Intent

The Gospel values are at the forefront of our teaching and we make connections with these through our chosen texts. We aim to develop pupils with a strong sense of identity, who question the world around them through speaking and listening activities, diverse reading materials and thought-provoking writing opportunities.  Pupils will be given opportunities to interrelate the requirements of English within a broad and balanced approach to the teaching of English across the curriculum, with opportunities to consolidate and reinforce taught literacy skills.

Pupils at St Mary’s Catholic Primary School will leave year 6:

• Being able to read and write with confidence, fluency and understanding, using a range of independent strategies to take responsibility for their own learning including self correcting their own errors.
• With a love of books and a desire to read for enjoyment
• Have an interest in words and their meanings while developing a growing vocabulary in spoken and written forms.
• Understanding a range of text types, media styles and genres
• Using their developing creativity, imagination, inventiveness and critical awareness. 
• have a suitable technical vocabulary to respectfully  articulate their responses both in written form and verbally

Implementation

Planning is taken from the Lancashire LAPS for each year group for reading and writing to support the Lancashire Themed Units.

The Early Learning Goals are used to ensure continuity and progression from the Early Years Foundation Stage through to the National Curriculum.  Reception have a daily discreet phonics lesson and have opportunities to develop their communication, language and literacy skills on a daily basis through both adult led and child initiated activities.

KS1 continue with discreet daily phonics lessons using the validated scheme, Phonics Shed. There is also a daily class English lesson and children take part in both guided and individual reading sessions and have regular story times embedded in the curriculum to develop a love of reading.

Provision is made for those children who require extra support through intervention programs, differentiated class teaching.

KS2 children have daily English lessons. Spelling and grammar skills are initially taught discretely using the English book then embedded in the writing books. Daily comprehension/ reading skills lessons run alongside daily reading of a class book/novel as part of the reading phase of each unit.

Throughout school, provision is made for children who require extra support through targeted teaching using Phonics Shed, Precision Teaching and effective 1:1 reading. Intervention logs are used to track targeted support and monitored by SLT.

Impact

The impact on our children will be demonstrated through the progress, sustained learning and transferrable skills.  With the implementation of these approaches being well established and taught thoroughly in all key stages, children will become more confident readers and writers, and by the time they are in upper Key Stage 2, most genres of reading and writing will be familiar to them. The teaching then can focus on reading for pleasure, creativity, writer’s craft, sustained writing and manipulation of grammar and punctuation skills.