Key Stage 2 – 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. The national curriculum for English aims to ensure that all children:

• read easily, fluently and with good understanding
• develop the habit of reading widely and often, for both pleasure and information
• acquire a wide vocabulary, an understanding of grammar and knowledge of linguistic conventions for reading, writing and spoken language
• appreciate our rich and varied literary heritage
• write clearly, accurately and coherently, adapting their language and style in and for a range of contexts, purposes and audiences
• use discussion in order to learn; they should be able to elaborate and explain clearly their understanding and ideas
• are competent in the arts of speaking and listening, making formal presentations, demonstrating to others and participating in debate.

The national curriculum specifies that as children enter lower Key Stage 2 – Years 3 and 4 – they should be able to

• read books written at an age-appropriate interest level accurately and at a speed that is sufficient for them to focus on understanding what they read, gradually developing the breadth and depth of their reading to become fluent and enthusiastic readers.
• be able to write down their ideas with a reasonable degree of accuracy and with good sentence punctuation
• use joined handwriting as the norm, writing fast enough to keep pace with what they want to say.
• spell common words correctly, including common exception words and other words that they have learnt.

By the end of upper Key Stage 2 – the end of year 6,

• children’s reading and writing should be sufficiently fluent and effortless for them to manage the general demands of the curriculum across all subjects.
• They should be able to reflect their understanding of the audience for and purpose of their writing by selecting appropriate vocabulary and grammar.
• They should consciously control sentence structure in their writing and understand why sentences are constructed as they are.
• They should understand nuances in vocabulary choice and age-appropriate, academic vocabulary.

The WES English Course aims to provide a complete English course for children of all ability levels and to cover all the requirements of language learning in each school year. Each lesson has a focus on a specific aspect of English learning and provides a variety of oral and written activities around this aspect.

The course is based on a scheme of work using up-to-date and attractive textbooks on language and literacy, comprehension, grammar and spelling, plus a poetry anthology. As well as the core textbooks, a range of story books is included for each term, with activities based around these stories. Some will be familiar and traditional stories and others will be introducing children to new experiences and genres.

At the start of Key Stage 2, children will be following the later stages of the Oxford Reading Tree with the Treetops series which will ensure that sound reading skills are embedded, allowing children to read and enjoy the full range of material as they move through the years.