At Maundene, we believe in a holistic approach to the teaching of English. Our vision is to provide children with opportunities to develop their passion and skillset for reading, writing and oracy in a cohesive way. Our English curriculum is carefully planned so that children become confident and creative communicators, who will be able to use these skills effectively in their future endeavours.

Writing is embedded through our English lessons and across our wider curriculum. A core text is carefully selected to give children access to a range of texts which will expose them to rich vocabulary. Each learning journey is carefully planned to enable children to be immersed into their text, analyse, and generate ideas, which leads to the children composing a piece of writing. Within the learning journey, opportunities for reflection are woven throughout. Writing is an integral part of our curriculum. All children from Early Years Foundation Stage to Year 6 are provided with many opportunities to develop and apply their writing skills across the curriculum. It is our intention that pupils develop a clear understanding of the writing process in order to establish themselves as an author in their own right. Through our English writing teaching sequence, we foster pupils' interest in writing and offer a reason and context for writing which enables the children to write for purpose and audience. Children are taken on a writing journey which builds their knowledge of writing for context and purpose, allows the opportunities for the children to explore a variety of genres, planning, drafting and re-drafting their writing. In order to establish this, pupils will develop their knowledge of genre features, audience, language and effective composition.

The writing learning journey below is used as a fluid framework to build up writing skills over a half term in order to achieve a high-quality, published writing outcome:

In the build up to the final outcome, the children will have weekly opportunities to plan, innovate and edit shorter pieces of writing. They will constantly be reading, analysing, imitating and building skills throughout the half-term.

At Maundene, we want to produce confident writers who are not afraid to take risks and are able to transfer taught skills in a variety of contexts. The children will be intrinsically motivated by a clear purpose for their writing. They will be reflective writers, assessing their own and other's writing. They will have an understanding of the purpose of their writing and the impact that their word choice and style has on the reader.

Children enjoy writing and use the features of different genres and styles. They can write for different purposes and audiences. Children are proud of their writing and know that others value their writing; they see it celebrated on displays within classrooms and in shared spaces.

Here is a link to our Medway Curriculum with further information about each year group's English curriculum and the genre of writing that they will be focusing on each term:

Maundene Curriculum

Spelling and Vocabulary

Spelling and Vocabulary
At the heart of our curriculum is a systematic and progressive approach to developing strong spelling and a rich vocabulary across all year groups. We believe that securing these fundamental skills is key to unlocking reading comprehension and effective written communication.

Early Years and Key Stage 1 (Reception - Year 2)

• In Reception and Key Stage 1, we utilise the highly effective Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised program to map out the progression for both phonics and spelling. This ensures a seamless transition from learning sounds to applying them in written words. Reception and Year 1: Focus on securing GPCs (grapheme-phoneme correspondences) and mastering the blending and segmenting of words. The spelling progression is directly linked to the sounds taught in the daily phonics sessions.
• Year 2: We continue to build on the Little Wandle framework, introducing spelling patterns, homophones, and the statutory word list alongside phonics-based teaching.

Key Stage 2 (Years 3 - 6)
For Key Stage 2, we have developed a comprehensive Spelling and Vocabulary Progression Map that ensures a deep and cumulative understanding of language structure.

• Morphology and Etymology - a core component of our map is the explicit teaching of root words derived from Latin and Greek origins. By mastering these foundational morphemes, children gain the tools to decipher and spell a vast number of words in the English language, exponentially increasing their vocabulary. For example, understanding the Latin root port helps children spell and define words like transport, portable, and import.

• Tier 2 Vocabulary Selection - our progression map is carefully integrated with our Oracy Framework. We have specifically selected high-utility, Tier 2 words (words that are used frequently and are crucial for academic success) to be taught and reinforced across the curriculum. This focus ensures children can express complex ideas with precision and clarity, both orally and in writing.

This rigorous and structured approach allows children to become confident, accurate spellers and articulate communicators by the time they leave Maundene Primary School.