English

Love Life, Love Learning

John 10:10  I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.


At St Saviour's Catholic Primary, 

we recognise reading as being at the heart of education. 

Our vision is to nurture children by developing their spoken language and instilling a love and pleasure for reading which in turn, has a positive impact on their writing. 

We seek to provide opportunities across the curriculum to engage children in learning, widen their horizons and enable them to access information and apply their skills, in a variety of different contexts.

We want to expand their knowledge and skills through a planned, progressive curriculum that builds on prior knowledge and challenges and supports children to achieve success.

Reading - intent, implementation, impact

 Intent

At St. Saviour's, we believe that reading is at the heart of our curriculum. 

We promote a love for reading through provision of high quality texts, modelling and teaching reading skills to develop enthusiastic and independent readers. 

We use a phonics programme, Essential Letters and Sounds to support your child to make quick progress in reading as soon as they start school.  Please click on the Phonics link to find out more.

Implementation

We want to instil a love of reading and we use high quality texts to engage their interest, extend their vocabulary, understanding and enjoyment.

In school, the children are taught reading skills beginning with decoding skills (phonics), word recognition of words that are harder to read and spell words (occur frequently within reading), and developing their comprehension skills to become fluent readers.  

Children learn a range of techniques which enable them to comprehend the meaning of what they read. These can include: inferring meaning from context; summarising or identifying key points; using graphic or semantic organisers (frameworks to support thinking); developing questioning strategies (e.g. what might happen next; why does a character behave in this way) and explaining the conclusions they reach (how do you know).

Children are supported and challenged to reach their potential and progress is monitored through formative (ongoing) and summative assessment (see impact below). Interventions/ boosters are delivered either by teachers within the classroom or by teaching assistants with smaller groups and 1:1 to become confident, fluent readers and to read with expression. 

Reading is assessed regulary through assessment for learning (ongoing assessment) and summative assessment to monitor progress and identify individual children who may need additional support (catch up to keep up) from EYFS to Year 6.

We encourage children to take part in reading daily at home (10 mins every day) as regular practice has been shown to provide them with the best start in their reading journey. Children are given reading books to take home to practice these skills in addition to practising reading in school.

For some children, who may be disadvantaged, or at risk of not attaining expectations at the end of Year 6,  additional reading practice is given at school when needed.

Reading workshops are held during the year to give parents/carers knowledge on how best to support their child's reading at home.

Impact

At St. Saviour's, through the children's reading journey from Early Years to Year 6, our children show a love of reading. At the end of Year 6, our children are

Writing - intent, implementation, impact

Intent

At St. Saviour's, we understand the importance of children becoming effective writers who can write for a range of purposes and experience success.

We promote a love for writing through the provision of high quality texts, an engaging curriculum and modelling and teaching of writing skills to develop enthusiastic and independent writers. 

We aim to provide an exciting and progressive curriculum that enables children to 

Implementation

Writing is an essential part of our curriculum. We seek to inspire children to write through use of high quality texts, enrichment activities such as educational visits and visitors to our school. We take pride in the children's writing and share their successes through displays and awarding certificates.

In EYFS, children begin to understand the meaning of a word and simple sentences through shared reading and phonics teaching. They learn how to form letters and write words through small group teaching and the provision of a writing-enriched environment to explore.

Wrting is linked to either the whole class texts (see below) or with our curriculum topics. We encourage writing for a purpose (letter to MP, poetry for the outside area, stories to share) which helps the children engage more with their learning. We encourage children to see themselves as authors and to use editing skills to improve their work. 

Each week, children write using a range of strategies suitable for the task and to lead towards the final outcome. Children are supported by good modelling by the teacher, good examples (WAGOL), scaffolding, vocabulary, word banks, mind maps and encouraged to edit and peer review their work.

The writing curriculum includes teaching of spelling, grammar and use of correct punctuation that enables the writer to be more fluent. The targets and outcomes for writing are shared with the children and displayed on the learning wall or within their workbooks. We have high expectations for writing and agreed expectations for the end of each year group (non-negotiables).

Spelling is a priority at our school and as such is taught discretely as well as during English lessons. In Reception and Year 1, the children begin to learn spellings of harder to read and spell words (HRS) and sound out words using their phonics knowledge (Essential Letters and Sounds). In Year 2, they continue to build on their phonics knowledge with a Y2 spelling programme (Essential Spelling). In KS2, they continue learning spellings - conventions and exceptions through investigative games and use of dictionaries. Displays of high frequency and HRS words are available either on display or as word mats.

Handwriting is taught systematically following the handwriting policy. Children's handwriting is assessed and some children benefit from use of pencil grips or slopes to support and provided with extra support where necessary.

Assessment for learning (ongoing) and summative assessment reveal the children's understanding of the elements being taught which informs future teaching. Assessment for learning helps to address any misconceptions at the point of learning and can identify those children that need support or challenge and so plan tasks to meet the needs of all children. Some children who may be identified as at risk of not attaining expected progress are given additional support (intervention). 

Whole school assessments: Milestones (1, 2 and 3) when writing is assessed for handwriting composition (effect, organisation, and structure) and Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar (SPAG)

Impact

At St. Saviour's our children will have developed the skills to write successfully in a wide range of contexts and have a love of writing.

At the end of Year 6, the children are

Welcome to our Library

Our Library is open for the children to borrow books. Please check out the new books on display. 

Books can be borrowed during planned class visits during the week and at weekly lunchtime sessions, when manned by our Junior librarians.

Our library can be accessed from home too. Click on enquiry to search for books that you could borrow from our School Library.

We celebrate reading at home through our Reading Rocks Awards Scheme.


Bronze Certificate - Reading 25 Times

Silver Certificate - Reading 50 Times 

Gold Certificate (+ Bookmark) - Reading 75 Times

Platinum Certificate (+Wristband) - Reading 100 Times 

Diamond Certificate (+Book) - Reading 150 Times 

Curriculum Maps and Text Drivers 

Early Years Foundation Stage - English

English is developed through communication and language which includes conversation, story telling and role play. The children develop their reading through sharing of rhymes, poems and songs and then later through decoding sounds (phonemes) and learning to read aloud words and sentences. Writing is developed through sharing their ideas through the spoken word and then writing (includes comprehension, spelling and handwriting). Please click here for more information on the EYFS curriculum

English Long Term Overview 2023.24.docx

Click here for more information on our English curriculum

Year 1/2


Y2-3 English Long Term Overview 2023-24.docx

Click here for more information on our English curriculum

Year 2/3

English Long Term Overview Y4_5 2023-24.pdf

Click here for more information on our English curriculum

Year 4/5


Long Term Overview Y6 202324.pdf

Click here for more information on our English curriculum

Year 5/6