At Our Lady and Saint Philomena’s Catholic Primary School we aim for English to promote high standards of literacy by equipping pupils with a strong command of the written and spoken word, and develop a love of literature through widespread reading for enjoyment. We aim to ensure all pupils:

• read easily, fluently and with good understanding

• develop the habit of reading widely and often for both pleasure and information

• acquire a wide vocabulary, an understanding of grammar and knowledge of linguistic conventions for reading, writing and spoken language

• appreciate our rich and varied literary heritage

• write clearly, accurately and coherently, adapting their language and style in and for a range of contexts, purposes and audiences

• use discussion in order to learn; they should be able to elaborate and explain clearly their understanding and ideas

• are competent in the arts of speaking and listening, making presentations, demonstrating to others and participating in debate.

All English teaching will contribute to skill development in the following areas:

reading, writing, speaking and listening

Our Reading Curriculum includes a daily programme of systematic and structured phonics teaching using Read Write Inc in the early years and KS1, alongside the use of Class Reads where teachers actively model reading to motivate children to read for pleasure. In KS2, reading comprehension is explicitly taught through Ready Steady Read, which focusses on fluency, prosody, and the ability to comprehend key vocabulary and messages.

We use the structured Ready Steady Write scheme from Reception to Year 6 to deliver high-quality teaching of writing through engaging, high-quality literature. Children write a variety of genres throughout the year, which allows them the chance to showcase their writing across the year. Furthermore, we strive to make pupils effective researchers, great communicators, and active, lifelong learners. Our Writing Curriculum teaches both transcription (spelling and handwriting) and composition (articulating and structuring ideas). Spelling aims to enable children to become confident, accurate and independent spellers by understanding phonics, morphology, and orthography, utilising the CUSP Spelling Programme in daily 15-minute sessions.

We develop a fluent, legible, and speedy handwriting style through daily teaching, starting with basic cursive script in Foundation Stage, with the expectation that children will be writing in joined cursive script by the time they leave Key Stage 1.