At Roseberry Primary and Nursery, we believe an excellent English curriculum is at the heart of everything we do. Not only are the acquisition of reading, writing and spoken language skills crucial to this subject, they underpin everything else children learn at Roseberry. In order for children to seek out interests and passions they have about the world, they must first have a secure basis of understanding of the English language. This should be regardless of ability; all children should have access to a high quality curriculum.
The national curriculum states that:
The overarching aim for English in the national curriculum is to promote high standards of language and literacy by equipping pupils with a strong command of the spoken and written word, and to develop their love of literature through widespread reading for enjoyment. The national curriculum for English aims to ensure that all pupils:
- read easily, fluently and with good understanding
- develop the habit of reading widely and often, for both pleasure and information
- acquire a wide vocabulary, an understanding of grammar and knowledge of linguistic conventions for reading, writing and spoken language
- appreciate our rich and varied literary heritage
- write clearly, accurately and coherently, adapting their language and style in and for a range of contexts, purposes and audiences
- use discussion in order to learn; they should be able to elaborate and explain clearly their understanding and ideas
- are competent in the arts of speaking and listening, making formal presentations, demonstrating to others and participating in debate.
We want all children to be passionate about what they read, excited to find out more and be able to assimilate the knowledge they gain from reading to their existing understanding about the world. In relation to our curriculum foundation, ‘Our place in the world’, children at Roseberry deserve to see themselves in the books they read whilst also being exposed to wider cultures, ethnicities, families and experiences, in turn promoting inclusivity and broadening horizons for our local community. We do this by providing children with a coherent range of classic and modern literature, poetry, the latest news articles and quality non-fiction texts. We seek to broaden children’s horizons through the texts we choose and the discussions we hold in class.
We aim to develop confident writers in our children who are capable of writing for a purpose, thus seeing the value of putting pen to paper. Writing at Roseberry always has an exciting stimulus, whether this is a high-quality class text, a topical local or worldly issue or a cross-curricular focus. Children are given the opportunity to write at length and utilise skills in different contexts, in order to practise their writing style. They are encouraged to choose ambitious vocabulary for their own writing, from what has been modelled throughout a writing cycle or adapted from what they have read.
