English
The All Saints’ Way…
English in the Early Years
At All Saints’ C of E Primary, we promote early reading and writing at every opportunity and place great emphasis on spoken language. We believe it underpins children’s natural curiosity of storytelling and enjoyment of books. Within every area of the classroom, we have carefully planned exciting and engaging texts that support prior knowledge as well as exposure to new skills. These texts also foster inclusivity, recognition of protected characteristics and modern British values- to allow our children to make sense of, interrogate and unlock the world around them, as well as laying the foundations for them to enrich their vocabulary.
Across EYFS literacy knowledge and skills are also developed through the continuous provision of the environment. Resources are available to be selected by the children to support their emergent reading and writing skills, in all areas.
In Reception, we begin to teach individual phonemes during our daily phonics session. In addition, we share a love of reading with high quality texts and traditional stories and rhymes.
English Curriculum Intent...
Discovering God, Learning Together and Achieveing our Best
At All Saints’ C of E Primary, our English curriculum is rooted in our Christian values of Discovering God, Learning Together, and Achieving Our Best. These values guide our intent for all pupils—irrespective of their needs, abilities, or background—to speak, read, and write fluently and with understanding, growing not only academically, but also spiritually, socially, and emotionally.
Discovering God
Through a love of reading and writing, pupils are encouraged to explore the richness of language, uncover deeper meanings, and engage with texts that develop their moral and spiritual awareness. Literature becomes a window into the world God created and a means through which pupils can reflect on their faith, values, and purpose.
Learning Together
We cultivate a community where pupils, staff, and families share in the joy of learning language. Our rigorous and well-organised English curriculum inspires collaboration through discussion, shared texts, and creative expression. Pupils learn to listen, speak, read, and write in ways that help them connect with one another and with a wider world.
Achieving Our Best
We strive for excellence in all areas of English. Pupils are challenged and supported to exceed expectations, developing a secure knowledge base through a clear progression of skills from Early6. We ensure every child has the tools to communicate confidently and effectively in a variety of contexts.
Reading is at the heart of our curriculum. We prioritise reading because we believe it is key to educational success and personal development. Pupils at All Saints’ engage with vocabulary-rich, high-quality literature that helps them grow culturally, emotionally, intellectually, socially, and spiritually. Our goal is to foster a lifelong love of reading, enabling pupils to become independent learners and thoughtful individuals.
Writing empowers children to find and use their unique voices. We aim for pupils to write and speak with clarity, purpose, and passion—equipping them to effect change and express their identity in the world around them.
Our curriculum meets, and where possible exceeds, the Early Learning Goals and the National Curriculum for English (2014). We support pupils to:
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read easily, fluently and with good understanding;
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develop the habit of reading widely and often, for both pleasure and information;
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acquire a wide vocabulary and a solid grasp of grammar and language conventions;
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appreciate our rich and varied literary heritage;
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write clearly, accurately and coherently for a range of purposes and audiences;
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use discussion to deepen understanding and express their thinking;
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grow in confidence in speaking and listening, including formal presentations and debates.
These aims are embedded throughout our English lessons and across the wider curriculum. Through regular assessment and targeted support, we ensure that every child experiences success and makes progress.
Ultimately, our English curriculum empowers learners to experience the power and magic of language—a gift that helps them explore their faith, connect with others, and fulfil their God-given potential.
Implementation...
The direct teaching of reading starts with oracy and phonics. Early reading is currently implemented using Read Write Inc. Phonics is taught daily and is monitored regularly.
We use two quality schemes – (Jane Considine and Read to Write units of work) - both of which have a progressive, sequential approach using high quality and engaging texts. When planning English lessons, teachers make links to other areas of the curriculum to ensure that cross curricular links and application provide further context for learning. Teaching blocks focus on fiction, non-fiction or poetry, in line with the 2014 National Curriculum and comprehension, grammar and writing are embedded in lessons. Non-fiction texts are used to support fictional writing. Lesson sequences themselves build progressively towards an extended piece of writing. Handwriting is also taught within English lessons, and outcomes in KS2 are recorded in English books to promote a high level of pride and presentation across all written outcomes.
Reading for pleasure is encouraged at all times. Each classroom has a reading area and we strive to keep our books current and of a high quality.
We place high-quality texts at the heart of the children’s learning, providing real examples of effective narrative techniques and rich vocabulary. Each unit of learning provides the opportunity to write for a particular purpose by developing, securing and independently applying a range of appropriate grammatical structures, text features and punctuation to suit each specific genre. Whilst developing a strong sense of audience, teachers use a range of drama and discussion processes to completely immerse pupils into fictional worlds - igniting curiosity, provoking enquiry and demanding critical thinking. Writing follows the cycle of Immerse, Analyse, Plan, Write and Edit.
Staff use Focus English to guide our sequencing and progression in applying phonics, reading for pleasure, accuracy, fluency and understanding. Focus English is also used for sequencing and progression in spoken language, handwriting, spelling, composition, grammar, punctuation, different genres of fiction, non-fiction and specific poetry.
Philosophy for Children (P4C) is also a tool we may draw upon to refine debating strategies and language.
Impact...
Our English curriculum and our constant promotion of the love of reading results in a community of enthusiastic readers and writers who enjoy showcasing their developing literacy knowledge and skills. Children are confident to take risks in their reading and writing, and love to discuss and share their ideas. Outcomes of work in both English and topic books evidence the high quality of work and the impact of varied and cross curricular writing opportunities. These enable children to write across a range of forms and adapt their writing successfully, considering the purpose and audience.
We use the process of moderation to within and across year groups as well as between different schools as part of our assessment of standards.
