In English at Pownall Hall, we teach our children to be expert communicators and innovative storytellers, combining accuracy of expression with imaginative flair. We believe in the power of reading as a gateway to exciting new worlds where both vocabularies and minds are broadened. We inspire our young authors to write with style and purpose; and we pride ourselves on ensuring that even our quietest voices grow not just in volume but in clarity and confidence, honing children’s skills in presentation, debating and drama.
English literature has been a passion of mine for as long as I can remember. A voracious reader who ran out of shelf space years ago, I also enjoy writing in all its forms: poems, short stories, plays, screenplays – I literally find it hard to think without a pen in my hand! It is a privilege to be able to share this passion with children. Reading is the ultimate act of wellbeing. What better way of living in the moment is there than to plunge into a book? And being able to express yourself wisely – to share your thoughts, emotions and opinions with care and consideration – is so important in this fast-changing and sometimes confusing world.
Mr. Mike Erian – BA (Hons), MA, PGCE
English has always been my favourite subject. After studying English Language at The University of Manchester, I worked in a London school for five years before deciding to teach solely English. I’ve been a Specialist English Teacher at Pownall since 2018, working across Forms 5 & 6 and helping children to achieve their 11+ goals.
Mrs. Christie Farrell-Howes – English Language (BA Hons), PGCE
English and drama have always been my specialist subjects, even though as a primary teacher I have taught all subjects to all age groups in my teaching career. As an undergraduate student studying English, Film and Drama, taking a play to the Edinburgh Fringe was a definite highlight and to this day I try to incorporate drama into lessons where possible as there is no better way to develop children’s confidence and character. I have taught in a range of independent and state schools in London, Cheshire and Staffordshire.
Mrs. Nicola Erian, BA (Hons), QTS
Many of the areas within the Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum can be linked to the subject of English whether this be through talking about a special celebration at home, pretending to make a cup of tea in the home corner or ‘writing’ a label for a model they have made using marks or letters. However most significant links can be made through the acquisition of communication and language skills for our youngest members of the Pownall family through and through Literacy and early phonics teaching.
In the Early years at Pownall Hall we teach children the language skills through providing language rich environments and the staff being excellent language role models. Children are encouraged to use their imagination, to role play and act out stories; how can you write a story if you’ve never developed your imagination?
In Owls children are developing their listening skills in readiness for tuning into sounds in the upper Early Years. Within the Heron room the children will be introduced to pre-phonic activities These will include rhymes and stories, as well as learning about rhythm, alliteration and syllables. All of these are highly important in developing the children’s listening and understanding skills, of which form a basis to our Phonics learning in Nightingales and Kingfishers. The acquisition of English skills in Reception is a real privilege to be a part of, children enter Reception at the beginning of their journey of reading and writing and mostly by the time they reach the end of the year they will have written you as parents your first story and card; something to really treasure!
Books and stories can be found in all rooms and in the outdoors and form the starting point for many activities or weekly themes. At Pownall we believe it is crucial for children to develop a lifelong love of reading and work towards this begins right from the start of a child’s Pownall journey.
At the core of our English curriculum in the Pre-Prep, we offer a wide range of engaging, high-quality texts for our pupils to enjoy and study. We aim to immerse our pupils in these texts, exploring the way authors use language in order to develop our pupils as writers. Pupils are exposed to different types of writing linked to the book, to give them opportunities to write for different audiences and purposes. We are ambitious about what our pupils can achieve, and we strive to create exciting and stimulating writing opportunities for them. In the Pre-Prep, our pupils are exposed to a vocabulary rich and creative English curriculum which ensures that they leave our Key Stage with a passion for writing and a high level of English knowledge and skills that they can apply in a variety of subjects and situations.
The teaching of punctuation and grammar is contextualised and links to the text being studied; this is taught in the main body of English lessons. In the Pre-Prep, previous learning is revisited, further reinforced, and developed to ensure progression of skills.
In our Pre-Prep, reading is recognised as an essential element of all learning. We aim to teach the skills of reading and foster a lifelong love of language. Pupils will read to either the class teacher or teaching assistant on a regular basis. They will also take part in small group Guided Reading sessions. During these sessions, we use engaging, multi-layered texts to develop reading comprehension skills, all of which are developed through high quality discussion.
Pupils also have opportunities to apply their phonics knowledge using phonetically decodable books from our phonics scheme. The sequence of reading books shows a progression in phonics knowledge that closely matches our phonics programme. Once our pupils are secure with the new content that has been taught, they are able to read the books from that set within the phase, to develop their fluency.
When children enter our Pre-Prep, pupils continue learning synthetic phonics through Bug Club Phonics, a comprehensive phonics teaching programme. The scheme follows a proven progression and ensures our pupils make significant progress in phonics and reading. As our pupils come to the end of our phonics scheme their reading fluency and comprehension skills are further enhanced and developed and pupils are given opportunities to build a lifelong love of reading!
English lessons in the Prep years at Pownall Hall are based around books drawn from a wealth of children’s literature – classic and modern, from across the globe – so that pupils learn to develop not only as communicators and storytellers in their own right, but also as people. Through reading and analysing books, poetry and non-literary texts, children learn about different cultures, human rights and diversity; they learn about science, history and geography; they learn how to empathise with people from all walks of life.
From Form 3 onwards, more sophisticated comprehension skills are taught explicitly, with a focus on inference and writers’ use of language alongside practice of more straightforward retrieval questions. Children develop an awareness of parts of speech, figurative language and the full range of literary techniques, understanding how authors use these to achieve specific effects in their writing.They learn how to use these effectively in their own compositions, as well as how to adapt form, content and style according to the genre, audience or purpose.
Prerequisites of grammar, punctuation and spelling are taught rigorously, both discretely and in the context of creative writing where the meaningful application of rules and concepts helps cement children’s understanding. Standards and expectations are high, with National Curriculum objectives drawn from the year above where possible, and with one eye firmly on 11+ requirements in all aspects of the subject throughout pupils’ time in Prep.
Due to the nature of the subject, many core 11+ skills are cyclically taught throughout the Prep years to encourage our children to become confident, analytical readers with secure inference and language commentary skills.
During the Spring Term of Form 5, pupils are gently introduced to some of the typical content, concepts and questions from a range of different types of 11+ papers. Discrete, focused 11+ preparation begins in earnest during the Summer Term of Form 5 at which point English lessons and homework depart from the book-based approach to make way for more specific practice of 11+ style tasks, including a focus on vocabulary extension.
In Form 6, the Autumn Term is devoted to 11+ practice, looking at a variety of exam formats, question styles and revision aids. Our provision is carefully tailored to the needs of individual children and addresses the requirements of all relevant Senior Schools. Towards the end of the Autumn Term, timed papers and mock exams help our children hone their technique in the final stages of 11+ preparation.
