Curriculum Intent – Reading 

At St. Mary’s, our smallest pupils embark on a reading journey that continues throughout their time here and beyond. It is our intention that they become life-long lovers of reading in all its forms, and that they continue to read widely and often, developing and feeding their imaginations. We also intend that they will have the confidence, skills and knowledge to open up a world of possibilities for them, and that they can access not only the primary curriculum, but are also prepared for secondary education and life in the wider world.  

Evidence suggests that children who read for enjoyment every day not only perform better in reading assessments than those who don’t, but also develop a broader vocabulary, increased general knowledge and a better understanding of other cultures. In fact, there is evidence to suggest that reading for pleasure is more likely to determine whether a child does well at school than their social or economic background. Cressida Cowell (Children’s Laureate 2020-2021) reinforces the importance of reading as a school priority: “Study after study has shown how reading for pleasure is vital for academic success, mental health and even later economic success. By sparking growing imaginations, stimulating critical thinking and helping to develop empathy, reading gives children the very skills they need to succeed at school, at work and in life.” 

Reading is a multi-faceted process that involves:  

• phonemic awareness - the ability to hear, identify, move or change sounds (phonemes) in spoken words 

• phonics - recognising the link between sounds (phonemes) and letters or groups of letters (graphemes) to decode words 

• fluency - the ability to read accurately, quickly and with expression 

• vocabulary -  knowing the meaning of words to help understand what is being read 

• comprehension – understanding and interpreting what has been read 

At St. Mary’s we support our children to become expert readers by developing the key skills of: 

• Clarifying: understanding and explaining what we have read, including new vocabulary 

• Questioning: ensuring we understand and checking others do too 

• Explaining: developing an understanding of deduction and inference 

• Retrieval: using and finding evidence in a text 

• Summarising and sequencing: identifying the main points in a text by recapping prior reading, scanning and using key words 

• Predicting: using the knowledge of what has been read to make predictions about future events or actions in a story 

How will we achieve our Curriculum Intent for Reading? 

At St. Mary’s we prioritise reading by making sure all classrooms have a well-stocked reading area, with a wide variety of books available to children of all reading abilities. These books are rotated regularly in order to maintain excitement, to link to the theme being studied, and to appeal to our pupils’ interests. We have books from a range of genres, and use high quality texts, purchasing new releases and prize-winning titles.  

We promote a love of reading by all staff modelling reading skills, discussing texts they have read with our pupils, and sharing their own love of reading. Teachers read class stories to develop enjoyment of books, and to immerse our children in a world of imagination. We encourage our pupils to share their love of reading and to recommend great reads to their peers. 

Read Write Inc (RWI) is followed in EYFS and KS1. Phonics is taught daily. Children who have progressed beyond the phonics phases move on to develop their fluency and comprehension skills through regular practice and immersion in high-quality texts. Children whose decoding skills are slower to progress (which prevents them from accessing written material) have targeted interventions or may be part of a smaller reading group. This approach may continue into KS2. In-school and take-home reading books are fully matched to individual reading levels and are decodable. The children are encouraged to also take home books that can be shared with an adult, and that can be read to them, to encourage a love of reading. 

We hear our children read regularly, either individually or as part of a small focus group. 

Our learning opportunities incorporate a range of fiction and non-fiction texts and poetry to expose our children to the widest possible variety of genres and authors. During our whole class reading lessons (which often form part of our English, History and Geography and Science lessons) we allow time for our pupils to discuss and make sense of what they have read, and to build on their knowledge and understanding. 

We celebrate World Book Day each year, organise author visits, and participate in online workshops and reading sessions. We have a regular subscription to ‘First News’. Our Libraries have recently been refurbished, and we continually update and refresh our selection of books. 

Curriculum Intent – Writing 

At St Mary’s, we aim to help our children develop into articulate and imaginative communicators, who are well-equipped with the skills they need to become life-long learners. Confidence and enjoyment in writing are key to this. We aim to ensure all of our children develop a genuine love of language and the written word, through a text-based approach, and we choose a wide and rich variety of books to engage and inspire.  

