INTENT

At St Barnabas and St. Helena’s Primary Schools, our English curriculum is built on the belief that language is the foundation for learning, thinking and participation in society. We are committed to ensuring that every pupil, regardless of starting point, develops the knowledge and skills to become a fluent reader, confident writer and articulate communicator.

We prioritise:

• Early reading and phonics as the gateway to the curriculum,
• Explicit teaching of vocabulary to address disadvantage,
• High-quality texts to develop language, knowledge and cultural capital.

Our curriculum is:

• Ambitious and inclusive – removing barriers so all pupils, including those with SEND, can succeed,
• Knowledge-rich – exposing pupils to a broad canon of high quality, diverse literature,
• Purpose-driven – ensuring writing is meaningful, authentic and rooted in real audiences.

We aim for pupils to:

• Read fluently with understanding and pleasure,
• Write with accuracy, stamina and creativity for a range of purposes,
• Speak confidently and listen attentively in a range of contexts.

Ultimately, we intend that pupils leave primary school secondary ready, with the literacy skills and confidence to thrive academically and socially.

What does English look like?

Each English lesson in key stage 2 follows the same format. Handwriting and spellings are taught for 30 minutes at the beginning of each lesson followed by a short grammar session before the main writing lesson. Handwriting is taught daily and spelling follows a systematic approach. The writing cycle shows a broad genre coverage. Entwined in this are high quality texts for the children to explore. We want children across the federation to ‘think like a writer’ and we provide them with opportunities to write at length and within other subjects, such as Science and History, for example.

• Children are exposed to reading daily.
• Children have three whole class guided reading sessions in KS2 where the focus is on the VIPERs way.

In KS1 they have three guided reading sessions using Little Wandle. They have opportunities to read for pleasure and each classroom has access to high quality looks.

Assessment information

• Formative assessment is integral to daily teaching.
• Half-termly independent writing assessments to evaluate application of skills.
• NFER reading assessments used termly to monitor progress. Grammar and spelling NFERs are used in KS2.
• Phonics assessments (weekly and termly) inform grouping and intervention.

Targets are clearly shared with pupils to support self-regulation and ownership of learning.

	English - Intent, Implementation and Impact	[pdf 149KB]
	English Recommended Reads April May 2026	[pdf 244KB]