“Language is the blood of the soul into which thoughts run and out of which they grow.” - Oliver Wendell Holmes
We aim for all of our children to access and meet the demands of a mastery curriculum whilst enjoying an enriched, broad curriculum, building solid social relationships and developing life-long skills which will enable them to be confident communicators in the workplace and equip them with the cultural capital they need to succeed. We make cross curricular links where appropriate and the impact of our curriculum and practice is measured and reviewed as required.
Our curriculum provides a rich literacy link with opportunities for reading, writing, speaking and listening across all subjects. We expect the same exacting standards from ourselves and from our children across the curriculum. This includes presentation, grammar, punctuation and spelling. We place a high emphasis on oracy and articulation and use choral poetry performances as a vehicle to develop confidence and clarity of public speaking.
We aim for all children to develop a lifelong passion for reading, writing and language. Children are exposed to a wide range of high quality texts as a whole class and as individuals. They have access to a thriving library that is regularly updated with new books, termly ‘ten a term’ reading lists and 50 Club aspirational reads. Our School librarians care for and organise their library as well as sharing recommended reads and authors. Weekly whole-class library sessions are timetabled and ensure that children’s time to read for pleasure, discover new books and engage in book talk is ongoing and regular. Adults read daily to children from class novels and model the enjoyment and engagement that comes with a love of reading. As writers, we aim for our children to express their creativity, develop a wide ranging, ambitious vocabulary and engage completely with the writing process. Writing is a collaborative process and ideas, thoughts and quality work are shared regularly; Growth Mindset and a willingness to improve underpins this and adults regularly model a willingness to change, adapt and improve their own writing.