Intention

At St Thomas’ we are determined to equip all  pupils with the skills they will need to be fluent, confident readers and communicators . We aim to develop a lifelong  love of reading for pleasure and knowledge. Through reading in particular, pupils have a chance to develop culturally, emotionally, intellectually, socially and spiritually.

The National Curriculum underpins our aims to nurture imagination, while promoting communication and social skills through a focus on drama and oracy together with a strong emphasis on vocabulary.  This leads to fluent transcription and effective composition.

We aim to provide opportunities for children to write for a range of purposes across a variety of genres to equip them with skills needed in further education and beyond.  

Additionally, we strive for children to be passionate about their writing and to see the power of literature in expressing their values and opinions. We hope to inspire children with culturally diverse texts and to understand the purpose of writing for different audiences.

Implementation

English lessons at St Thomas’ are underpinned by the CLPE Power of Reading scheme.  This allows us to use  quality literature at the heart of learning.  

• Staff foster a passion for reading with drop in parent reading sessions, workshops, certificates and competitions to promote reading and a special dedicated DEAR time (Drop Everything And Read in KS1).
• We provide children in Reception with a flying start to read and write by using Ruth Miskin RWI Phonics strategies. We use the RWI phonics scheme to teach letter formation alongside learning the sounds
• KS1 offer targeted writing after school provision.
• Pupils are given opportunities to perform, debate, discuss and clearly present their understanding and ideas, such as speech making and performance poetry through the immersion of CLPE Power of reading texts.
• Nelson Reading Comprehension and Grammar, Charles Cripps Handwriting  and RWI Spelling are taught explicitly as well as being embedded throughout our curriculum.
• Children are given Phonics books to match their decoding ability.  We also provide books to be read together with parents, for pleasure.  Children in ks2 are encouraged to choose books independently to take home.
• Children learn a range of writing styles while being encouraged to write creatively and independently.

Impact

At  St Thomas’  pupils will develop their English skills and knowledge resulting in learners making excellent progress against attainment that is consistent across Writing and Reading.  

Pupils are confident readers and enjoy reading  a breadth of texts for knowledge and pleasure. Pupils are able to clearly, accurately and coherently articulate purpose and intentions in writing. They are fully prepared for the next stage of their education as a result of our rich, progressive curriculum. By the time they leave St Thomas’, pupils are able to confidently take their writing and reading skills into KS3 and continue to appreciate their literary learning.