Our English curriculum helps children to learn in a purposeful and engaging way, placing English and literature at the heart of the curriculum. The curriculum is based on the use of high-quality texts, including poetry, which provide the driver for cross-curricular units of learning. Across each phase, texts from classic to current authors have been selected to ensure that the children experience a wide and rich reading curriculum to promote a life-long love of reading.

Our English curriculum is planned so that every objective – reading, writing and grammar – is pitched appropriately and that progress is evident from unit to unit of work towards secure and deep learning. Each year is organised into six units of learning – one for each half-term – that are based on a high-quality text which links the English curriculum to the Science, History or Geography curriculum.

Each unit has written outcomes, usually one narrative and one non-narrative and poetry as applicable. The high-quality texts provide models and scaffolds so that children are enabled to make independent choices about how they write and the effect they wish to create. As they progress, children learn to write, evaluate, redraft and proof read.

There is a sharp focus on reading as the children work through the texts together. Lessons will focus on questions and activities that are matched to the reading objectives. It is therefore not helpful if parents buy the book Where applicable, pupils have their own copy of the book or class text to make it easier for them to engage with the activities as they concentrate on understanding, responding to and deepening understanding of the texts.

Grammar and spellings work is taught purposefully, but often in context so that it becomes part of the writing outcomes for the unit. Grammar skills from previous units are often used in context in subsequent units to revisit and consolidate learning and to ensure effective and accurate writing.