English Curriculum

At Hexham Middle School, our English curriculum is designed to promote and encourage a lifelong enjoyment and love of reading; create curious, independent and perceptive thinkers; and equip our pupils with the communicative skills and technical accuracy that they will need to flourish and succeed in the next stage of their education and beyond. At the heart of this curriculum is our commitment to ensuring that pupils appreciate a wide range of literature and are enabled to broaden their horizons through powerful reading opportunities.

We pride ourselves on having created a diverse and vibrant curriculum, which has been thoughtfully sequenced to support our pupils to develop well and achieve their full potential over time. The curriculum has been carefully planned to ensure pupils build on the skills they have been previously taught: perceptive connections between literary texts are more readily grasped; retaining key knowledge is made more manageable and developing proficiency in reading, writing and communication is strengthened.

Over four years our pupils are gradually exposed to a diverse range of fiction, both modern and classical; exciting non-fiction works; poetry and drama. Teachers use our dynamic canon of literature to create meaningful opportunities for pupils to develop their reading fluency, writing and spoken language skills. Our well-chosen texts incite natural discussion around serious issues such as: spirituality, society, diversity, culture and relationships, and our classrooms provide a secure forum for pupils to voice their ideas.

Throughout the school, the English curriculum is designed to interweave the development of reading, writing, grammar, punctuation and spelling skills. All learning is driven by the class text and children are immersed in reading at every stage. The aims of the HMS curriculum align with the National Curriculum. In reading, a whole class approach is used to develop pupils’ fluency, comprehension and enjoyment of reading. Reading lessons focus on a wide range of texts and develop pupils’ understanding of rich vocabulary through strategies such as modelled reading, repeated reading, analysis of texts and a focus on developing the skills of reading (vocabulary, inference, prediction, explanation, retrieval, summarising and sequencing). To develop writing composition skills, teachers follow a structured and evidence-based approach. Pupils are taught the skills of writing through high-quality models, structured planning, small step writing development, rich development of grammar and punctuation knowledge and a focus on drafting, editing and evaluating. Pupils across all year groups have opportunities to write regularly and across the full range of genres. Grammar, punctuation, spelling and handwriting learning is woven across the curriculum so that pupils develop their knowledge in the context of reading and writing and have opportunities to apply their learning regularly. The whole curriculum enables pupils to develop their spoken language and literacy skills as we know that these skills are essential in building confidence and success. 

In both years 5 and 6, our curriculum is underpinned by a robust focus on reading and writing. Each term will be planned around a range of core texts ensuring that, during their time at HMS, all pupils will have studied a balanced and rich curriculum. In Key Stage 2, we have introduced a whole class reading model – this will focus on the teaching of fluency and comprehension skills using texts linked to the core text or writing outcome. Spelling, grammar and punctuation are embedded into every lesson and woven throughout the curriculum. We know that this approach is essential to solidify the composite skills needed to enjoy both reading and writing as they proceed onwards in their education. All teachers adapt their lessons and implement our curriculum to allow all pupils to thrive in their learning of English.

Pupils in Key Stage 3 build on their learning in Key Stage 2 through a seamlessly planned curriculum which enables pupils to thrive. Pupils will develop their reading and writing skills through studying a broad range of diverse and challenging texts.  As pupils move into Key Stage 3, their study and analysis of rich texts helps them to develop their reading skills, vocabulary and provide powerful stimuli for writing. Through the study of Shakespearean texts, pupils will continue to develop their knowledge and understanding of texts in performance and consider the impact of the drama upon the audience. In addition to this, our pupils will study a range of fiction, poetry and non-fiction and study writing throughout the ages. They will be given many opportunities to share their views about the texts they read and will develop their speaking and listening skills throughout lessons.  We will support all pupils through careful planning and through bespoke resources and guidance from teaching and support staff. Teachers will continue to weave grammar, punctuation and spelling knowledge into the curriculum to ensure that learning from Key Stage 2 is built upon and that retention of knowledge is maintained. 

Throughout each year group, teachers will assess the impact of the curriculum through well-planned formative and summative assessment opportunities. A coherent assessment schedule enables teachers to monitor the achievement of pupils in reading, writing and grammar, punctuation and spelling. To ensure retention of learning, teachers will use regular in-class strategies to check pupils’ understanding and adapt their teaching to ensure that all pupils have a strong knowledge, understanding and application of their learning.