Our School Vision for English

We aim to deliver a high-quality English curriculum that gives children the best possible opportunities to become confident, literate, successful members of society with a deep love and understanding of English language and literature. We believe the development of literacy skills is central to improving a child's life chances. Teachers have high expectations for all children to achieve and enjoy English and to be able to use the skills they have acquired in a range of contexts. We strive to ensure all children can communicate clearly in spoken and written form and become masters of language. Rich texts are at the heart of our teaching and a love for reading is promoted throughout the school. Teachers use cross-curricular inspirational ideas to engage children in work, providing memorable experiences and bringing topics to life through real-life contexts.

Intent

Reading is at the centre of learning and is one of the most important ways in which children observe and absorb strong language skills.  We are dedicated to building a culture where reading for pleasure is highly valued and our pupils become lifelong readers.  A wide range of genres are readily available to children within classroom reading areas, as well our inviting library area that is regularly updated with new and exciting books for the children to enjoy.   We nurture a culture where children take pride in their writing, can write clearly, imaginatively and accurately and adapt their language and style for a range of contexts. We inspire children to be confident in the art of speaking and listening, and to use discussion to communicate and develop their learning in all areas of the curriculum.

Implementation

Our English curriculum aims to provide many purposeful opportunities for reading, writing and discussion. We want all of our pupils to be proficient readers, writers, spellers and speakers, who can transfer their English skills to other curriculum subjects and feel prepared for the next steps in their education. Our English lessons develop pupils’ spoken language, reading, writing, grammar and vocabulary, teaching them how to write within specific genres and which structural and language features to include to be successful.  Strong example texts are used to start this process to enable pupils to use other similar writing as models for their own.  Lessons also focus on teaching specific spelling, grammar and punctuation skills to enable our pupils to apply the skills they have been taught to their extended writing and writing across the curriculum. We teach our pupils to speak clearly, to convey their ideas confidently and to ask questions.

Through reading lessons in class, we teach pupils key reading skills and apply these to a carefully chosen selection of texts.  All year groups follow a reading model that allows the children to gradually build on their independence, while being exposed to high quality writing, with vocabulary as a particular focus.  Every child is given opportunities to be read to, as well as read with or independently, using whole class texts that are linked to half-termly topics.  Alongside this, teachers introduce parallel texts that are self-decodable and target individual needs.  Reading skills are taught explicitly through a range of rich and engaging activities that aim to deepen and develop their understanding of what they have read. 

To promote a love of reading, we:

- Read aloud to all children, introducing them to new authors and styles of writing.

- Designate specific time to DEAR (Drop Everything and Read) for children to read for pleasure.

- Encourage and model reading, establishing an appreciation for a range of genres.

- Continue to develop a varied range of texts in classrooms and the school library.

- Celebrate reading with an annual Book Week, which includes author visits, competitions, dressing up and shared reading opportunities.

- Reading Raffle prize draws for those reading more than four times per week at home.

- Have a selection of ‘outdoor books’ that can be read and shared during break times.