English

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Introduction

At St Mary Redcliffe Primary School, we believe that a rich and engaging English curriculum is fundamental to our pupils' success, both within our school and beyond. Rooted in our school's values of 'Hope, Empathy, Acceptance, Respect, Thankfulness, and Selflessness', our English curriculum aims to nurture a love of language and literature, empowering our pupils to become confident communicators and creative writers.

Key Aims

Our English curriculum is designed to:

  • Develop pupils' fluency and comprehension in reading, enabling them to access the full breadth of the curriculum
  • Broaden pupils' vocabulary and enhance their ability to express themselves effectively, both orally and in writing
  • Foster a love of reading and writing, providing opportunities for pupils to engage with a diverse range of high-quality texts that reflect our vibrant, inclusive community
  • Equip pupils with the skills and knowledge to write coherently for a variety of purposes and audiences

Content and Skills

Through our English curriculum, pupils will develop a secure understanding of the core components of language: phonics, grammar, punctuation, and spelling. They will learn to read fluently, with good comprehension, and write with increasing complexity and accuracy. Pupils will also have opportunities to develop their oral communication skills, participating in discussions, presentations, and debates.

Progression

Our English curriculum is carefully sequenced to build on pupils' prior knowledge and skills. In the early years, the focus is on developing strong foundations in phonics, language comprehension, and early writing. As pupils progress through Key Stage 1 and 2, they will continue to develop their reading fluency and comprehension, while expanding their repertoire of writing styles and techniques. By the end of Year 6, our pupils will be confident, creative writers who can communicate effectively for a range of purposes and audiences.

Wider Impact

The English curriculum at St Mary Redcliffe Primary School is central to our vision of developing well-rounded, engaged learners who are equipped to succeed in their next steps, whether that be in secondary education or in their future careers. By nurturing a love of language and literature, we aim to empower our pupils to become active, informed citizens who can navigate the world with confidence, empathy, and a strong sense of their own identity and values.

Implementation

  • From the Early Years Foundation Stage through to Upper Key Stage 2, we have worked to ensure children are exposed to a vast range of high-quality texts each term. Where possible texts are aligned with topics to allow for immersion and further exposure to topics.​
  • Teaching blocks focus on fiction, non-fiction or poetry, in line with the 2014 National Curriculum. We ensure children are taught to write to entertain, inform, persuade and argue through a rich variety of writing outcomes.​
  • Lesson sequences themselves build progressively towards an extended piece of writing and children are exposed to examples (WAGOLL) and modelled writing to support them.​
  • Teachers plan opportunities for children to apply their writing skills across the curriculum.​
  • Assessment for Learning is embedded in lessons and children are active in editing and revising their work and responding to feedback to improve their work.​
  • Daily spelling lessons teach explicit spelling rules and key words.​
  • The children follow our Handwriting Policy whereby they begin with mark making and then progress to develop a cursive handwriting script.

Spelling

Implementation 

We use the Essential Spelling scheme to teach spelling. This begins in year 2, where the scheme builds on from Letters and Sounds phonics. Essential Spelling focuses on the teaching of spelling so that children understand how to apply patterns, strategies and knowledge to other words. It also provides links to prior knowledge and tracks back to related objectives so that teachers can give targeted support to children who are not yet able to spell words from their year group programme of study.  

Quotes from Pupil Voice

After implementing the new Essential Spelling scheme, the English lead collected the pupils' voice on the new scheme:

"I used to find the lessons a bit bitty, but now they make sense to me as we focus on one rule and perfect it." - Year 4 pupil

 "I like how we really explore a rule and look into the word families; it's really helped me notice errors when I'm writing and editing." - Year 6 pupil

"I love spellings now. I love all the ways we get to practise and my teacher makes the rules really clear."  - Year 3 pupil

"I spotted a prefix in my science knowledge organiser and my teacher gave me a house point!" - Year 5 pupil

Spelling resources to help at home

Handwriting

Intent

  • To raise standards in writing across the school.
  • To have a consistent approach across the school when teaching handwriting and presentation of work throughout the school.
  • To adopt a common approach towards handwriting by all adults when writing in children’s books, on the whiteboard or on displays / resources.

For pupils to: 

  • Achieve a neat, legible style with correctly formed letters with correct orientation in cursive handwriting.
  • Develop flow and speed, so that eventually they are able to produce the letters automatically and in their independent writing.

Implementation

Handwriting is taught regularly through sessions and may be linked with spelling, grammar or phonics objectives. Teaching occurs outside English lessons. Importantly, shared and guided writing and teachers’ written comments in books also provide additional opportunities for the modelling and monitoring of handwriting. In addition individual teaching and practise time is provided for children who are experiencing difficulties.

Handwriting downloads

Contact Us

Happy to answer any questions

If you require paper copies of any information from the website please contact the school office. 

Address

  • Windmill Close Windmill Hill Bristol BS3 4DP

Telephone Number