Careful links are made across the curriculum to ensure that our children’s writing opportunities are relevant and meaningful. We link texts to match our themes, be that History/Geography, Science, or Creative Arts. We want our children to develop an understanding of how widely writing is used in everyday life and, therefore, how important and useful the skills that they are learning are.  

Our intentions in writing are for children to: 

• Write clearly, accurately and coherently 

• Write creatively and imaginatively 

• Communicate their knowledge, ideas and emotions, and see writing as a form of self-expression 

• Write for a purpose 

• Consider their audience, and adapt their language and style to suit this 

• Take ownership of their writing  

• See writing as an interesting and enjoyable process  

• Acquire the ability to organise and plan their written work 

• See themselves as real writers  

• Understand the effect of their words on their reader 

How will we achieve our Curriculum Intent for Writing? 

Our children begin their writing journey with mark-making in EYFS, and the development of fine motor skills is supported with activities such as ‘Playdoh Disco’ and ‘Write Dance’. Equipment to help this is readily available, and our youngest children are encouraged to practise cutting, using tweezers and playing with small objects such as marbles and small Lego pieces. As our children progress through the stages of Read Write Inc (RWI), dedicated time each day is given to the practice of writing, pencil grip, and letter formation. Writing matches the sounds covered in daily phonics lesson. Children practise ‘holding’ and ‘building’ a sentence and then go on to create a short composition based on a book in ‘Drawing Club’. 

Once our children move on from the early stages of the RWI Scheme of Learning, handwriting, spelling (using the RWI scheme) and grammar continue to be taught regularly. Grammar lessons are taught as an integral part of the writing process.  

During our English lessons, our children will acquire the skills to plan, draft and refine their written work, eventually leading to independence in being able to identify areas for improvement, to edit and ‘polish’ their work.  

We follow the ‘I am a Clever Writer’ approach. We ensure a range of genres, audiences and purposes are covered throughout each year, and from one class to the next. 

The key elements of writing are explored through different text types appropriate to the age and ability of the child, which are often relevant to the overarching theme.  

• Composition: Children are taught the conventions of different genres, and how to write cohesively within a range of text types. 

• Transcription: Children are taught to write legibly and with increasingly accurate spelling. 

• Planning: Looking at real texts, children are taught different features of types of text and how to plan both orally and in writing.  

• Vocabulary: Using awareness of the reader, children are taught to use a range of adventurous language, taking register and context into consideration. 

• Grammar: Children are taught the rules and ‘building blocks’ of our language to construct sentences which are grammatically correct.  

• Punctuation: Children are taught to use accurate and increasingly higher level punctuation, including punctuation which creates a specific effect. 

• Literary devices: Children are taught how to use a range of devices (metaphor/ simile/ personification/ alliteration/ assonance/ rhetorical questions/ onomatopoeia/ ‘show not tell’, / flashback/ foreshadowing/ repetition/ Power of 3) and how they can change and enhance the ‘mood’ of a piece of writing.  

• Spelling: In accordance with their age and ability, children are taught different spelling strategies to improve their writing.  

• Handwriting: Children are taught to form letters correctly. 

In Writing, by the end of EYFS most children will be able to write recognisable letters, most of which are correctly formed. They will be able to spell words by identifying sounds in them and representing the sounds with a letter or letters. They will also write simple phrases and sentences that can be read by others. Children will show good control and co-ordination in their fine motor skills. They will handle equipment and tools effectively, including pencils for writing.  

By the end of Key Stage 1, most children will be able to write narratives, both real and fictional. Children will write using past and present tense, mostly correctly and consistently. Children will demarcate sentences using capital letters, full stops and question marks, mostly accurately. Children will spell most common exception words correctly. Handwriting will show consistency in letter sizing.  

By the end of Key Stage 2 most children will be able to write for a range of purposes and audiences showing increasing manipulation of sentence structures. They will be able to use a range of devices to build cohesion within and across paragraphs. They will select and use grammatical structures that reflect the requirements of a particular piece of writing. They will use a range of punctuation and maintain tense throughout a piece of writing. They will spell most words correctly or will be able to use resources quickly and efficiently in order to support spelling. 

Most of all, when our children leave us, we hope that each and every one will feel that they are a ‘writer’, and that they have the ability to move people with their words. 

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