English

Reading

At St. Augustine’s Catholic Primary School, the teaching of English lies at the heart of our curriculum.

Intent

We are committed to fostering an appreciation for the richness of the English language and its heritage. Our dedicated staff work to understand the diverse needs of each learner and that every child’s starting point is recognised and celebrated. Progress is carefully monitored to help every child achieve their full potential and enjoy the satisfaction of success in reading.

We aim to nurture confident communicators who excel in speaking, listening, and thoughtful discussion, using these skills to deepen their learning. Our vision is for children to develop a solid foundation in English, with clear and structured progression as they journey through the primary curriculum. This foundation equips our pupils with essential skills, empowering them to engage fully in society and pursue their ambitions.

Implementation

To achieve these aims, we give daily exposure to quality texts within our English writing 'themes', as well as use a cross-curricular approach to allow children to explore exciting texts and stories that support learning in other subjects. This approach ensures that reading objectives are taught all throughout the school day, not just discreetly, giving all children consistent opportunities to read and engage with high-quality texts.

Impact

At St. Augustine’s, reading is not just a skill but a passion we aim to instil in every child. Our pupils are encouraged to develop independence, a love for reading, and an appreciation for diverse and enriching vocabulary, making these elements integral to every lesson. Throughout the school, displays celebrate our love of reading, showcasing pupils’ and staff's favourite books.

Reading is celebrated as a community, with events such as World Book Day, parent phonics workshops, and exciting book fairs. These activities not only enrich learning but also foster a culture where reading is valued and enjoyed. We believe well-structured and inspiring teaching in English is the cornerstone of an excellent education. As such, our curriculum ensures that every child experiences purposeful, progressive, and engaging lessons that prepare them for future success.

Library and Reading Spaces

Our school library is a cherished space, alive with opportunities to explore books and spark imagination. The library offers a welcoming environment where children can read, borrow books, and find stories to captivate their minds. From fiction to non-fiction, poetry to picture books, the library’s collection supports children of all ages and interests.

The library also serves as a hub for learning during the school day, offering children quiet spaces to read or work with adults during curriculum time. Beyond the library, classrooms feature inviting and well-organised reading corners, designed to encourage a love of books and independent exploration. These spaces reflect our commitment to making reading a core part of every child’s school experience and providing them with the tools they need to flourish.

Phonics

St Augustine's uses Unlocking Letters and Sounds, which was validated by the DfE in December 2021.

We begin teaching phonics in the first few weeks of term 1 in Reception and children make rapid progress in their reading journey. Children begin to learn the main sounds heard in the English Language and how they can be represented, as well as learning ‘Common Exception’ words for Phases 2, 3 and 4. They use these sounds to read and write simple words, captions and sentences. Children leave Reception being able to apply the phonemes taught within Phase 2, 3 and 4.

In Year 1 through Phase 5a, b and c, the children learn any alternative spellings and pronunciations for the graphemes and additional Common Exception Words. By the end of Year 1, children will have mastered using phonics to decode and blend when reading and segment when spelling. In Year 1, all children are screened using the National Phonics Screening Check.

In Year 2, phonics continues to be revisited to ensure mastery of the phonetic code and any child who does not meet age-related expectations will continue to receive support to close identified gaps. To ensure no child is left behind at any point in the progression, children are regularly assessed and supported to keep up through bespoke 1-to-1 interventions.

In these crucial early stages of reading we primarily use books from Ransom Reading Stars Phonics to ensure complete fidelity to the Unlocking Letters and Sounds scheme.

Once children progress beyond decodable texts, they move onto our PM book scheme so that they can continue to progress in their decoding, fluency and comprehension skills to become avid, expert readers.

Handwriting

Unlocking Handwriting

Meet our new whole school handwriting programme!

Good handwriting is critical to children's writing progress. It is essential that handwriting is practised until it is fluent and effortless so that the children can put all their effort into thinking about what they are writing.

Unlocking Handwriting is a whole school handwriting programme. The progression used in Unlocking Handwriting follows the National Curriculum progression, with some additional content included based upon a wealth of experience of teaching handwriting in schools, feedback from schools seeking a comprehensive, progressive handwriting programme and updated guidance(including requirements from the National Curriculum).

The progression is structured broadly in units which are broken down into multiple sessions, offering a clear focus for each discrete handwriting lesson. Similar to the structure of Unlocking Letters and Sounds phonics sessions, Unlocking Handwriting provides ‘Mastery’ units for children to embed and secure the knowledge they have previously learnt.

The programme also provides frequent opportunities for children to revisit previous learning and embed this before further refining their handwriting skills

Oracy

Oracy, the development of speaking and listening skills, is a crucial aspect of primary education as it helps students build communication skills, critical thinking abilities, confidence, and social skills. By engaging in conversations, discussions, presentations and performances, students learn to express themselves clearly, listen actively, consider different perspectives, and collaborate with others. These skills not only improve academic performance across all subjects but also enhance students' social interactions and overall well-being and self-esteem.

Talking about what to write. Acting out a story together. Reading to each other.

Oracy Progression Document 24-25 PDF pdf

Writing

‘Writing is the best way to be heard when one cannot speak, to be understood when one is not present, and to be remembered long after one is gone.’

St Francis De Sales

INTENT

At St Augustine’s we use high-quality picture books, texts, film and real experiences, linked by an overarching theme, to inspire our children’s writing. â€‹

â€‹There is a clear progression across both fiction and non-fiction genres as the children move up through the school which will allow them to revisit each genre yearly, building on previous knowledge and establishing children’s identities as strong writers. â€‹

â€‹ Grammar and punctuation is introduced and then rehearsed through each genre as appropriate; thus ensuring that all new GPS is covered over the course of a school year in the most meaningful way and gives an immediate purpose to the skills being taught.

IMPLEMENTATION

In order to help us to develop confident, enthusiastic writers who can express themselves in a variety of different styles and across a variety of contexts, our teaching of writing is linked to our class themes. Writing opportunities are linked to our themes, with the intent to excite, enthuse and engage children in writing that is purposeful and meaningful. This provides our children with regular opportunities to write for a range of purposes and audiences.

Spelling is taught daily in Key Stage 1 through Phonics lessons, and weekly in Key Stage 2. Children who need additional support with phonics or spelling receive a variety of interventions that are tailored to address their gaps. We monitor judgements in the assessment of writing through termly in-school moderations as well as collaboration moderations throughout the year with partner schools.

Teachers across the school follow the same process in the teaching of writing – breaking it down into 6 stages:

Immersion – familiarisation with the text type using high quality model texts, lots of oracy activities and shared building of success criteria for a text type

Planning – supporting children in using a range of planning tools, frames and formats to generate and organise their ideas

Drafting – utilising strategies such as shared and guided writing to model the process of being a writer

Sharing & evaluating – supporting meta-cognition by helping children work both independently and with their peers to see the extent to which they have met the success criteria

Revising & editing – supporting children in making changes to the content of writing in light of feedback and self-evaluation and also making changes to ensure the text is accurate and coherent

Publishing – celebrating hard work and effort by selecting pieces (either in part, or whole) to publish

These steps support children’s understanding that writing is not a linear process - it is flexible. Writers should learn to move easily back and forth between components of the writing process, often altering their plans and revising their text along the way.

IMPACT

Pupils will make good or better progress from their own personal starting points. By the end of Year Six they will be able to write clearly and accurately. In addition, they will be able to independently manipulate their language and style in and for a range of contexts, purposes and audiences. Our pupils will acquire a wide vocabulary and have a strong command of the written word. Most importantly, they will develop a love of writing and be well equipped for the rest of their education.