Do you have a child starting Nursery or Reception in September 2025? We would like to invite you to a Stay & Play session at our fantastic school!

English

Writing

Our aim at St Michael’s is to develop independent writers who can use their skills learnt in English lessons across all areas of the curriculum.

The writing curriculum is designed to provide a broad and balanced education that meets the needs of all children. It provides opportunities for children to develop as independent, confident and successful writers, with high aspirations, who know how to make a positive contribution to their community and the wider society.  

Our intent is for all pupils – irrespective of their needs, abilities or background – to learn to write fluently, developing their own writer’s voice.  We aim to meet, and where possible exceed, the expectations laid out in the Early Learning Goals and National Curriculum, with pupils progressing appropriately across school. We recognise that spoken language underpins the development of Writing. The quality of language that pupils hear and speak is vital for developing their vocabulary and grammar and their understanding Writing.  We believe that children need to develop a secure knowledge-base in Literacy, which follows a clear pathway of progression as they advance through the primary curriculum. We believe that a secure basis in literacy skills is crucial to a high quality education and will give our children the tools they need to participate fully as a member of society.  

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We cultivate a love of Writing and communicating through vocabulary rich and high quality literature, using Ready Steady Write by Literacy Counts. By inspiring and developing an appreciation of our rich and varied literary heritage and providing meaningful and exciting provocations to write,  we develop a habit of writing widely and often. We recognise the importance of nurturing a culture where children take pride in their Writing; can write clearly and accurately and adapt their language and style for a range of contexts. 

Handwriting

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At St Michael’s we are very proud of our pupil’s handwriting and take particular care in our handwriting style. We use Letter-join’s online handwriting resource and lesson planners as the basis of our handwriting policy as it covers all the requirements of the National Curriculum.

Spelling

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The children bring home weekly spellings to practise at home. These can be practised using pen and paper or they can also practise them on Spelling Shed.

Reading

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To teach reading, we use the Ready Steady Comprehension scheme. This is a programme of teaching units for whole class shared reading that covers all aspects of word reading and comprehension. Based on high-quality, vocabulary-rich texts, the themed units of work are carefully mapped to the National Curriculum and work together to ensure that the entire curriculum for reading is covered.

If you have any further questions regarding this subject, please speak to Miss King, Mr Immanuel or Miss Lilly who form our English team.