English is at the heart of everything we do.

We know that teaching children to read and write is the key to everything. Proficiency in reading, writing and spoken language is vital for pupils’ success. These skills are life skills that allow learning within the wider curriculum.

At Stubbins Primary School we aim to provide high quality English teaching across the curriculum that gives all children the skills, confidence and breadth of experience to enable them to become proficient speakers, listeners, readers and writers of the English language. English unites the important skills of reading, writing and speaking and listening and is at the heart of all children’s learning. English enables children both to communicate with others effectively for a variety of purposes and to examine their own and others’ experiences, feelings and ideas, giving these order and meaning.

Because English is central to children’s intellectual, emotional and social development, it has an essential role across the curriculum and helps pupils’ learning to be coherent and progressive.

Our ambition is that we will teach ALL children to read before they leave school.

Did you know?

If a child memorises ten words, they will be able to read ten words.

However, if a child learns 10 sounds they will be able to read:

• 350 three sound words

• 4320 four sound words

• 21650 five sound words.

Teaching children to read is an essential part of their learning. Reading is a skill that helps to develop vocabulary and improve understanding of words. In synthetic phonics lessons, children learn the relationship between letters and sounds. Teaching them to recognise the sounds each letter makes and how to put them together, enables them to read. It also helps with spelling as they learn how to break up words into sounds, in order to spell them. The idea that surrounds synthetic phonics is that once they are comfortable with the letters and sounds that make up words, children should even be able to read ‘nonsense’ words that don’t actually exist in the English language.

Reading is a whole school priority. It is fundamental to education.

Whilst teaching children to read is important, our ultimate goal is to develop a true love of reading. Reading fosters a lifelong love for learning and curiosity about the world. Children who develop strong reading habits early on are more likely to continue seeking knowledge and expanding their horizons throughout their lives. This thirst for learning opens doors to various opportunities, from higher education to career advancement, empowering pupils to realise their full potential.

Did you know?

• Children whose parents read them five books a day enter Reception having heard about 1.4 million more words than children who were never read to.

• Children who are read only one book a day will hear about 290,000 more words by age 5 than those who don't regularly read books with an adult.

Learning to write is a complex process that involves learning many skills.

In order to write, children must begin by developing their vocabulary and communication skills. They will then develop their gross and fine motor skills in order to manipulate writing tools. As they grow, they will begin to learn phonics where children learn phoneme and grapheme correspondences and then children begin to make connections between spoken and written words. Once they have developed these early skills, children will then go to learn about different genres and the features of these.

At Stubbins, we have chosen to use Pathways to Write as it is designed to equip pupils with key skills to move them through the writing process towards their final outcome. It is built around units of work that follow a mastery approach to the teaching of writing. To support this approach, clear detailed lesson plans and resources are linked to a high-quality text. Pathways to Write ensures engaging and purposeful English lessons. The units can be used thematically to encourage a whole school approach to writing with the opportunity for topics to link across all year groups.

Pupils begin their spelling journey as soon as they start in Reception through their phonic lessons.

Children are taught grapheme-phoneme correspondences (GPCs) which allows young children to begin to segment words to spell words. This progresses throughout Key Stage One, in line with National Curriculum expectations, where pupils learn alternative representations for the same sound. Spelling is taught alongside phonic sessions for Key Stage One.

In line with the National Curriculum, spelling is discretely taught in Key Stage 2. Children will be taught a new spelling rule each week and tested on their spellings at the end of the week.

Children learn the basics of letter formation to establish the foundations for speedy and fluent handwriting.

At Stubbins, handwriting is a daily session at the start of each English lesson. Children taught handwriting from the very beginning of Reception. As soon as a new sound is taught, children learn the basics of letter formation to establish the foundations for speedy and fluent handwriting later on. We ensure all children form their letters correctly by explicitly modelling how to form each letter and correcting children who need extra support. We make sure that children understand which letters belong to which handwriting ‘families’ and that they practise these. From Year 2 onwards, children are taught to join their handwriting. Children learn which letters are best left unjoined. In Key Stage 2, children aim to develop a fluent and confident handwriting style which allows them to write at speed.