English at St. Anne's Catholic Primary School
English and Writing Lead: 
Reading Lead: Ms Wilder

Intent

Our English curriculum aims to inspire children to be curious, creative and independent learners. The children are engaged by high quality literature during English lessons and have daily opportunities to engage confidently in peer to peer discussion. By valuing and cherishing high quality literature across our school and across our curriculum, our children will shape, draft and publish their writing, resulting in beautiful, well-written work of which they are justifiably proud.

Discussion within the classroom is used as a means of developing metacognition, resulting in the children developing a reflective, critical approach to both reading and writing. We strive to ensure that all children are supported to develop ideas and opinions around literature and are able to articulate themselves with confidence. 

DfE, National Curriculum (2014):   
The study of English will therefore teach children to speak and write fluently so that they can communicate their ideas and emotions to others, and through their reading and listening, others can communicate with them. Children will have a chance to develop culturally, emotionally, intellectually, socially and spiritually. Literature, especially, will play a key role in such development. Reading will enable children both to acquire knowledge and to build on what they already know. 

We intend that the study of English will enable our children to:

• Read easily, fluently and with good understanding.  
• Develop the habit of reading widely and often, for both pleasure and information.  
• Acquire and use a wide vocabulary.  
• Develop an understanding of grammar and knowledge of linguistic conventions for reading, writing and spoken language.  
• 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.  
• Become competent in the arts of speaking and listening, making formal presentations, demonstrating to others and participating in debate. 

Implementation

Our English curriculum is implemented through the use of rich texts and engaging pupils with a cross-curricular approach. Texts are chosen to link with the topics pupils are learning about and these are used as a springboard to inspire pupils to read and write. We believe that choosing the right context and starting point to engage our children in their learning is vital in fostering a love for reading and writing.

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 who are 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. 

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 fluently and confidently and to ask questions. Teachers use a wide variety of resources as appropriate to their classes, but also ensure that cross curricular links with concurrent topic work are woven into the programme of study.

Impact

By the time the children leave St Anne’s, we want them to demonstrate high standards of language and literacy. We also want them to be happy, confident learners who have developed a love of reading and writing; equipped with the skills and knowledge necessary for their next stage of learning. We want them to have high aspirations and be confident in the art of speaking and listening, able to use discussion to communicate and further their learning.

• Pupils are motivated by questioning to extend thinking with a balance of talk, listening, exploring and observing.
• Pupils’ books show positive progress in all subjects.
• Lessons are planned to ensure pupils master the content of the planned curriculum.
• Data shows positive progress for all groups of pupils.
• Increasing numbers of pupils achieve expectations in national assessments. Internal data reflects this trend too.
• All pupils learn to read confidently with accuracy and fluency so that they are able to access all areas of the curriculum.
• All pupils develop a love of reading.
• All pupils are able to recall and discuss the subjects they are learning and explain what they remember from lessons they have participated in.
• All pupils develop their knowledge of the world by actively engaging with planned opportunities and experiences, and reading quality texts across the curriculum for information and enjoyment.
• Pupils enjoy learning and are confident communicators who develop a wide vocabulary.
• Quality first teaching and assessment for learning is effective.

In lessons pupils:

• Articulate the intended learning and say what they need to do to achieve it, demonstrating excellent attitudes to learning and self-discipline.
• Evaluate their own progress towards the intended learning and identify next steps.
• Access the intended learning, maintaining active engagement and motivation throughout. 
• Learn to read confidently with accuracy and fluency so that they are able to access all areas of the curriculum.
• Develop a love of reading.
• Are able to recall and discuss the subjects they are learning and explain what they remember from lessons they have participated in.
• Develop their knowledge of the world by actively engaging with planned opportunities and experiences, and reading quality texts across the curriculum for information and enjoyment.
• Develop the confidence to access the next stage in their education and are positioned to take advantage of the opportunities presented to them.
• Enjoy learning and are confident communicators who develop a wide vocabulary.