Our English curriculum develops children’s love of reading, writing and discussion. We aim to inspire an appreciation of our rich and varied literary heritage and develop a habit of reading widely and often. We recognise the importance of nurturing a culture where children take pride in their writing, can write clearly and accurately and are able to adapt their language and style for a range of contexts, purposes and audiences. We want pupils to acquire a wide vocabulary, a solid understanding of grammar and be able to spell new words by effectively applying their knowledge of spelling rules and patterns. We believe that all good writers refine and edit their writing over time, so we want children to develop independence in being able to identify their own areas for improvement. We want to inspire children to be confident in the art of speaking and listening and who can use discussion to communicate and further their learning.

We believe that children need to develop a secure knowledge-base in English, which follows a clear pathway of progression as they advance through the primary curriculum. We believe that a secure basis in literacy skills is crucial to a high quality education and will give our children the tools they need to participate fully as a member of society.

Through high quality teaching, we develop the following essential characteristics of readers and writers:

• Develop a love of reading for pleasure and to acquire information;
• Read easily, fluently and to deploy strategies to support reading unfamiliar words and texts;
• Comprehend texts, and to use reading skills to understand the intentions of the author;
• Understand grammar and knowledge of linguistic conventions for reading, writing and spoken language;
• Appreciate how an author uses grammar to impact the reader;
• Consciously and purposefully use grammar and punctuation within independent writing to navigate and influence the reader;
• 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;
• Understand that writing is a process, which includes drafting, writing and evaluating work;
• Engage in debates and discussions, and appreciate others viewpoints;
• Justify their own ideas with references to texts they have read and elaborate and explain clearly their understanding and ideas;

• To recognise that learning enables links to be made with other subjects across the curriculum;
• An extensive base of technical knowledge and vocabulary.

English is a core subject which is taught daily but it is integrated into other areas of the curriculum.

Systematic Synthetic Phonics

We deliver our teaching of phonics through the use of Read Write Inc. Children learn how to ‘read’ the sounds in words and how those sounds can be written down. This is essential for reading, but it also helps children learn to spell well. We teach the children simple ways of remembering these sounds and letters. The children also practise reading (and spelling) what we call ‘tricky words’, such as ‘once,’ ‘have,’ ‘said’ and ‘where’. The children practise their reading with books that match the phonics and the ‘tricky words’ they know. 

Teaching English

Children’s reading is assessed by class teachers following Read Write Inc., and children are allocated a coloured book band book. The coloured book band book matches the child’s reading ability and allows them to comprehend the text. In addition, children can select a reading for pleasure book that they can share with an adult at home.

Children learn a range of reading skills during English and Guided Reading lessons. Teachers use VIPERS by the Literacy Shed (Vocabulary, Inference, Prediction, Explanation, Retrieval, Summarise/Sequence) as a tool to teach children the key skills for reading.

Our English curriculum provides details of key texts that children will be introduced to throughout the year. The texts have been carefully chosen and show progression. Class texts are also identified and these are read to the children on a regular basis.

We deliver our teaching of writing through Jane Considine’s scheme, The Write Stuff. High-quality texts from this scheme are selected to complement the Egerton CE Primary Curriculum so that children engage in meaningful discussions, learn key vocabulary, understand grammar and punctuation skills, and inspire independent writing. The key aspects of The Write Stuff include:

• The Write Stuff builds pupils’ confidence with sentence structure. 
• The approach widens the repertoire of writing options for pupils. 
• Pupils gain an understanding of the ‘whole’ piece that they are writing. 
• Organisation of their ideas and cohesion between them is strengthened.

Our English Curriculum provides details of spellings that children are taught each term. Children apply their phonetics knowledge to learn new words and highlight sounds within the word that are more ‘tricky’. In addition, Sir Linkalot is used to aid spelling by teaching children a range of techniques, allowing them to learn about word origins and to identify spelling rules.

The school supports and takes part in a range of additional events to promote and champion reading and writing, including World Book Day and National Poetry Day.

• Children will make at least good progress in Reading, Writing and Speaking and Listening from their last point of statutory assessment of from their starting point in EYFS.
• Children will use their English knowledge and skills, in all curriculum areas, to enable them to know more, remember more and understand more.
• Children will have a love of Reading and make at least good progress in Reading from their last point of statutory assessment of from their starting point in EYFS.
• Children will use their Reading skills as a key tool in helping them to learn, and as a result, know more, remember more and understand more.
• Children will be able to produce written work in all areas of the curriculum of a similar standard which evidence good progress from their last point of statutory assessment point or their starting point in EYFS.
• Children will have a knowledge of key authors and engage in conversations about their texts.
• Children will have the knowledge and skills to read a range of texts and to be able to explain and justify their thoughts on their own and others written work.
• Children will appreciate how writing impacts the audience.
• Children will be creative and imaginative learners.
• There will be a clear progression of skills across EYFS, Key Stage 1 and 2 that builds on prior knowledge that can be demonstrated in writing books and class floor books and shows good or better progress in art from their starting points.  
• Children will have a good understanding of key vocabulary taught and will be able to make links with prior knowledge when faced with unfamiliar words.
• Our children will be confident readers and writers, and are able to clearly discuss their learning from past and current topics, as well as explain their next steps.
• Children will engage in out-of-class opportunities to ensure skills learnt in English are ongoing and embedded as part of the Egerton ethos.
• Continued training and support for teachers ensuring they are the experts in the subjects that they teach.