English

At Daresbury Primary School, we want every child to SHINE as a reader, writer and communicator. We believe that strong foundations in English enable children to access the whole curriculum, express themselves confidently and develop a lifelong enjoyment of reading, writing and language.

Our English curriculum develops children's knowledge and skills progressively across reading, writing, speaking and listening, spelling, grammar and handwriting. We have high expectations for all children and ensure that key knowledge and skills are explicitly taught, regularly revisited and applied across the curriculum.

We want children to become confident and enthusiastic readers, purposeful and creative writers and effective communicators who can use language successfully in school and beyond.

Early Reading and Phonics

Learning to read is one of the most important skills children develop during their early years at school. We use Read Write Inc. Phonics to provide a systematic and consistent approach to the teaching of early reading and phonics.

Children are taught to recognise sounds and the letters that represent them, blend sounds together to read words and develop increasing fluency and confidence. They read books that are carefully matched to their developing phonic knowledge, allowing them to practise the sounds and words they have been taught and experience success as readers.

Children's progress is carefully monitored so that teaching can be matched to their needs and additional support provided where necessary. Our aim is for children to develop secure early reading foundations, fluency and confidence so that they are ready to access an increasingly broad and challenging range of texts as they progress through school.

Developing Reading

As children become increasingly fluent readers, the focus develops from learning to read towards reading fluently, understanding increasingly complex texts and thinking deeply about what they read.

From Year 3 onwards, we use Ashley Booth's Reading Curriculum to support the teaching of reading. Children experience a carefully selected range of extracts covering different subjects, themes, authors, genres and text types.

This approach enables children not only to develop their reading fluency and comprehension, but also to broaden their vocabulary and build their wider knowledge and understanding across the curriculum.

Children are taught to:

• read increasingly fluently and confidently;

• retrieve and identify important information;

• use evidence from a text to support their ideas;

• make and justify inferences;

• predict using evidence from what they have read;

• explore vocabulary and meaning in context;

• identify and discuss themes and conventions;

• summarise key information and ideas;

• consider an author's choice of language and its effect on the reader;

• compare and make connections between different texts.

Through discussion and purposeful questioning, children are encouraged to think deeply about what they read, explain their ideas and support their responses with evidence.

Reading at Home

Regular reading is an important part of children's development as readers. All children are provided with an individual reading book appropriate to their reading ability and are encouraged to read regularly at home.

We ask children to read at least three times each week, although we encourage reading every night wherever possible.

In EYFS, Year 1 and Year 2, children have a physical reading diary, providing an important link between reading at home and school. From Year 3 onwards, children record their home reading using their reading log on Seesaw, encouraging them to take increasing responsibility for their own reading habits.

By working together with families, we can help children practise regularly, develop fluency and establish positive reading habits that can continue throughout their lives.

Developing a Love of Reading

Alongside developing the skills needed to read successfully, we want every child to develop a genuine love of reading.

Every classroom has a reading area containing a range of age-appropriate reading-for-pleasure books and subject-specific texts. Children also have access to themed books linked to mental health and wellbeing, providing opportunities to explore feelings, experiences and important issues through literature.

Every class enjoys a class novel or shorter story, which is read aloud by the class teacher throughout the week. These shared reading experiences introduce children to different authors, genres and styles of writing and allow them to experience books that they may not yet choose or be able to read independently.

In EYFS, Year 1 and Year 2, our Five Favourite Books approach provides children with repeated opportunities to enjoy carefully selected stories. Five books are chosen for each half term and revisited regularly, enabling children to become familiar with stories, characters, vocabulary and language patterns while developing their enjoyment of books.

We want reading to be something children associate not only with learning, but with enjoyment, curiosity, imagination and discovery.

Leadership Through Reading

We believe reading provides valuable opportunities for children to develop leadership, responsibility and a shared enjoyment of books.

Our Reading Ambassadors take on additional responsibility for supporting reading across school. They help to look after and organise our school library on the playground, helping other children to access and enjoy a wide range of books during their break times.

Through this role, children develop their confidence, independence and leadership skills, while helping to promote a positive culture of reading and a love of books across our school.

Writing

We use Ready Steady Write as our whole-school approach to the teaching of writing. The curriculum is carefully mapped so that children progressively develop the knowledge and skills required by the National Curriculum as they move through school.

Ready Steady Write places high-quality children's literature at the heart of writing. Units are centred around engaging, vocabulary-rich Vehicle Texts, providing children with meaningful contexts, audiences and purposes for their writing.

Children are immersed in these texts before analysing important features, developing vocabulary, exploring grammatical structures, planning their ideas and producing their own writing.

Across the year, children produce a range of extended pieces of writing. Alongside these, they have regular opportunities for shorter and incidental writing linked to their Vehicle Texts, allowing them to practise and apply skills before bringing them together within longer pieces.

Writing expectations are high, with children developing their composition, vocabulary, grammar, punctuation, spelling and handwriting alongside their ability to communicate effectively for different purposes and audiences.

We also use Pobble to provide additional opportunities and engaging stimuli for writing, encouraging children to develop their imagination, creativity and confidence in applying their writing skills in different contexts.

Building Strong Sentences

We recognise that confident writing begins with being able to construct accurate, purposeful sentences.

As part of our approach to writing, children from Years 2–6 receive focused teaching in sentence construction. This ensures that the essential building blocks of writing are secure before children are expected to apply them within increasingly complex pieces of work.

Through the Grammarsaurus PVPG approach, children learn how to construct sentences accurately and then develop them through carefully chosen vocabulary and grammatical structures. They learn to make deliberate choices and consider the effect these choices have on the reader.

These skills are not taught in isolation. Throughout the year, children revisit and apply their sentence knowledge across different genres and areas of the curriculum. This provides a consistent approach and shared language, helping children become increasingly confident, accurate and purposeful writers.

Spelling

Spelling is taught progressively and systematically throughout school, building upon children's early phonics knowledge and developing their understanding of spelling patterns, rules and word structures.

In Year 2, spelling continues to be reinforced through phonics alongside dedicated teaching of the spelling knowledge and rules appropriate to the year group.

From Years 3–6, spelling teaching is carefully matched to children's learning needs. Children focus on particular spelling rules and patterns that help them build securely on their existing knowledge. Through a range of activities, children learn to understand and apply these patterns and rules rather than simply memorising individual words.

We place a strong emphasis on retrieval and retention. Previously taught spelling patterns and words are revisited regularly so that children can remember and apply their learning independently within their writing.

Alongside this, children are explicitly taught the statutory spelling words appropriate to their year group. These are regularly revisited and assessed to help identify areas requiring further teaching and practice.

Spellings linked to children's current learning are also shared through Seesaw, allowing families to support regular practice at home.

Our aim is for children to become confident and increasingly independent spellers who can draw upon their phonics, knowledge of spelling patterns and understanding of words when writing across the curriculum.

English Across the Curriculum

The skills children develop through English are essential across all areas of learning and everyday life.

Children have regular opportunities to apply their reading, writing, vocabulary and communication skills across the wider curriculum. They read subject-specific texts, encounter and use new vocabulary, discuss their ideas and write for different purposes in subjects such as Science, History, Geography and RE.

Speaking and listening are an important part of this. Children are encouraged to discuss ideas, explain their thinking, listen carefully to others and communicate clearly and confidently.

Our aim is for children to leave Daresbury as confident, fluent and enthusiastic readers, thoughtful and purposeful writers and effective communicators. We want them to have the strong foundations in English they need to succeed across the curriculum, express themselves with confidence and continue to enjoy reading, writing and language throughout their lives.