English

English

At St Patrick’s, we believe that quality children’s literature is placed at the heart of all learning and we work closely with our school literacy advisor to identify texts that are both educational and stimulating for the children. The texts lead the learning, and by immersing children within the high-quality literature selected, we aspire to deliver an ambitious English curriculum sequenced to build on prior knowledge. We aim to give children the tools to be confident and effective communicators - both in spoken and written word. This book led approach, not only develops reading skills and a life-long love of reading, but also develops purposeful contexts for punctuation, grammar and discussion to develop vocabulary. In turn, this then provides meaningful opportunities to write.

English reading

At St Patrick’s reading is our highest priority as we believe it is a gateway to all other learning curriculum wide and beyond. This is why we not only teach the fundamental skills of reading, but also nurture children’s reading attitudes with the aim that all children develop a love of reading. We know the best learning and reading environment is one where there is an expectation of pleasure in reading, where there is an excitement in talking about books and enjoyment in being read to. We aim to provide a wide a varied selection of texts and genres to engage different interests and provide opportunities to develop vocabulary and broaden experiences.

English writing

Writing is initiated by reading engaging quality texts that have been carefully selected to immerse our pupils, contextualising their learning, and modelling excellent language, punctuation, and grammar. We understand that like reading, learning to write is also a journey and one that is innately linked to the reading culture of our school. At St Patrick’s, children will receive the opportunity to explore a wide variety of styles, texts and genres to develop awareness of purpose, audience, form, voice and written language structures. This will provide opportunities for writing, which is meaningful and stimulating, drawn from the class literature. Through this, we aim to develop confident, self-motivated and independent writers, who equally share a love of reading and are developing their own writing style.

Handwriting

 Our English curriculum is complemented by our handwriting scheme- Letter join. This scheme enables children to develop a cursive style and promotes motor skills in order to increase fluency and speed. Handwriting lessens are integrated into our curriculum and through online platforms, parents are actively encouraged to support in the development of their child’s handwriting at home.

Please click here for a Home Users’ guide for letter-join.