English

The teaching of English at Fortitude School is designed to instil in children a love of speaking and listening, reading and writing that will last them a lifetime.

Providing all of our young people with the key skills in English enables them to access material in all curriculum areas and secures a strong foundation for their learning throughout their school career.

To achieve this, our teachers are focussed on making English interesting and exciting, engaging the pupils with the joy and wonder of books and galvanising their imagination and creativity.

At Fortitude School we view the teaching of English as a fundamental part of the holistic development of the pupil, fostering positive behaviours and attitudes toward learning, and providing key knowledge and skills, to benefit pupils throughout their education and beyond.

Fortitude School recognises that many of the young people who come to us are reluctant learners when it comes to English and literacy. Our key aim is to challenge our young people’s view of English and to build their confidence and understanding of this wonderful subject.

All, of our team is committed to creating a positive culture for speaking listening, reading and writing at our school. We want all of our young people to see the ‘pleasure’ of reading and writing and to be confident and competent in this subject.

This will be achieved through:

•  Designing and developing exciting and challenging sows
•  Investing in fun interactive resources that will bring English to life
•  Promoting literacy outside the classroom
•  A wide range of reading materials both physical and digital
•  Fun English club
•  Reading corner in all rooms
•  Resources designed to promote a love of English and remove educational barriers to English
•  Promoting literacy across the whole curriculum
•  Collaboration with staff and SENDCO to support struggling learners
•  Bespoke intervention for all students
•  Passionate and highly skilled teachers

Phonics

At Fortitude School we use Little Wandle which places a high emphasis on developing early reading skills through systematic synthetic phonics teaching. Phonics lessons are sequential, cumulative, and multi- sensory, ensuring that all pupils master the skills required to decode words accurately.

Reading

We aim for all pupils to be able to read easily, fluently and with good understanding. Through choosing quality texts, from our rich and varied literary heritage, we want pupils to develop a love of reading and a good knowledge of a range of authors and be able to understand more about the world in which they live, through the knowledge they’ve gained from the texts.

Writing

We want all of our pupils to acquire a wide vocabulary, a solid understanding of grammar and be able to spell new words by effectively applying the spelling patterns and rules they learn throughout their time at Fortitude School.

We aim for pupils to write clearly, accurately and coherently, adapting their language and style in and for a range of contexts, purposes and audiences.

Spoken Language

We aim for pupils to use discussion in order to learn, elaborate and explain clearly their understanding and ideas. We aim for pupils to have good speaking and listening skills, and experience of making formal presentation, debate, drama and discussion.

Curriculum Methodology

The English curriculum has been built using the 3is methodology of Intent, Implementation and Impact.