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.  

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

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

At St Michael’s we believe that all our children can become fluent, confident and competent spellers. We encourage our pupils to think and write creatively, be adventurous with their use of language and to write with clear purpose and for pleasure. In order to achieve these aims, it is essential that our pupils develop the knowledge and skills required to spell accurately. We want our pupils to be equipped with both the understanding and a range of strategies for learning spelling, and to be able to apply these strategies effectively when spelling words in their writing. 

To ensure this happens, we use the Ready Steady Spell resource. This is a systematic spelling programme that covers all National Curriculum objectives in a cyclical and structured way. 

The progression document systematically develops children’s understanding of morphological and phonological spelling knowledge and rules, as appropriate to their stage of learning. It builds on prior knowledge in an incremental and structured manner as pupils move through the school. Children are also taught a range of engaging and interactive strategies to support the recall of spellings and to help embed them into their long-term working memory. 

Ready Steady Spell further supports transition into Year 6 through the use of spelling journals, encouraging pupils to identify their own misspellings and by explicitly teaching editing skills during the second term of Year 6. 

In Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) and Year 2, children at St Michael’s will learn to spell through the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised systematic synthetic phonics programme. This approach is grounded in robust research which demonstrates that systematic synthetic phonics is the most effective method for teaching early reading and spelling, particularly supporting children’s ability to decode words and secure their understanding of phonemes and graphemes.

In Year 2, the Little Wandle Spelling Programme continues to build upon these foundations by providing structured and progressive lessons that ensure children develop confidence and fluency in their spelling. This systematic approach ensures that, by the end of Year 2, all pupils are well-prepared for the spelling demands of Key Stage 2, having developed secure strategies and a deep understanding of the spelling patterns and rules introduced through Little Wandle. 

Reading

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.