St Joseph's Catholic and Church of England Primary School

Why do we teach English?

At St Joseph's C and C of E Primary School we aim to provide our pupils with the skills and knowledge to become enthusiastic writers, with a deep love of reading, who are articulate and confident verbally. English teaching at St Joseph's ensures that all children can communicate effectively in a range of ways to a variety of people.

We follow the National Curriculum programmes of study and have tailored our school curriculum to meet the needs of all of our pupils.

The teaching of English brings together the essential skills of reading, writing, spelling, speaking & listening, punctuation, grammar and vocabulary. The use of carefully chosen, quality texts, used within the classroom, enables children to communicate ideas, thoughts, views and feelings creatively and imaginatively.

We have developed and planned an ambitious, creative and sequential English Curriculum to support and challenge all of our learners. 

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

• 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. 

You can find the full National Curriculum Programmes of Study for Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 English here.

Role of parents/carers:

Parents will be informed about children’s progress in English through the end of year report, during parents evenings and through the planners/ learning journals, where there will be an opportunity for parents to comment on teacher set targets. School has an open-door policy, where parents can discuss their children’s progress and are regularly invited in to attend a range of informative and supportive workshops. These happen regularly throughout the academic year, and are designed to facilitate parents' knowledge and abilities, with a view to support their children in this subject outside of school.