English

 At The Cathedral School of St Peter and St John RC Primary, the Catholic faith underpins every aspect of the curriculum and is at the centre of our learning.  Children are actively encouraged to ‘Be the best that they can be.’

It is our intent at The Cathedral School of St Peter and St John RC Primary to provide pupils with a high-quality education in English that teaches pupils to speak and write fluently so that they can communicate their ideas and emotions to others, and through their reading and listening, others can communicate with them. Through reading in particular, pupils have a chance to develop culturally, emotionally, intellectually, socially and spiritually.

At The Cathedral School of St Peter and St John RC Primary, English is a crucial part of our curriculum.  All children from Foundation Stage to Year 6 are provided with many opportunities to develop and apply their English skills right across the curriculum.

The overarching aim for English in the national curriculum is to promote high standards of language and literacy by equipping pupils with a strong command of the spoken and written language, and to develop their love of literature through widespread reading for enjoyment enhanced by the many opportunities given to widen the cultural language development outside of the school grounds.

Reading at The Cathedral School of St Peter and St John RC Primary

Our aim at The Cathedral school of St Peter and St John RC Primary is that every child should read for pleasure and enjoyment whilst learning about the structure and authorial intent and gaining knowledge about the world. It is a core life skill allowing children to access all areas of learning. Books are at the heart of our learning challenge curriculum. Every class has a library and we have a central library in the key stage 2 area and one is being developed in the key stage 1 area. The process for taking books home to share is being developed. The EYFS have their own library where parents come and choose a story with their child to take home.

The school also purchases the SLA  for the schools’ library service from the local authority which gives the school staff a wider range of books including class readers author boxes and subject and topic books each for the classes Nursery to Year 6.

We support the children on their reading journey through Guided Reading grouped sessions and whole class reading, individual reading and phonics teaching (see phonics and early reading policy Intent and subject lead for more information.)

During Guided Reading, the children are taught in small groups. Teaching is closely matched to the needs of the children and high quality texts are carefully selected from different genres of fiction and non-fiction. The weekly sessions are carefully planned and recorded whilst also giving the opportunity to complete comprehension tasks and also being given an opportunity for individual choice.

During our Whole Class Reading approach, children are taught using a whole class text using questioning – Vocabulary – language development, Infer, Predict, Explain, Retrieve, Sequence or Summarise. Children respond through discussion orally and record in the Reading Journal Book. 

Skills are assessed using NFER to find a child’s reading age, reading journal tasks using Guided reading objectives and  termly Head Start tests.

Wellcomm screening is also used for both Early years and primary to enable quick and easy identification of children who need support.

Reading Scheme-

In Nursery, children take home a reading book from our class library as well as a Firm Foundations language and communication pack to share with parents.

From Reception upwards the children will choose a book from the library but also from the appropriate Book Band-this could be online or a paper copy. Our books are colour coded to allow easy access for the children and are organised according to level of difficulty.

As the children become more confident readers, they move off the scheme books and onto Free choice within their class library or the general library in their area.

We also encourage reading every night at home and evidence of this is recorded in Homework Diaries. 

Poetry is also taught – children read, enjoy, analyse, write and perform poetry. Poetry is so much more than just rhyming words.

Poetry : It introduces different writers, subjects and styles – helps children understand emotions – encourages a wider vocabulary knowledge and varied grammar – develops interpretation skills – inspires creativity – develops oopinions reading becomes more fluent – speech development improves – supports spelling and transports children to new worlds.

 Writing at The Cathedral School of St Peter and St John RC Primary

We plan our English writing curriculum through the Lancashire Text Model, which uses a text-based learning approach.  Through this, various genres of writing are taught whilst taking into account all ability levels, learning styles, disadvantaged pupils and those with EAL. Pupils are expected to write clearly, accurately and coherently, adapting their language and style in and for a range of contexts, purposes and audiences.  The process of the writing journey is clear to see- The children are taught the skill – they have opportunity to use the skill  the children collect and discuss ideas, composing, drafting, and rereading to check their meaning and redrafting and polish using the purple polishing time.

Grammar and punctuation skills are taught through discreetly and through writing and the exploration of texts read.  Key vocabulary along with common exception words are displayed and children are encouraged to use a high level and rich variety of language within their writing. The curriculum ensures coverage and progression of skills providing opportunities to link to other subject areas.

Skills are assessed at the end of each unit against the feature and key learning. Feedback is provided this may consist of highlighting the learning focus and the point of celebration in the text or a further learning with vocal or written support

 At The Cathedral School of St Peter and St John, English is a crucial part of our curriculum.  All children from Foundation Stage to Year 6 are provided with many opportunities to develop and apply their English skills right across the curriculum.

English Intent

At The Cathedral School of St Peter and St John RC Primary we believe that a quality Literacy (English) curriculum should develop children’s love of reading, writing and discussion.

We aim to inspire an appreciation of our rich and varied literary heritage and a habit of reading widely and often. We recognise the importance of nurturing a culture where children take pride in their writing, can write clearly and accurately and adapt their language and style for a range of contexts.

We want to inspire children to be confident in the art of speaking and listening and use discussion to communicate and further their learning.
A secure basis in literacy skills is crucial to a high quality education and will give our children the tools they need to participate fully as a member of society and fulfil their divine potential.