Fundamental to our curriculum intent, is a determined drive to ensure that every pupil, regardless of their background, needs or ability will learn to read.  Our curriculum reflects a sharp focus upon early reading from the very start of school, as well as the typical needs of our pupils to broaden and deepen their vocabulary and oracy skills. We strive for pupils to develop a love of books through daily storytelling sessions. 

We believe that every lesson is a chance to improve pupils’ literacy. In EYFS, learning and development requirements are met across all seven areas of learning responding to children's needs and interests whilst stimulating new interests and addressing barriers to learning.  Pupils are immersed in text and language rich environments and develop a love of story, rhyme and information. In Reception and Key Stage 1, we focus upon ensuring that all pupils have embedded basic skills so they are able to read and write, through a robust synthetic phonics system. A clear emphasis is placed upon those pupils who struggle with their reading so that they catch up quickly. Pupils will see themselves as readers and writers and experiment with, and explore language within their own work whilst developing a secure understanding of the technical components of spelling, handwriting, punctuation and grammar. Following the period of school closures, we are unapologetic in prioritising reading for Key Stage 2 learners, who require rapid catch-up to access the wider curriculum successfully.

Across the curriculum, pupils will develop and use an increasing range of academic, subject-specific vocabulary to articulate their view points and read for a range of purposes. Through high-quality classroom talk, pupils are supported to articulate key ideas, consolidate their understanding and extend their vocabulary.

Literacy units of work are based on high quality texts and cover a variety of genres. Pupils are encouraged to read for meaning, deepening their understanding of plot, setting and character. Writing tasks are based on the text pupils are studying and have a clear emphasis on the importance of purpose and audience. Pupils have the opportunity to write for a range of purposes and develop their understanding of the writing process.