English Statement of Intent for CMS

At Chantry Middle School, we want our authors (readers and writers) to do the following: 

  • Become confident communicators, both verbally and in writing. 
  • Read a wide range of genres, challenging and thought-provoking texts.
  • Experience a variety of extra-curricular opportunities and gain rich experiences.
  • Show empathy and appreciation for all cultures and traditions.
  • Become accomplished students.

 

English Curriculum Intent 

English is at the heart of all other subjects; it has massive social and moral implications. Our subject teaches students to be better thinkers and communicators, in addition to supporting them in their journey to becoming more empathetic human beings. 

At Chantry Middle School, we aim to deliver the English curriculum in an enthusiastic and dynamic style that will engage students and promote a passion for the subject. Our intent is to foster a lifelong love for the subject within our students, through engaging lessons and a variety of experiences to be enjoyed outside of the classroom. We firmly believe that instilling a love for literature and the English language will encourage our students to become more open-minded individuals, who will be able to express themselves appropriately, imaginatively and concisely in different social situations. 

Reading is an essential skill that is not only a necessity for students to be able to access the curriculum, but is at the forefront of skills needed in the majority of professions in later life. Therefore, we aim to enthuse our students to have a love for literature; we encourage our students to read widely and independently whilst supporting them in their choices to allow them to progress. In lessons, we teach students how to be analytical readers who can express their ideas in a confident, succinct and creative way when discussing a text. Students are encouraged to convey their ideas in this way both assuredly in their writing and verbally in a clear, articulate manner using appropriate and varied vocabulary.

Age Related Expectations

We believe that in order for our students to become confident, independent writers, they need to have a secure understanding of the different elements of spelling, punctuation and grammar. At Key Stage 2, although we have developed our curriculum to build on the foundations laid at first school, we believe that it is essential to challenge our students with more difficult to grasp concepts, in order to see their written work mature. Students at Key Stage 2 receive six weekly English lessons with one lesson dedicated to developing reading skills through the use of Reading Plus. Students also have an extra hour a week devoted to their class reader text/story time, which they read and enjoy in their tutor groups.

At Key Stage 3, all of our classes are taught by subject specialists who have the knowledge, experience and passion to prepare students for the challenges that they will face later in their education so that they can be successful in their qualifications and have more professional opportunities in later life. Students in Years 7 and 8 receive four weekly-lessons and will build on the skills taught at Key Stage 2 by learning how to develop their comprehension, evaluation and analytical skills at a greater depth; they will then get the support they need to communicate these ideas with confidence and clarity. 

Throughout all four year groups, schemes of work have been planned and sequenced in a way that will promote good progress and allow our students to make connections between topics based on their prior learning. In addition to following the National Curriculum, we have selected material that will ensure our students receive a broad and balanced curriculum and will give them the knowledge they need to become accomplished students. 

Four Year Overview

KS2

Year 5

The teaching of SPaG is integrated into the teaching of all units.

Students have a dedicated Reading Plus lesson each week.

Autumn Nonsense and narrative Poetry ‘Beowulf’

To explore themes of narrative and epic poetry, including folktales, good versus evil, perseverance and heroism.

 

To improve skills in oracy (speaking and listening) and performance of poetry, as well as developing strategies to support comprehension of a text (including retrieval, inference and deduction).

 

To develop an appreciation of myths and epic poetry.

To further develop understanding of sentence types and structures, including using conjunctions to create compound and complex sentences; to build upon knowledge of word classes in order to broaden vocabulary; to improve use of standard English in all sentences.

Explorers

To explore themes such as aspiration, resilience and adventure through learning about key explorers in recent history.

To read and enjoy real survival stories in non-fiction texts.

To ask questions and speculate in order to develop understanding of a key individual.

 

To understand features and structures of biographical writing and use these to write a biography of a key explorer.

To develop and use ambitious vocabulary in order to describe an individual and their achievements;  use a range of cohesive devices to chronologically structure a biography including fronted adverbials;  accurately punctuate quotations; continue to use a range of sentence types and structures.

Spring ‘Hound of the Baskervilles’ by Arthur Conan Doyle 

To explore themes such as crime, the supernatural and the superiority of urban life through reading, written work and discussion.

