English Curriculum
English
Intent
At Westhead Lathom St James’ CE Primary School, the intent of the English curriculum is to provide a rich, engaging, and progressive learning experience that equips all pupils with a strong foundation in reading, writing, speaking, and listening. We aim to develop pupils as confident, fluent readers and writers with a broad vocabulary and strong command of grammar, punctuation, and spelling. Through high-quality texts and writing opportunities, we nurture a love for reading and writing that supports both pleasure and academic purpose. Our curriculum is designed to ensure that pupils build on prior knowledge and skills, progressing through clearly defined stages from the Early Years to Year 6, preparing them for the next phase of their education and life beyond school.
Implementation
Our English curriculum is delivered through a well-structured, two-year rolling programme that ensures comprehensive coverage of reading, writing, and language development across the school. In Early Years and Key Stage 1, we focus on phonics through the Red Rose Phonics Scheme, supporting pupils in mastering decoding and blending skills. As pupils progress to Key Stage 2, we introduce Whole Class Guided Reading sessions, encouraging comprehension, fluency, and critical thinking. Each English lesson integrates explicit grammar, spelling, and punctuation instruction within rich reading and writing experiences, while cross-curricular links ensure that pupils apply these skills across subjects. Regular formative and summative assessments inform teaching, ensuring tailored support for all pupils.
Impact
The impact of our English curriculum is evident in the confidence, fluency, and skill with which pupils communicate. By the end of each key stage, pupils demonstrate a strong ability to read for both pleasure and information, write with clarity and coherence for various audiences, and speak confidently in a range of contexts. Through ongoing assessments, pupils are tracked against age-related expectations, with interventions in place to ensure that every child makes progress. Ultimately, our approach fosters a love for language and equips pupils with the skills necessary for success in their continued education and beyond.
Reading
At Westhead Lathom St James' CE Primary School reading is taught in the following way:
In EYFS and KS1 a programme of systematic synthetic phonics, that is complemented by the learning of sight/HFW matched to phonics phases, is used. The Red Rose Phonics Programme is followed by EYFS and KS1. Children are also taught to use a variety of other skills when reading e.g. picture cues, prediction and syntax in order to make sense of what is being read.
The reading scheme in EYFS and KS1 has a mixture of both phonically decodable books and books that provide practise for pupils of sight/HFW words.
Where pupils in EYFS and KS1 are not on track with attainment and progression of phonics for their stage of education then intervention strategies are employed. Interventions are decided upon based on the needs of the child and include programmes such as: Read Write A to Z, Talk Boost, Fast Track Phonics, Sounds Write and Toe by Toe.
Clear provision mapping is in place across school for all interventions and a cycle of review in place in order to assess the impact of these interventions as well as earlier identification of those requiring intervention.
In KS2, reading is taught through whole class reading sessions. Teachers make good use of the KLIPs documents to plan for and assess pupils’ progress in reading. The teachers in KS2 also monitor individual reading and encourage a love of reading by promoting good quality texts in the class libraries and through the use of reading challenges. The teachers in KS2 also make good use of children’s individual reading records to track children’s frequency and volume of reading.
Whole class reading is also employed during English lessons across school. These sessions include modelling by the class teacher and immersion in the text for all pupils. Children are encouraged to respond to texts in a variety of ways including through discussion, drama, role play and writing. Responses during this reading section of a unit are then referred back to during gathering content and writing sessions in order that pupils can draw upon what they have read to influence their own writing.
Where pupils in KS2 are not on track with attainment and progression in Reading interventions such as 1:1 Reading Partners and IDL are used.
Below is a useful link for parents on the articulation of each of the phonemes taught in the Red Rose Phonics Programme.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqhXUW_v-1s&safe=active
Masked Reader
Storyteller Visit
Clever Ending Stories
