At St Mary’s, we promote a love of reading and writing. We want our children to be able to read fluently, read for both enjoyment and meaning, as well as being able to write in any genre, whether it be a formal letter or a beautiful poem. Our English lessons are based around a range of high-quality books and poems, as well as engaging short films and real-life experiences.

The development of both confidence and fluency in speech are crucial. We place a strong emphasis on developing children’s speaking and listening skills by providing opportunities for drama activities and discussions in English and the wider curriculum. We aim to provide children with the vocabulary and skills that they need to communicate effectively and listen with understanding to others.

St Mary’s follows the National Curriculum for English. As well as daily English lessons, children have sessions focusing on handwriting and spelling. In Early Years and Key Stage One, children also have a daily phonics lesson. These phonics lessons follow an approved programme of synthetic phonics and take children from the first stages of literacy to being independent readers and writers.

A nominated teacher takes responsibility, as the school’s English Leader, for overseeing the implementation of the English National Curriculum throughout the school.