To gain a greater knowledge of the Victorian Era  and apply this to support the reading of the novel ‘Hound of the Baskervilles’.

To gain an understanding of the plot, themes and characters within the novel and use this to support writing for a range of audiences and purposes.

To be able to use evidence from the text to support ideas and demonstrate understanding in both verbally and in writing.

To broaden grammatical knowledge by exploring a range of features and using these in writing eg. word classes, tenses, adverbial phrases, etc. and apply these to own writing.

Summer ‘Oliver Twist’ by Charles Dickens

To explore themes such as empathy,  family, social class, criminality, fate and free-will.

To develop an understanding and appreciation of a classic 19th Century text.

 

To apply reading strategies in order to comprehend and analyse a text, including exploring the meaning of Dickensian language in context.

To apply grammatical structures in order to write for a range of purposes, including diary, narrative and report writing, as well as evaluating and improving the effectiveness of vocabulary choices in writing.

‘Journey to Jo’Burg’ by Beverley Naidoo & Poetry from other cultures

To explore themes such as apartheid, discrimination, freedom, racism and privilege.

To gain an understanding of the plot and themes and to empathise with characters within the novel in order to write for a range of audiences and purposes.

To retrieve and make inferences from a text (novel and poetry) in order to demonstrate understanding both verbally and in writing.

To apply knowledge of grammatical structures in fiction and non-fiction, including cohesive devices, formal/informal language and verb tenses.

 

Year 6

The teaching of SPaG is integrated into the teaching of all units.

Students have a dedicated Reading Plus lesson each week.

Autumn ‘Skellig by David Almond

To explore a range of themes that feature in the novel such as relationships, resilience and aspiration.

To gain an understanding of the plot and characters within the novel and demonstrate this both orally and in written work.

To further develop oracy skills with opportunities for class discussions and reading aloud.

To broaden grammatical knowledge by exploring a range of features and using these in writing eg. direct and reported speech and vocabulary.

To begin to demonstrate understanding and deepen inference skills.

‘Stormbreaker’ by Anthony Horowitz

To explore a range of themes that feature in the novel such as relationships, resilience and aspiration.

To gain an understanding of the plot and characters within the novel and demonstrate this both orally and in written work.

To further develop oracy skills with opportunities for class discussions and reading aloud.

To be able to use evidence from the text to support ideas, demonstrate understanding and deepen inference skills.

To broaden grammatical knowledge by exploring a range of features and using these in writing eg. the passive and active tense and the differences between formal and informal writing.

‘Stormbreaker’ continues  into the Spring Term…

Spring Literacy Shed Units and Test Revision

To explore themes such as curiosity, temptation and the supernatural.

To further develop the skills needed to write for a range of purposes and audiences.

To use films, images and narratives as stimuli for developing ideas in own writing.

To revise grammatical knowledge and apply this to own writing e.g. the use of commas and hyphens to avoid ambiguity and to develop the use of expanded noun phrases by adding modifiers.

Summer Poetry about Education

To develop a further understanding of a range of poetic techniques and be able to identify them in poems.

To further develop SQI skills by discussing  the effect of techniques used by poets on the reader. 

To explore a range of themes within the poems such as education, childhood and creativity. 

To gain a knowledge of the historical context of a range of poems and the poets’ backgrounds and apply this when analysing ideas techniques.

An Introduction to Shakespeare and ‘Macbeth’ by William Shakespeare

To develop knowledge about Elizabethan England and society in Shakespeare’s time and use this to support understanding when reading the play. 

To gain an understanding of  the plot, themes and characters in the play. 

To begin to develop SQI skills by understanding and analysing Shakespearean language.

To develop oracy skills with opportunities for drama performances and reading aloud of the play. 

KS3*

Year 7

The teaching of SPaG is integrated into the teaching of all units.

Autumn ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ by William Shakespeare 

To develop knowledge about Elizabethan England and society in Shakespeare’s time and use this to support understanding when reading the play. 

To gain an understanding of  the plot, themes and characters in the play. 

To continue to develop SQI skills by analysing Shakespearean language and the literary techniques he used. 

To further develop oracy skills with opportunities for drama performances and reading aloud of the play. 

