English

At St. Lawrence we believe that the exciting and engaging English curriculum we provide gives all our children the key literacy skills they will need to succeed in life.

We attach great importance upon enabling all children to develop into fluent and confident readers who love books.  To support this idea, we expose the children to a wide range of reading materials, both factual and fiction in our school library, reading shed and in every classroom. Sharing these high quality texts has helped us to create a culture of reading for pleasure across the school; this is also aided by our school reading guinea pigs: Podkin and Wonder, who love to listen to St Lawrence children read!  Learning to read is one of the most important things your child will achieve at our school so we are passionate about making sure that every single child learns to read well while also enjoying numerous stories, poems and information books that have been chosen to inspire and enthuse.  In Key Stage 1, we use Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised to teach phonics. Children have books that are carefully matched to the phonemes they are learning and practise reading these in class before taking them home (an "I Read" book). Children also have a book from the library (a "You Read" book that they can enjoy sharing with an adult) ensuring a range of fiction and non-fiction for children to choose from. Our class Book Talk sessions also further the children’s understanding of texts by developing their knowledge and curiosity through discussion, shared reading and written tasks.

Our writing curriculum is also enhanced through the use of quality texts that have been selected due to their relevance to our curriculum and also to the children’s interests. In this way, our children are taught to write in a variety of styles and for a variety of purposes that are both meaningful to them and exciting.  Our writing lessons not only promote a love for reading and writing but also develop the children’s imagination and creativity alongside their speaking and listening skills through our emphasis on drama to explore each writing outcome.  We use high-quality models and class discussion to explore and promote the correct use of spelling, punctuation and grammar so the children have a clear idea about how these elements can impact on their writing choices. We have the highest expectations of all our children and often use writing as a way for the children to publish their work in a range of innovative and well-presented ways that they are proud of and can share with others.

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