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15/02/25

After using Twitter/X for many years, we have decided move away. Come join us on instagram to continue to keep up to date with all things HA! See you there!

13/02/25

Successful end of term art project for year six: children planned, designed and built these amazing Memories Boxes linked to our Oval history topic and our belonging driver. pic.twitter.com/n9kmoqMctV

12/02/25

Year six loved their visit from Steel today and asked some brilliant questions!#pshe pic.twitter.com/SVSTN0xR3p

12/02/25

We loved our visit from Steel today, learning all about resilience and the importance of sleep, healthy diet, being active, hydration and showing gratitude (noticing glimmers). Can anyone beat Steel’s record of 757 burpees nonstop in under an hour?#pshe pic.twitter.com/FLHRxZ2Lkq

12/02/25

As part of Safer Internet Day, year 2 explored a variety of dangers online and discussed how to respond to them. They had some excellent ideas and good knowledge of the safety features of various apps. They created posters to teach younger children about what they had learnt. pic.twitter.com/dWyOSidsdH

12/02/25

Amazing messages being given to the children this morning by the amazing gladiator Steel! What a fantastic morning we have ahead pic.twitter.com/Y0WFDxF1nL

11/02/25

Year six scientists dissecting hearts to understand how the circulatory system works. pic.twitter.com/ewcfvsfMRX

11/02/25

Year six scientists dissecting hearts to understand how the circulatory system works. pic.twitter.com/Dz7qWkgTL8

11/02/25

Year six home learning designing posters for around school about how to keep safe online. pic.twitter.com/eya9mmpF4M

11/02/25

Year six historians exploring the Oval as part of their local history project, with an added extra of a tag rugby PE lesson! pic.twitter.com/iabdKAYvHI

11/02/25

Year six historians exploring the Oval as part of their local history project, with an added extra of a tag rugby PE lesson! pic.twitter.com/gRFv2OAoT6

11/02/25

Team Dahl had a great science lesson on space and the stars with Mark the scientist yesterday (2).#science pic.twitter.com/FrJSAI3V1t

11/02/25

Team Dahl had a great science lesson on space and the stars with Mark the scientist yesterday (1).#science pic.twitter.com/K62hUgwN7y

11/02/25

Marking Safer Internet Day with a visit from the charity Computer Friendly pic.twitter.com/NuuQv4ROU2

10/02/25

Year 3 had a visit from Hands on Science and took part in a workshop on biological diversity. pic.twitter.com/RoqPJoSdUj

07/02/25

This week in assembly we celebrated Martin Luther King day, reading about this inspiring activist who devoted his life to fighting for civil rights. We linked to other activists such as Nelson Mandela, Greta Thunberg, Malala and Rosa Parks; and to our value of respect. pic.twitter.com/TKQlLAdduw

07/02/25

A huge thank you to all the adults who came to visit us today to explain how their job uses maths. pic.twitter.com/nNu8EdPIvU

07/02/25

Ladybirds have had a fantastic ! We have loved hearing about jobs that use numbers and dressing up! We are so inspired. We also made foot rulers to measure things in the classroom. pic.twitter.com/sfwifgPkd4

07/02/25

Our fourth visitor of the day was Tendaii, a train and air engineer. Our Y6’s were fascinated by his models and recognised how scale factors work in producing drafts of projects. pic.twitter.com/QmOElYN5WQ

07/02/25

Our third visitor of the day was Matt who works in the sports field. He explained to our Y6’s how fractions, decimals and percentages play a part in making predictions about different sporting events. pic.twitter.com/Js9gcUBH3m

07/02/25

Our second visitor of the day was Business Analyst Andreii who spoke to our Y6’s about how algebra and coding is used in his IT role. pic.twitter.com/g7qgZWX25k

07/02/25

Our first visitor of the day was Nurse Helen who works at treating cancer patients. Our Y6’s enjoyed learning about why measuring is particularly crucial in this field. pic.twitter.com/IG2nvg7xEC

