St. Thomas More English Curriculum Intent

We aim for or all children to confidently and expressively use English in their everyday life. Children will be able to read, write, speak and listen with increasing fluency, prosody and resilience to enable them to access all areas of the curriculum and to engage fully in wider society.

English is taught progressively throughout school, introducing and using high quality literature at the heart of the curriculum to help children to develop an understanding and appreciation of the wider world. The reading spine we use is carefully balanced to ensure a range of book genres with diverse places and people within them as well as incorporating both new and classic literature. A range of extracts linked to core texts are also integral to the reading lessons at St Thomas More which increase the background knowledge of the children allowing them to draw upon previous learning and understanding.  Throughout all areas of the curriculum, we constantly expose children to high-level vocabulary and the etymology and morphology of words is explored in order for children to gain a deeper understanding of words. 

Reading is taught initially through our Sounds Write curriculum in EYFS and KS1 and into KS2 if further support is needed. This is a Systematic Synthetic Phonics (SSP) programme developed to meet all children’s needs. A high number of our staff are trained to deliver the programme which is taught daily to a whole class, with targeted intervention sessions used as appropriate. 

From early years fine and gross motor skills are a priority in school before practising pencil grip and letter formation. These skills are developed through the Kinetic Letter handwriting approach. Within the writing, we focus on composition and technical skills throughout all lessons, these skills are linked to the genre of writing in a systematic and progressive way throughout the key stages. Children then have the chance to embed all skills and knowledge learnt to produce an independent and extended piece of writing allowing children to synthesise information with writing skills to create their own ideas and choice of words. They will develop confident and accurate writing, incorporating ever-improving grammatical choices, correct spelling, and expressive language. Their reading, writing, speaking and listening skills will enable them to take an independent and active role in society as well as achieving academic success. 

They will see their English skills as a set of tools for life in a busy, modern society, where the sky is the limit!