English
Curriculum Overviews Coming Soon!
Inspiring a Love of Reading and Writing
At East Herrington Primary Academy, English is at the heart of our curriculum.
We want every child to become a confident reader, writer and communicator who develops a lifelong love of language and literature. Through rich experiences with high-quality texts, children develop the vocabulary, knowledge and skills they need to understand the world around them and express themselves with confidence.
Our English curriculum is ambitious, inclusive and designed to help every child see themselves as a reader and a writer.
Reading
We believe that every child should learn to read confidently and develop a genuine love of reading.
Reading opens doors to new ideas, experiences, cultures and perspectives. It helps children develop vocabulary, broaden their knowledge and understand experiences beyond their own.
Children have opportunities to:
- read high-quality fiction, non-fiction and poetry
- develop fluency and comprehension
- build a rich vocabulary
- discuss books, ideas and authors
- read independently and for pleasure
- hear high-quality texts read aloud every day
- apply reading skills across the curriculum.
Early Reading and Phonics
From Nursery, children develop the foundations for reading through talk, listening, rhyme, songs and stories.
We use Read Write Inc. Phonics as our systematic synthetic phonics programme. Alongside phonics, Talk Through Stories helps children develop vocabulary, comprehension and a love of stories.
Children's progress is carefully assessed and additional support is provided where needed.
Reading for Pleasure
We want children to read because they love it.
Children have access to a wide range of books through our school reading spine and opportunities to choose books for themselves. We celebrate reading through events such as World Book Day, National Poetry Day and our Reading Café.
We work closely with families because regular reading at home helps children develop fluency, confidence, stamina and enjoyment.
Writing
We want every child to become a confident, creative and independent writer.
High-quality texts drive our Writing Curriculum, giving children exciting contexts and meaningful reasons to write. Children write for different purposes and audiences, including to explain, persuade, inform, instruct and entertain.
We use Literacy Tree to support the progression of our writing curriculum. Children are taught to plan, draft, write, revise, edit and improve their work.
Grammar and punctuation are taught in context, helping children understand how language choices can make their writing more effective.
Vocabulary
Words give children the power to understand and communicate.
Our vocabulary curriculum is carefully planned from Nursery to Year 6. Children encounter, explore, revisit and apply increasingly sophisticated vocabulary through reading, writing, stories and the wider curriculum.
Spelling
Spelling is taught systematically from Nursery to Year 6.
Read Write Inc. Phonics supports early spelling development, followed by Read Write Inc. Spelling as children develop their knowledge of spelling patterns, prefixes, suffixes, word families, morphology, etymology and statutory spelling words.
We want children to spell accurately and confidently without allowing mistakes to limit their creativity or ambition.
Handwriting
We develop fluent, legible handwriting from the earliest stages of writing.
Children learn letter formation through Read Write Inc. before progressing onto Nelson Handwriting. Through Key Stage 2, they develop increasingly fluent, joined handwriting, with a focus on consistency, automaticity, presentation and stamina.
English for Every Child
We believe every child can succeed in English.
Teachers adapt learning and provide the support children need, including vocabulary scaffolds, sentence starters, modelled writing, flexible grouping, targeted adult support and additional phonics, reading, spelling and handwriting support.
We are committed to removing barriers while developing children's independence, confidence and enjoyment.
