Guidance for observing Primary English Lessons

Are the four modes of language (speaking, listening, reading and writing) inter-related in children’s learning and in their language and literacy development?

• Children are made aware of these links for example via book talk / talk for writing / writing like a reader
• Spoken language should be used purposefully to underpin children’s work in reading and writing. This might include talk partners/ response partners/group discussion/jigsawing/snowballing, etc
• Opportunities are taken to embed spoken language into sessions

Are the texts used in sessions stimulating and engaging?

• Children should have opportunities to make a personal response to literature (fiction, poetry and non-fiction) before engaging in analysis
• Where possible children should experience the wholeness of texts
• Students should model enjoyment of literature
• A variety of texts should be experienced and displayed over time (books, magazines, digital texts, environmental texts), including whole texts as well as extracts
• Children should be supported to persevere with texts that are challenging and/or not to their personal taste
• Children’s personal tastes and opinions should also be respected and celebrated

Through a series of lessons does the learning move from immersion in, exploration of and engagement with the focus text?

Writing

• Text type features (format, layout, tense, vocabulary) and / or the writing process should be modelled by the student (dependent on lesson focus within the sequence)
• Contexts might include whole class and group shared writing; culminating in scaffolded / independent writing
• Context, meaning, audience and purpose should be the drivers of planning, process and product and children should be aware of these elements whilst engaging in the writing process
• Grammar and spelling should be integral to the writing process. Content should be in line with the statutory content for Vocabulary, Grammar and Punctuation as specified for each year group in NC14, if this is used in school
• Children should be encouraged to develop independence in spelling, drawing on a range of cues and strategies
• Children are aware that writing is a process, not an end-product
• There is emphasis on children explaining their learning
• Students should model the school’s handwriting style

Reading

• A range of strategies is used in the initial decoding and comprehension of text
• Children should be given opportunities to apply their phonics knowledge to reading and writing appropriately
• Students should ensure phonics work is kept engaging, interactive and appropriate to the children’s stage of development
• A range of resources should be used to support segmenting and blending
• Children should be encouraged to read back and read on and to make use of context, including picture cues, to check for meaning
• Skills of skimming, scanning, deduction, inference and evaluation should be taught overtly

Refer to phonics observation prompts sheet for further detail.

Are children’s experiences of literature and literacy and their home languages, dialects and accents valued and respected?

• The student should be a role model of standard English dialect which can be spoken in any accent
• The student can be a valuable model of language variety though the use of their personal linguistic resources. This might include an accent associated with, for example, Liverpool, Essex, Northern Ireland or might be Received Pronunciation and / or another world language

Does formative assessment allow for the celebration of progress?

• Students should make use of the school’s assessment approach as well as the St Mary’s profiling formats for spoken language, reading and writing
• Children should be encouraged to self and peer assess their learning in English