07/02/25

Happy Number Day from Year 3! pic.twitter.com/bS3fxp7e8P

06/02/25

Aren’t we lucky to have such lovely, kind parents in our Year 1 class? We are so appreciative of these yummy sweet treats! pic.twitter.com/IEp8f6rkyO

04/02/25

Lunar new year celebrations last week pic.twitter.com/GAQmtKUjeU

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English

Purpose and Aims

"The leadership of English and mathematics is strong. Leaders have excellent knowledge and understanding of these subjects. They have taken a wide range of suitable actions that have had a positive impact on improving the quality of teaching and outcomes in the school." Ofsted School Report, June 2019

Purpose

English has a pre-eminent place in education and in society. A high-quality education in English will teach pupils to speak and write fluently so that they can communicate their ideas and emotions to others, and through their reading and listening, others can communicate with them. Through reading in particular, pupils have a chance to develop culturally, emotionally, intellectually, socially and spiritually. Literature, especially, plays a key role in such development. Reading also enables pupils both to acquire knowledge and to build on what they already know. All the skills of language are essential to participating fully as a member of society; pupils who do not learn to speak, read and write fluently and confidently are effectively disenfranchised.

Aims

Writing:

• The ability to write fluently and with interesting detail on a number of topics throughout the curriculum.
• A vivid imagination which makes readers engage with and enjoy their writing.
• A highly developed vocabulary and an excellent knowledge of writing techniques to extend details or description.
• Well-organised and structured writing, which includes a variety of sentence structures.
• Excellent transcription skills that ensure their writing is well presented and punctuated, spelled correctly and neat.
• A love of writing and an appreciation of its educational, cultural and entertainment values.

Reading:

• Excellent phonic knowledge and skills.

• Fluency and accuracy in reading across a wide range of contexts throughout the curriculum.

• Knowledge of an extensive and rich vocabulary.

• An excellent comprehension of texts.

• The motivation to read for both study and for pleasure.

• Extensive knowledge through having read a rich and varied range of texts.

• The ability to share enthusiasms, patterns and puzzles linked to books, acting as a reading critic

Please visit the Reading subject page on our website to access further information including parent workshops.

Communication (speaking and listening):

• An exceptional talent for listening attentively so as to understand what is being said. 

• A rich and varied vocabulary that gives clarity and interest to conversations.

• Clear speech that can be easily understood by a range of audiences.

• An excellent grasp of the rules used in English conversation, such as tenses and the grammatical structure of sentences.

• A highly developed ability to tell stories that capture the interest and imagination of the audience.

• A delight in initiating and joining in conversations.

• Respect for others when communicating, even when views differ.

Provision

Our curriculum is categorised in 2 ways

  • Breadth - which gives pupils experiences of a range of communication, literature/genres, contexts for reading and writing
  • Depth - which helps pupils to think and act like readers, writers and communicators

Whilst coverage is our goal for the “breadth” element, repetition and increasing the understanding is our goal for the “depth” element.

Our curriculum drivers shape our approach to teaching English so that every opportunity is taken to relate reading, writing and communication to the needs of our pupils. Daily English is studied throughout each academic year and cross-curricular links are made to give context to the children.  Purposeful writing can be seen in all areas of the curriculum.

Progression and Assessment

We set out our expectations based on the Herts for Learning Essential Writing curriculum which ensures coverage of the National Curriculum.

Assessment and reporting

We use Herts for Learning to assess our children each term formally.  HfL TAFs are used to support assessments in all year groups.  We assess the pupil’s depth of understanding and use this to forecast as to whether pupils are on track to meet our curriculum expectations for the end of the year.

Monitoring, Evaluation and Improvement

The role of the leader in monitoring pupils' outcomes is to audit teachers’ judgements via book looks as well as ensuring breadth and depth of curriculum through book looks, learning walks, learning talks (with pupils) and lesson observations. Strengths and areas for development are identified and actions shared with staff then reviewed to assess impact. Book looks are done collectively in staff/SLT meetings and then collated by the leader. 

Please click here for an overview of our English curriculum 

Oracy

First Hand Experiences

First Hand Experiences English

Belonging

How do I see  myself in English

Subject on a page - Reading

Subject on a page - Writing

Adaptive teaching

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