At St. John’s, we follow the National Curriculum for English across the school. Our teaching is rooted in high-quality texts, which provide the foundation for reading, writing and language development. Through this approach, children encounter a wide variety of material and learn key skills in comprehension, composition, spelling, punctuation and grammar. English is taught through:

Phonics

In the EYFS and KS1 we follow the systematic synthetic phonics programme Read Write Inc. (RWI) so that children can learn letter sounds and blend them together to read words. The children are regularly assessed and grouped according to their levels, which enables teaching to be focused to meet their needs.

Reading

From the earliest age, we prioritise reading. During our daily guided reading sessions throughout the school, we focus on the key skills of decoding, inferring, clarifying and predicting. Children are read with and read to regularly, as we seek to foster a love of books.

‘Leaders are ambitious for all pupils to develop as confident and independent readers. This begins in the early years. Pupils are enthusiastic about reading and enjoy both reading and being read to.’ (Ofsted, 2022)

Children take home books which reflect their decoding confidence and teachers work with parents to help each child make great progress. Alongside this, comprehension skills are also developed to ensure children have a secure understanding of what they have read.

Writing

Children’s books are at the heart of our writing curriculum. From Year 1 to 6 we use ‘The Literary Tree’ to plan our writing lessons. Throughout our writing blocks, pupils have opportunities to explore the core text, analyse high-quality modelled examples, and develop their spelling, grammar and vocabulary. Alongside this, children will focus on the skills of planning, composing and editing. Writing is modelled and children practice regularly through both short burst writing tasks and more extended pieces.

To scaffold learning, teachers and teaching assistants provide resources designed to encourage independence in writing. For children with SEN, we make appropriate adaptions to help them achieve their personalised targets.

In the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) and Year 1, we implement the Read Write Inc. (RWI) scheme alongside The Literacy Tree, which supports children in holding sentences through dictation. At this early stage, mark making and creative writing are prioritised to foster independence.

Our ultimate goal is for every child to leave St. John's a confident, capable, independent writer, equipped with the skills necessary for future success.

Mrs Gatward
English Co-Ordinator