Gothic Literature

To analyse texts using SQI and evaluate their effectiveness.

To develop an understanding of the key features of the gothic genre.

To develop an understanding and appreciation of a range of key gothic texts.

To understand and employ a range of techniques typically found in the gothic genre. 

Spring ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ by Harper Lee

To explore and engage with  a range of themes such as race, prejudice, courage and empathy.

To develop knowledge about the plot and characters within the novel and apply this when writing for a range of audiences and purposes.

To gain knowledge about life in the American South in the 1930s the judicial system.

To further develop SQI skills by applying historical context when analysing language and literary techniques used by Harper Lee  in the novel..

To explore structural conventions within a text such as subplots.

Summer WWII Literature

To develop knowledge about WWII  and how this influenced the events in the texts studied.

To explore themes such as war, power, control, relationships and class and apply these ideas when writing for a range of audiences and purposes.

To deepen SQI skills further by critically analysing events  and themes and emotions in the texts in relation to historical events.

To further develop oracy skills through reading aloud and news broadcasts.

Year 8

The teaching of SPaG is integrated into the teaching of all units.

Autumn ‘Romeo and Juliet’ by William Shakespeare

To further develop knowledge about Elizabethan England and society in Shakespeare’s time and use this to support understanding when reading the play. 

To gain an understanding of  the plot, themes and characters in the play. 

To continue to develop SQI skills by analysing Shakespearean language and the literary techniques he used and linking them to contextual knowledge

To further develop oracy skills with opportunities for drama performances and reading aloud of the play. 

War Poetry

To explore themes of war and conflict, patriotism and propaganda in a range of war poems (ranging from WW1-modern day).

To compare and contrast how the impact of war is presented by soldiers and civilians

To critically analyse war poetry by applying SQI skills and contextual knowledge.

To be able to make judgements about a writer’s stance on war and to justify these by referring to the text.

Spring Speeches and ‘Animal Farm’ by George Orwell

To explore ideas about the Russian Revolution and how this influenced the characters and events in the novel.

To explore themes such as corruption, power, control, equality and class and apply these ideas when writing for a range of audiences and purposes.

To deepen SQI skills further by critically analysing events, characters and themes  in the novel in relation to historical events and Orwell’s views. 

To further develop oracy skills through the delivery and analysis of speeches..

To explore the works of  influential speech writers, analyse their use of techniques and apply these to own speech writing.

Summer ‘The Strange Case of Dr Jeykll and Mr Hyde’ by Robert Louis Stevenson

To revisit the Gothic genre and analyse a range of Gothic techniques used by the author.

To gain an understanding of the plot and characters within the novel. 

To continue to enhance SQI skills by using impressive terminology when analysing literary techniques and language used by the author. 

To further develop knowledge about Victorian England and society and use this to support understanding when reading the novel. 

Websites:

Reading Plus
SPAG.com
BBC Bitesize

Homework

In English, we set homework to consolidate learning and deepen understanding. At Key Stage 2, students will be taught a weekly spelling rule and part of their homework will be to revise this rule and find other words that follow it. They will also develop their understanding of grammar and punctuation through SPAG.com. Students will also be expected to spend a minimum of 30 minutes a week on Reading Plus to improve their reading fluency and comprehension skills. At Key Stage 3, students will be given vocabulary from across the curriculum to learn and find the definitions of. They will continue to develop their understanding of grammar and punctuation through SPAG.com. Students will also be expected to spend a minimum of 45 minutes a week on Reading Plus to improve their reading fluency and comprehension skills. At both key stages, students will also be given tasks that will be linked to their current schemes of learning when their teacher feels it is appropriate and will enhance their learning. 

Policies

Handwriting Policy
Reading strategy

Recommended Reading

Recommended reading lists for KS2 and KS3

Helpful Resources:

Year 5 Knowledge Organisers
Year 6 Knowledge Organisers
Year 7 Knowledge Organisers
Year 8 Knowledge Organisers

Parent Information

Supporting your child with reading
Supporting your child with grammar 

Assessments

We assess pupils regularly using a wide range of methods that help teachers develop an understanding of pupils strengths and areas for development. Throughout topics, pupils will be assessed on their reading, writing and oracy skills through a variety of formative and summative assessments.