St Ann's CofE Primary School

• The school’s English curriculum is designed to develop a love of reading, writing and discussion. It has been designed to be purposeful and engaging and places English and literature at the heart of the curriculum.  
• We aim to develop fluent readers who can recognise printed words as well as comprehend what they have read. In addition to this, the aim is to develop self-motivated and self-extending readers who are engaged in the reading process  
• It is based upon the use of high-quality texts to ensure the learning is progressive throughout the primary years.  
• Our children come into the setting with limited vocabulary and life experiences therefore the intent of the English curriculum is to improve children’s reading, writing and speaking and listening skills whilst developing an increased vocabulary that they can apply to all of these disciplines.  

English and literature is placed at the heart of the curriculum. High quality texts are used for whole class reading texts and class reading at the end of the day is mapped out through the development of a reading spine. These texts may make links to other areas of learning that teacher identify to be of interest to children or will further embed their learning. 

The basis of our reading system is The Scarborough Rope. Developed by Hollis Scarborough, the rope model ties together the many individual strands which make an accomplished reader, bringing together the word recognition and language comprehension strands to create a skilled reader.

We follow a Mastery approach to English through the programme ‘Pathways to Write.’ Units of work are delivered using high quality texts and children in all year groups are given varied opportunities for writing. Skills are built up through repetition within the units, and children apply these skills in the writing activities provided.  Many opportunities for widening children’s vocabulary are given through the Pathways to Write approach and this builds on the extensive work we do in school to provide our children with a rich and varied vocabulary.   Please see the Pathways to Write website to find out more: Pathways to Write - Primary School Writing Programme - The Literacy Company