Our English Lead is Mrs McLaughlin

Our Phonics and Early Reading Lead is Mrs McLaughlin supported by Mrs Nicol

English Curriculum at St Joseph's

Intent

At St. Joseph’s we intend to deliver an exciting, innovative, high-quality English curriculum which enables and empowers our pupils to reach their full potential, developing a coherent knowledge and understanding of all aspects of English.

We aim to inspire pupils’ imaginations, creativity, and foster a desire to learn to read and write. We strive to encourage children to ask perceptive questions, think creatively, record ideas, develop preferences and become fluent in reading and writing.

Our English curriculum helps pupils to understand the complexity of the English language and the classics of English Literature.

How this is implemented at St. Joseph’s

Writing is taught through a process called Talk4writing which comprises of three stages: imitation, innovation and invention. A range of exciting stimuli which includes books, film clips, artefacts, visitors and real life experiences are planned around a model text. We endeavour to equip children with a rich vocabulary which can help them bring their writing to life.

Basic skills and non-negotiables underpin writing in all areas of the curriculum. Teachers model the writing process and demonstrate the ambitious high standards expected of all. Every child is encouraged to let their imagination and personality shine through in their writing.

Reading is a fundamental part of everything we do at St Joseph’s. Phonics is taught through a structured programme (RWI) where children learn the sounds letters make and how to blend these sounds to read words. Staff are dedicated in their approach to phonics and aim for all children to become fluent readers. 

Children are exposed to high quality texts across the curriculum and reading skills, taken from the National Curriculum, are taught explicitly in all year groups through 'VIPERS' (Vocabulary, Inference, Prediction, Explanation, Retrieval and Summarising).

Alongside the skills of decoding and comprehension, book talk encourages children to think as a reader, discuss their preferences, questions they may have about the text and make links to other texts they have read. 

The high profile of reading in school is further enhanced by the Reading Plus  programme which pupils access daily.  This is a web- based reading platform accessible to the pupils both at home and school.  This encourages further reading and enables parents to support pupils’ reading at home. To engage parents further in pupils reading, we have invested in an online reading journal which can be accessed by pupils, parents and staff.

Reading for pleasure is a cornerstone of our approach; staff read daily to pupils from texts chosen by the teacher or the pupils. Class libraries contain a selection of good quality texts – both fiction and non fiction as well as other reading materials (such as newspapers and magazines) in Keystage 2.

Impact of English at St Joseph’s

All children at St. Joseph’s receive a broad and balanced curriculum which is updated and reviewed frequently. Every child, regardless of year group or ability, accesses all subjects on offer and English is developed throughout the curriculum.

Children work both independently and as part of a group, ensuring skills of resilience and teamwork are promoted in English. Children are enthused and engaged in the wide variety of books and stimuli they are exposed to in English.

Class trips, visitors and links within our local environment ensure our children understand the significance within the wider world; we ensure that these experiences excite and inspire children’s thirst for knowledge.