English

English at St Gilbert’s RC Primary School

At St Gilbert’s RC Primary School, we believe that English is fundamental to children’s learning, development and ability to communicate with others. Reading, writing, speaking and listening contribute significantly to children's emotional, creative, aesthetic and intellectual development and provide the foundations for learning across the curriculum.

We strive to do what is right for our children. We recognise that every child is unique, with individual interests, strengths and learning needs, and therefore we have purposefully chosen approaches to teaching English that we feel best meet the needs of the children at St Gilbert’s.

Across the school, our English curriculum ensures that the National Curriculum objectives are systematically covered, revisited and developed, providing children with the knowledge and skills they need to become confident and successful readers, writers and communicators.

We use three complementary approaches across the different stages of school:

EYFS – Drawing Club
Years 1 and 2 – Curious Quests
Key Stage 2 – Pathways to Write

Each approach has been carefully chosen because of the way it develops children's skills while also providing opportunities for creativity, imagination, vocabulary development, oracy, independence and a love of language. Most importantly, we believe these approaches reflect the needs of our children and enable them to flourish as learners.

Our Catholic Ethos and Gospel Values

Our Catholic faith is at the heart of life at St Gilbert’s RC Primary School, and this is reflected in the English approaches we have chosen.

A key reason for selecting Drawing Club, Curious Quests and Pathways to Write is the opportunity they provide to explore meaningful themes and high-quality texts that support our Catholic ethos and Gospel Values.

Stories, characters, poetry and discussions provide opportunities for children to explore

meaningful themes and high-quality texts that support our Catholic ethos and Gospel Values.

Stories, characters, poetry and discussions provide opportunities for children to explore themes such as kindness, compassion, friendship, forgiveness, respect, courage, justice, service and love. Children are encouraged to empathise with characters, consider different perspectives, question choices and reflect upon how they can live out Gospel Values in their own lives.

Through discussion and exploration of texts, children are encouraged to ask questions such as “How might this character be feeling?”, “How could we help?”, “What would be the kind thing to do?” and “How can we show this Gospel Value in our own lives?”

We have purposefully chosen approaches that allow English to be much more than the teaching of reading and writing skills. They provide opportunities for children to think deeply, develop empathy, explore their faith, understand others and make meaningful connections with the world around them.

EYFS – Drawing Club

In the Early Years Foundation Stage, we use Drawing Club to introduce children to the magic of stories and early writing. Drawing Club provides an exciting and imaginative environment where children develop their fine motor skills, early writing, vocabulary, oracy, mathematical understanding and creativity.

Through high-quality texts and imaginative adventures, children are encouraged to explore stories, develop their own ideas and use their imagination through “What if...?” thinking. Children learn that their ideas are valued and that writing can be exciting, purposeful and full of possibilities.

Drawing Club builds strong foundations for children's future writing and develops a love of stories, language and creativity from the very beginning of their school journey.

Years 1 and 2 – Curious Quests

Following their experiences in Drawing Club, children in Years 1 and 2 move into the Curious Quests approach. Curious Quests builds upon the creativity, imagination and independence developed in EYFS and continues to make writing an exciting and meaningful experience.

Through story, poetry, make-believe, role play and open-ended exploration, children are encouraged to invent, imagine, question and create. Curious Quests provides opportunities to develop vocabulary, comprehension, grammar, punctuation and spelling while children apply their phonics knowledge and developing writing skills.

The approach encourages children to see themselves as storytellers and writers and reinforces the message that writing is for them and that their ideas and imagination matter.

Key Stage 2 – Pathways to Write

In Key Stage 2, we use Pathways to Write, following a Mastery approach to developing writing skills. Units are based around high-quality, engaging texts that provide children with rich opportunities to explore language, develop vocabulary and write for a range of purposes and audiences.

Writing skills are carefully sequenced, revisited and embedded throughout each unit. Grammar, punctuation and spelling are taught within meaningful contexts, enabling children to understand and apply these skills within their own writing.

Children are encouraged to develop their independence as writers through modelling, discussion, questioning, independent application, editing and redrafting. They learn to reflect upon their writing and make purposeful improvements to vocabulary, grammar, punctuation and overall effectiveness.

Pathways to Write also provides opportunities to explore fiction, non-fiction and poetry, ensuring children experience a broad and varied English curriculum.

Phonics and Early Reading

Our systematic phonics programme is Read Write Inc. (RWI). Phonics is taught consistently across the relevant stages of school and provides children with the knowledge and strategies they need to become confident, fluent readers and writers.

We place a very high priority on reading because we believe that reading opens the door to independent learning. Through high-quality texts, children develop a love of reading, broaden their knowledge and encounter rich and varied vocabulary that they can use in their spoken and written language.

Oracy and Vocabulary

Across all three approaches, we place a strong emphasis on oracy and vocabulary development. Children are given regular opportunities to talk, listen, question and share their ideas through activities such as talk partner work, discussions, debates, hot seating, role play and collaborative learning.

We believe that children need opportunities to talk about and rehearse their ideas before they write. Developing children's spoken language enables them to organise their thinking, build confidence and use increasingly ambitious vocabulary.

To find out more about the approaches we use to develop English at St Gilbert’s, please follow the links: