Key Stage 1 – English

The overarching aim for English in the national curriculum is to promote high standards of language and literacy by equipping pupils with a strong command of the spoken and written word, and to develop their love of literature through widespread reading for enjoyment.

During Key Stage 1 – Years 1 and 2 – The national curriculum for English aims to ensure that all pupils:

Spoken language

• Speak with clarity and use appropriate intonation when reading and reciting texts.
• Tell real and imagined stories using the conventions of familiar story language.
• Ask and answer questions, make relevant contributions, offer suggestions; explain views to others

Reading

• Read more challenging texts which can be decoded using their acquired phonic knowledge and skills, along with automatic recognition of high frequency words.
• Develop pleasure in reading, motivation to read, vocabulary and understanding.
• Understand both the books that they can already read accurately and fluently and those that they listen to
• Participate in discussion about books, poems and other works that are read to them and those that they can read for themselves.

Writing: composition

• Develop positive attitudes towards and stamina for writing.
• Conside and discuss what they are going to write before beginning.
• Make simple additions, revisions and corrections to their own writing.

Writing: vocabulary, grammar, spelling and punctuation

• Use sentences with different forms: statement, question, exclamation, command.
• Use the present and past tenses correctly and consistently.
  • Use both familiar and new punctuation correctly.
  • Spell a range of words with increasing accuracy and confidence, drawing on word recognition and knowledge of word structure and spelling patterns.
  • Start to spell: common exception words; words with contracted forms; a few common homophones and adding suffixes to spell longer words.
  • Use correct letter formation in handwriting with increasing frequency.
  • Start to write with a joined style as soon as they can form letters securely.

The WES Key Stage 1 English curriculum provides individual lessons for every day which will equip children with the skills to read fluently, using a growing knowledge of phonics to decode new words; to start to write independently and in a range of contexts and to become confident in all aspects of language.

The reading curriculum follows the Oxford Reading Tree scheme, which was started in Reception and continues through Years 1 and 2. This is a popular scheme used in a great many schools and with a large range of interesting stories.

Workbooks are included in the course, both those linked to the reading scheme or designed to practise handwriting and additional WES workbooks which link in with a range of activities.