e.g. cat, kennel, choir
Concept 4
The same grapheme (spelling) may represent more than one phoneme; e.g. mean – deaf or crown – flown
Key skill 1 – Blending. In order to read an unfamiliar word, a child must attribute a phoneme to each letter or letter combination in the word, and then blend them together to pronounce the word.
Key skill 2 – Segmentation. In order to spell, a child must segment a word into its component phonemes and choose a letter or letter combination to represent the phonemes.
Key skill 3 – Sight vocabulary of common exception words and high frequency words
The "Whole Word" approach to teaching reading
For some students, phonics will not be their primary reading strategy. These students access a ‘whole word approach’ to teaching reading alongside phonics, following a personalised sequence which reflects the following steps:
1.Matching and selecting pictures
2.Matching ‘symbol + word’ to ‘symbol + word’
3.Matching ‘symbol + word’ to ‘word’
4.Matching picture to word.
Reading Books
Reading books give 1:1 reading opportunities to practise and embed phonics skills and whole-word reading teaching. All students accessing Little Wandle will have a reading book which is matched to their phonics progress.
Additional skills to be developed in these sessions are:
•Enjoyment
•Fluency
•Expression
•Comprehension
We develop students' comprehension skills by following the Blank Language Scheme levels of questioning:
Reading for purpose - developing subject specific vocabulary
As students become confident, fluent readers, reading opportunities matched to their reading abilities will begin to be introduced to the wider curriculum – thus broadening their vocabulary. This will include opportunities for ‘real-world’ reading, such as menus, timetables or brochures.
Reading for life beyond the classroom
For whole-word readers, emphasis will shift towards functional vocabulary which will be pertinent to navigating the world around them – such as important signs, important places and key words for toiletries and food.
English teaching in all pathways and at all stages will aim to foster a love of writing and creating and will provide students with a rich variety of fiction, non-fiction and poetry experiences.
The writing experience begins with sensory and fine-motor skills activities which develop both core and fine-motor strength and dexterity.
Once a firm and efficient pencil grasp is developed, students develop writing skills and make marks for a purpose. This emerges from pictures and meaningful marks into writing and translation of environmental print.
In this initial stage, writing manifests itself in drawings and pictures
Accurate letter formation is developed within our Little Wandle Letters and Sounds revised programme (Primary and Green Pathway) or as an intervention in the Yellow Pathway. Phonic skills for writing (segmenting) develop within a phonic progression which starts with sound recognition.
Phonics - Key concepts and skills
Concept 1
Sounds (phonemes ) are represented by letters (graphemes)
Concept 2
A phoneme can be represented by one letter (grapheme) or by a group of 2 or more letters; e.g. ‘sh’, ‘igh’)
Concept 3
The same sound (phoneme) can be represented (spelt) more than one way; e.g. cat, kennel, choir
Concept 4
The same grapheme (spelling) may represent more than one phoneme; e.g. mean – deaf or crown – flown
Key skill 1 – Blending. In order to read an unfamiliar word, a child must attribute a phoneme to each letter or letter combination in the word, and then blend them together to pronounce the word.
Key skill 2 – Segmentation. In order to spell, a child must segment a word into its component phonemes and choose a letter or letter combination to represent the phonemes.
Key skill 3 – Sight vocabulary and learned spellings of common exception words and high frequency words
Alternative Methods of Recording Writing
For some children, physical skills, language or phonic ability may be barriers to writing. Students who have these additional needs may access technology to write or may build and compose sentences using symbols and colourful semantics. It is important to note that handwriting or phonics abilities should not necessarily prevent students from progressing with writing composition.
In the following progression, writing could take the form of typing, use of symbols, colourful semantics or scribing etc.
Writing Composition
Step 1 – Writing labels, captions and their own name.
Step 2 – Words will be linked to create meaning eg ‘Daddy car’.
Step 3 – If able, orally composes sentences.
Step 4 – Writes short sentences showing an emerging awareness of finger spaces, capital letters and full stops.
Step 5 – Shows increasing accuracy in spelling and grammar and begins to develop editing skills.
Step 6 – Sequences sentences to create a short narrative
Step 7 – Sentences show increasing complexity in terms of structure, punctuation and vocabulary. Checks writing makes sense.
Step 8 – Writing style is adapted for purpose – eg Instructions, narrative, non-chronological report
Step 9 – Ideas are organised into paragraphs.
Writing for Purpose
As students become confident, fluent writers, writing opportunities matched to their abilities will begin to be introduced to the wider curriculum – thus broadening their vocabulary. This will include opportunities for ‘real-world’ writing, such as leaflets, posters, application forms and letters.
English teaching in all Pathways and at all stages will aim to support children’s development in becoming effective communicators, whatever their preferred method of communication. Augmented and Alternative Communication (AAC) will be used according to need and may include use of Makaton, PECs, communication books, Ipad apps or switches. Students using AAC may be working at any point in the progression below. This, and any medical or physical barriers individuals may have which impacts their communication, means that many of our students will follow a bespoke Pathway through this progression, with the universal aim of supporting both expressive and receptive language development.
For the purposes of this progression, expressive language progression (speaking) will be shown in purple and receptive language progression (listening) will be shown in gold.
Neurotypical Language Development:
Step 1
Crying, coughing or making sounds whilst breathing in order to meet a need.
Attends to sounds and voices.
Step 2
Cooing and babbling.
Takes turns to vocalise.
Initiates communication in any form – including eye contact and gesture – eg through smiling.
Recognises facial expressions and tones of voice.
Step 3
Starts to imitate parts of words and modelled words.
Communicates a want of significant people or things with gesture or noise.
Understands the meaning of words – for example who ‘Da Da’ is.
Responds to own name and familiar requests – eg waving.
Step 4
Communicates functionally a basic want or need using speech, eye pointing or AAC.
Can understand an instruction containing 1 information carrying word.
Step 5
Communicates by using more than one word, symbol or gesture, developing sentences.
Can follow instructions containing 2 information carrying words.
Understands and asks ‘what’ and ‘where’ questions.
Step 6
Able to have a conversation which goes back and forth, listening to others so s/he can enter on cue.
Asks ‘what’, ‘why’, ‘when’ and ‘how’ questions.
Talks about past events.
Can follow instructions containing 3 information carrying words.
Understands ‘who’ questions.
Step 7
Talks about past and future events.
Uses ‘how’ and ‘where’ questions.
Uses imaginative language in play.
Uses more complex sentences.
Follows the meaning of others’ conversation.
Understands ‘how’ questions.
Step 8
Ideas are shared – eg through short oral reports.
Engages in jokes and humour and understands sarcasm.
Speaking is uses for a range of purposes, for example, argue a simple point of view, make predictions, justify decisions, provide solutions and give explanations.
Speech is grammatically correct.
Understands the difference between reality and fantasy.
Step 9
Can express a clear and logical opinion.
Will ask questions to clarify information.
Can listen for a sustained period of time – e.g. to a guest speaker.
Step 10
Is able to say whether they agree or disagree with others’ point of view and say why.
Uses increasingly complex subject-specific vocabulary in their speech.
Listens in a range of real-life situations showing an awareness of the speaker.
Speaking and Listening for Life Beyond the Classroom
Uses speech in a range of real-life situations such as in an interview, presentation or social event.
Can adapt speech to take into account audience, occasion and formality.
Is able to say whether they agree or disagree with others’ point of view and say why using extended answers.
Listens carefully, showing this by making relevant comments and begins making some changes to language and non-verbal features to suit content and audience.