English

At Clatford Primary School we believe that Literacy underpins everything. The ability to read and write is integral to being able to access the wider curriculum.

We want our children to be able to harness the power of the spoken and written word and use it to their advantage. Through carefully planned learning opportunities, we teach children to express themselves imaginatively and to communicate effectively. In doing this we hope that children will begin to develop a love of language in all its forms.

We foster a love of reading through engaging whole class shared texts, which spark interesting and creative writing opportunities. We then use these writing opportunities to teach the more technical components of spelling, handwriting, punctuation and grammar.

The intent of our English teaching is that we want children to become fluent readers, good listeners and willing writers but most of all we want our children to have a voice in the world.

"Reading and writing cannot be separated. Reading is like breathing in; writing is like breathing out." - Pam Allyn

Key features of our English curriculum:

• High expectations for every child
• Focus on oracy and developing spoken language
• Phonics comes first when teaching early reading
• Whole class reading with engaging texts for each age group
• Carefully planned writing opportunities covering a range of genres
• Clear purpose and audience for writing