At St. Peter’s CE Academy we strongly believe that English has a vital role to play in education and in society as a whole. A high-quality education in English will enable pupils to speak and write fluently so that they can communicate their ideas and emotions to others and through their reading and listening, others can communicate with them. Our English Curriculum is driven by a deep rooted passion for high quality texts which reflect a diverse and progressive world view. These texts are used as a stimulus to drama, to discussion, to debate, to explore ideas, to expand vocabulary, to improve reading comprehension and writing skills. Our writing overviews carefully plan for cultural capital. We choose texts that broaden children’s reading repertoires and we plan for progression in coverage of fairy tales and classic texts (including Shakespeare in Years 5 and 6)
Driven by high quality texts and poetry alongside opportunities for talk, writing skills develop. Through reading in particular, pupils have a chance to develop culturally, emotionally, intellectually, socially and spiritually. English, especially, plays a key role in such development and engenders our children with a global consciousness. Reading also enables pupils both to acquire knowledge and to build on what they already know. All the skills of language are essential to participating fully as a member of society therefore we place high value of the quality first teaching we deliver as part of our English curriculum.
The overarching aim for English in our school is to promote extremely high standards of language and literacy by equipping pupils with a strong command of the spoken and written word, and to develop their love of literature through widespread reading for enjoyment. We aim to ensure that all pupils:
The school places huge importance on developing discussion skills, speaking and listening and drama as we firmly believe that children need to develop a wide and exciting vocabulary. A variety of media is used as a stimulus to learning, including e-books, drama and computers.
High expectations and quality teaching of writing lead to passionate writers who are inspired to write. Children’s writing is high quality and exciting to read. They understand the conventions of different genres and write purposefully to entertain, to inform and to persuade. Children use collective wisdom to discuss why their writing is successful and make changes, thinking carefully about word choice, sentence structures and the impact on their reader.
The school regularly monitors the standards of English within the school, with the aim of continually raising standards. English is used effectively across the curriculum and our pupils see themselves as authors in a range of contexts outside of the English lesson.