Intent

At Nursteed Primary School, we believe that literacy and communication are keys which open doors of opportunity for all. These fundamental skills enable children to have access to limitless experiences, to communicate effectively with others, and to explore their feelings, experiences and ideas.

Through our English curriculum, we help children develop the skills and knowledge that will enable them to communicate effectively and creatively through spoken and written language, and allow them to become lifelong learners. Our creative, cross-curricular approach provides further opportunity for children to apply and embed this knowledge and key skills to other curricular areas. We want children to enjoy and appreciate literature and its rich variety; we achieve this through the use of quality children's texts, books and topics that inspire and excite our young readers and writers. We believe that 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.

Implementation

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. Teachers ensure that cross curricular links with concurrent topic work are woven into the programme of study. Our curriculum closely follows the aims of the National Curriculum for English 2014.

The National Curriculum for English aims to ensure that all pupils:

• read easily, fluently and with good understanding
• develop the habit of reading widely and often, for both pleasure and information.
• children 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.

In addition to daily English lessons, children excel in early phonics through the use of 'Sounds-Write', which progresses through the school into Year 6.  Whole Class Reading is something we have been developing through the school at Nursteed Primary; to provide a rich and inspiring Reading Spine. We want all of our children to love books and develop this love for their life-long learning journey. We use a wide variety of quality texts and resources to motivate and inspire our children and model reading with the use of VIPERS (Literacy Shed). We support SEN and EAL learners in this approach and provide additional focus group support too.

At Nursteed, we provide a wealth of enrichment opportunities, such as the Rotary Club Youth Speaks Competition. This ensures that children benefit from access to positive role models from the local and wider locality.

We believe it is so important for children to write for a purpose.  We understand that this is more meaningful for the children, especially if they receive written responses. Examples of this include writing to members of Parliament and letters to authors/poets.  We use Sounds-Write to develop our spelling through the school. Spelling is also supported along with punctuation and grammar in our ‘Mark for Impact’ strategy.

Impact

Nursteed Primary School encourages enthusiastic readers and writers, who enjoy showcasing their developing English knowledge and skills. They are confident to take risks in their reading and writing, and love to discuss and share their ideas.