The New Curriculum Key Changes to the Literacy Curriculum Mrs Scott

Key Themes in English The development of spoken language underpins every aspect of the English curriculum and features as an important factor throughout the other subject areas. Statutory requirements for speaking and listening have been included in the final draft. Pupils will be expected to apply and develop their English skills throughout every other subject area. Learning to read (decode and recognise familiar printed words) is a high priority but so is the pleasure, appreciation and love of reading. High priority is also given to being able to communicate accurately and clearly both through the written and spoken word.

Changes The curriculum is divided into 3 phases - KS1, lower KS2 and Upper KS2. These phases are split into ‘Reading’ and ‘Writing’ programmes of study. In KS2 they are not split in to year groups just upper and lower phases. Reading consists of Word (phonics and decoding) and Comprehension (listening, discussing, retelling etc). Writing consists of Transcription (spelling, grammar, handwriting) and Composition.

A higher profile is given to discussion and the learning, oral retelling and role playing of text. All pupils should be enabled to participate in and gain knowledge, skills and understanding associated with the artistic practice of drama. A statutory appendix is included which makes explicit which skills need to be taught relating to grammar and spelling. It includes lists of words which are statutory for pupils to learn. There are no prescribed ‘units’ or time allocation given to text types as with the National Primary Framework. Text types are specified in the English and other programmes of study.

Implications for teaching English There needs to be a thorough cross referencing of the literacy skills that are referenced in other subjects. This may influence the order in which the features of certain text types are taught. There is no ‘national’ progression sequence suggested for the different text types. Current phonic schemes will need to be mapped to the new statutory programme of study.

Phonics and spelling in KS1 No major changes to the teaching of phonics but several of the less common phase 5 graphemes are now taught at a later stage Some Y2 objectives from Support for Spelling are now taught in Y1 and Y3 objectives taught in Y2. Clear message that pupils who are struggling to read and spell in Y1 need to be taught to do this urgently … so they catch up rapidly

Proposed Suggestions for Baselines to Measure Progress Retain KS1 National Curriculum tests in English and Mathematics Introduce a simple check at the start of reception Consider an optional reception baseline check, schools would be judged by attainment alone in performance tables and floor standards. They would still track pupils’ progress internally and make this data available to Ofsted.