Primary National Curriculum 2014

‘English has a pre-eminent place in education and in society. A high-quality education in English will teach pupils 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. Through reading in particular, pupils have a chance to develop culturally, emotionally, intellectually, socially and spiritually. Literature, especially, plays a key role in such development. Reading also enables pupils both to acquire knowledge and to build on what they already know. All the skills of language are essential to participating fully as a member of society; pupils who do not learn to speak, read and write fluently and confidently are effectively disenfranchised.’ (DFE, 2014).

‘The overarching aim for English in the national curriculum is to promote high standards of language and literacy by equipping pupils with a strong command of the spoken and written word, and to develop their love of literature through widespread reading for enjoyment.’ (DFE, 2014).

English Curriculum Statement

At Turners Hill CofE Primary School, we are passionate about reading and believe that confidence in reading ‘is one of the main resources we have for showing children what words can do'. Our priority is to promote a life-long love of reading, which will in turn support children on their journey to becoming confident writers and allow them access to the full curriculum on offer. Quality texts lie at the heart of our curriculum. The wide variety of texts we use across each year group not only underpin children’s learning in reading, writing, speaking and listening, but enhance and underpin learning across the wider curriculum. We use a cross curricular approach to immerse the children into their writing and provide purpose to their writing. Learning to read and write significantly impacts a child’s enjoyment and access to all curriculum areas. Therefore, we place considerable curriculum time to these subject areas. Reading and writing are taught daily across the school. We aim to enable all children to appreciate language in its many forms and to express their thoughts, imaginations and feelings.

Our curriculum intent for the English curriculum is:

• To ensure that all children make sufficient progress to meet or exceed age-related expectations.
• To enrich children’s reading experiences through immersing them in quality and diverse literature.
• To ensure children are able to read easily, fluently and with good understanding.
• To provide consistent and progressive phonics teaching in the early teaching of reading.
• To promote reading for both pleasure and information.
• To enrich children’s vocabulary.
• To develop understanding of grammar and knowledge of linguistic conventions for reading, writing and spoken language.
• To ensure children are able to write clearly, accurately and coherently, adapting their language and for a range of contexts, purposes and audiences.
• To ensure the continual development of pupils’ confidence and competence in spoken language and listening skills.
• To engage pupils with inclusive and diverse themes.
• To develop an appreciation of our rich and varied literary heritage through the celebration of quality texts across a range of genres, including a balance of old and new classic texts, poetry, non-fiction across the curriculum, stories, rhymes and new and popular authors.
• To set ambitious expectations for reading at home.