Pupils access daily English lessons that focus on writing and

English is the foundation of the entire curriculum with the journey from the Early Years (EYFS) through Key Stage 2 (KS2) designed to move children from "learning to read and write" to "reading and writing to learn."

Our English curriculum is built on three main pillars: Spoken Language, Reading, and Writing. As children progress, these skills become increasingly integrated and complex.

In Reception English is taught through the "Communication and Language" and "Literacy" areas of learning. The goal is to ignite a love for stories and provide the phonetic tools needed for decoding, with the building of vocabulary, the teaching of letter-sound correspondences, mark making moving on to form recognisable letters and writing simple "phonetically plausible" sentences, and the retelling of familiar stories and anticipating key events in picture books.

In Key Stage 1 the focus is on developing fluency and accuracy in both reading and writing, with pupils developing their decoding skills (word reading), their understanding of plot and characters, being able to write in neat, legible handwriting, and learning to sequence sentences to form short narratives and "re-reading" work to check it makes sense. Within their writing they ensure finger spaces, capital letters, full stops, and question marks are in place.

Within Key Stage 2 the focus is on mastering depth and style, with pupils becoming sophisticated communicators. They analyse texts more deeply and adapt their writing for different audiences and purposes. When reading there is a shift from "learning to read" to "reading for pleasure and information", with a focus on VIPERS - Vocabulary, Inference, Prediction, Explanation, Retrieval, and Summarising. When writing they experience a range of contexts: formal reports, persuasive letters, complex narratives, and poetry, with opportunities to develop their editing skills including planning, drafting, and evaluating their own writing to improve impact. Spelling punctuation and grammar (SPaG) teaching and learning continues with the mastering complex structures like fronted adverbials, relative clauses, and active/passive voice.

In both Year 2 and Year 6 pupils sit national tests in Reading and SPaG.