At Fulwood and Cadley Primary School, we believe that English is fundamental to children's success across the curriculum and throughout their lives.

Our English curriculum is ambitious for all pupils and is designed to develop confident, fluent readers; purposeful and creative writers; and articulate speakers and listeners. We want children not only to acquire the knowledge and skills required to communicate effectively, but also to develop a genuine love of reading, writing and language.

High-quality texts are at the heart of our English curriculum. Through carefully selected literature, children encounter rich vocabulary, explore different perspectives and experiences, develop their imagination and gain the knowledge and inspiration needed to become successful writers.

How We Teach English

Our English curriculum is carefully sequenced so that learning builds upon children's prior knowledge and skills.

Writing units are developed around high-quality texts and meaningful purposes for writing. Children explore texts as readers before gathering ideas, studying how authors use language and structure, and seeing effective writing explicitly modelled by their teachers.

Teachers use modelling, shared writing, discussion and oral rehearsal to make the writing process visible. Children gradually move from supported practice towards increasingly independent application of their learning.

Children are taught that successful writing is a process. They learn to plan, compose, evaluate, edit and improve their work and make increasingly deliberate choices about vocabulary, grammar, structure and punctuation according to audience and purpose.

Reading

We believe that every child should become a confident, fluent reader who chooses to read.

Once children have established the foundations of early reading, they continue to develop their fluency, comprehension and enjoyment of increasingly challenging texts.

Reading is taught through guided and whole-class reading, individual reading, reading across the curriculum and regular opportunities to read for pleasure.

Children are explicitly taught to retrieve information, make inferences, predict, summarise, explore vocabulary, consider authorial choices and justify their ideas using evidence from the text.

High-quality books and texts are carefully selected to broaden children's vocabulary, knowledge, experiences and understanding of the world. Alongside explicitly teaching reading, we place a strong emphasis on developing a culture of reading for pleasure, ensuring that books, stories and discussion about reading are an important part of everyday school life.

Information about how children begin their reading journey can be found on our dedicated Phonics and Early Reading page.

Writing

We want children to understand that writing has a purpose and an audience.

Children write across a broad range of fiction, non-fiction and poetry and are given opportunities to apply their writing skills across the wider curriculum.

Our teaching sequence allows children to become immersed in high-quality examples, explore vocabulary and content, study the features and techniques used by successful writers and see the writing process explicitly modelled.

Grammar, punctuation and spelling are taught both explicitly and within meaningful writing contexts so that children understand how these choices contribute to effective communication.

As children progress through school, they are expected to make increasingly independent and deliberate choices as writers, drawing upon everything they have learned rather than simply following a formula.

Handwriting and Presentation

We have high expectations for handwriting and presentation.

Handwriting is explicitly taught and practised so that children develop a handwriting style that is accurate, fluent and efficient. Correct letter formation and appropriate joins are progressively developed as children move through school.

Children are encouraged to take pride in the presentation of their work and understand that fluent handwriting supports them in communicating their ideas effectively.

Spoken Language

Speaking and listening underpin successful learning.

Children are provided with regular opportunities to discuss, explain, question, debate, present and perform. Oral rehearsal is used throughout English teaching to enable children to develop ideas and vocabulary before committing them to writing.

We want children to become confident communicators who can express their ideas clearly, listen carefully to others and adapt their language appropriately for different audiences and situations.

Developing Independent Readers and Writers

Our ultimate aim is independence.

Children are explicitly taught how to draw upon their previous learning and use the resources available to them before seeking adult support. These include working walls, dictionaries, thesauruses, vocabulary banks, model texts, books, previous work and appropriate digital resources.

As children progress through school, they take increasing responsibility for selecting and applying the knowledge and strategies they need as readers and writers.

Through our English curriculum, we aim for every child to leave Fulwood and Cadley as a confident reader, thoughtful writer and articulate communicator, equipped with the knowledge, skills and enthusiasm they need for the next stage of their education and beyond.