English

At St Anthony’s Catholic Primary School we believe that our English curriculum should develop pupils’passion for reading, writing, speaking and listening. We aim to inspire children to become enthusiastic readers, passionate writers and be able to communicate their ideas and emotions to others.
We believe that a secure basis in literacy skills is crucial to a high quality education and that Fluency in the English language is an essential foundation for success in all subjects.

It will give our children the tools they need to participate as educated citizens and contribute to a better world. We aim to ensure that all pupils:

(The national curriculum for English aims 2014)

  • read easily, fluently and with good understanding
  • develop the habit of reading widely and often, for both pleasure and information
  • acquire a wide vocabulary, an understanding of grammar and knowledge of linguistic conventions for reading, writing and spoken language
  • appreciate our rich and varied literary heritage
  • write clearly, accurately and coherently, adapting their language and style in and for a range of contexts, purposes and audiences
  • use discussion in order to learn; they should be able to elaborate and explain clearly their understanding and ideas
  • are competent in the arts of speaking and listening, making formal presentations, demonstrating to others and participating in debate.

Writing:

At St Anthony’s we foster a love of writing from the earliest stages of learning. We prioritise the need for daily writing opportunities through engaging and inspiring lessons.

Opportunities for children to apply their writing are planned and links to the wider curriculum are made when doing this.

We use writing for a range of purposes or based on a class book study and through drama, debates and presentation.

Punctuation and Grammar

As children learn different parts of punctuation and grammar, they will begin to embed these into their writing. By the end of Year 4, children should have a secure understanding of the following ten parts of punctuation and grammar (in order to allow time for more advanced grammar teaching in Years 5 and 6).

  • Capital letters, commas and full stops.
  • Paragraphs.
  • Nouns, adjectives, verbs and adverbs.
  • Statement, exclamation, question and command sentences with use of question and exclamation marks.
  • Inverted commas to indicate direct speech.
  • Determiners before a noun.
  • Apostrophes (to show possession and omission).
  •  Prepositions to indicate the position of something.
  • Pronouns to replace names.
  • Conjunctions to join clauses together.
Writing is assessed at appropriate times when key skills can be applied in a meaningful way and next steps identified by the teacher and also through self and peer assessment.

Spelling:

Spelling is an integral part of the curriculum and is taught daily at St Anthony’s. We use the English Appendix 1, as a resource to teach spelling.

This includes the statutory word lists and common expectation words for each Key Stage or Year group.

These aims are embedded across our English lessons and the wider curriculum. We have a rigorous and well organised English curriculum that provides many purposeful opportunities for reading, writing and discussion.

Our curriculum closely follows the aims of the National Curriculum for English 2014.

Impact:

Children will use their English knowledge and skills, in all curriculum areas, to enable them to become life long learners.

They will use their Reading skills as a key tool in helping them to learn. Children will also be able to produce written work in all areas of the curriculum of a similar standard which evidence good progress.

As a result, our school will have learners who are enthusiastic readers and writers who enjoy showcasing their developing literacy knowledge and skills.

English Curriculum Details

 Phonics & Early Reading Policy
English Long Term Overview
Writing Long Term Plans KS1
Writing Long Term Plans KS2

Vocabulary, Grammar and Punctuation Appendix Details

 Year 1
Year 2
Year 3
Year 4
Year 5
Year 6

Spelling Appendix Details

 Year 1
Year 2
Year 3 - 4
Year 5 - 6