English

Communication and Language:

Children are supported and encouraged to express their thoughts, feelings and ideas through increasingly complex and logically sequenced sentences ranging from role play and story-telling in EYFS and KS1 moving to discussion, debate and persuasion in KS2. Through every part of our curriculum, they are given the opportunity to access high- quality texts, which immerse them in ambitious vocabulary and this is modelled through the adults’ interactions with children.

Reading:

In EYFS and KS1, the teaching of early reading is focused on phonics and developing early comprehension skills. Please click on the ‘Phonics’ tab to found our more about our approach to teaching early reading.

In KS2, pupils have a 45-minute Whole Class Reading lesson each day, following the carefully sequenced Mr Booth Whole Class Reading programme to ensure progression throughout the year groups. We aim to expose children to a wide range of high-quality texts, including classics, poetry, books from other cultures, and non-fiction. Each class has a novel read daily, with all pupils taking part in reading aloud. During lessons, pupils learn to make predictions, give their opinions on texts and draw inferences based on evidence from the reading material.

Children in KS2 read and are read to every day, supported by our reading spine, which ensures they encounter a broad variety of texts. In Years 5 and 6, children also take part in Accelerated Reading, which provides personalised goals, encourages engagement and uses quizzes to monitor progress. The school, with the support of the Friends, has been able to purchase books so that pupils can read along during lessons and experience the joy of reading.

In KS1, parents work in partnership with teachers to support children in becoming fluent readers by keeping a record of shared reading at home. We also have a fantastic school library, with dedicated sessions during school time, enabling children to explore a variety of texts and enjoy reading for pleasure. Some Year 6 pupils even act as librarians, helping to run and manage the library.

Reading for Pleasure:

Pupils have a range of books that they take home with them to read. Children in phonics groups have weekly Read, Write, Inc ebooks and quizzes that they complete independently and also take home an additional phonetically decodable text that parents support them to read. All children have weekly sessions in the library, where they are guided in their choices of texts to read with parents in KS1 and independently in KS2.

Writing:

The study of writing at the Primary Phase is structured around three key areas:

• Transcription – developing spelling and handwriting skills.
• Composition – articulating ideas clearly and structuring them effectively in speech and writing.
• Revising and Editing – improving and refining written work.

Our writing curriculum follows the Literacy Tree framework, providing a carefully sequenced progression through a wide range of genres and text types. As children move through KS1 and KS2, they explore new grammar and punctuation features and apply these skills in their own writing.

Teachers support children to become confident, purposeful writers, whilst helping them understand the context of their writing and encouraging the use of increasingly sophisticated vocabulary and literary devices. We use Spelling Shed to develop children’s confidence with spelling, phonics, and word structure, both in school and at home, strengthening their transcription skills.

From Early Years through KS2, we also support children in developing clear and fluent handwriting, using Letter-Join to teach and reinforce cursive writing.