English

Progression in Reading Progression in Oracy

Intent

St. Gabriel’s English curriculum aims to foster a shared love of language by creating meaningful experiences using and responding to quality texts to ensure that children view reading, writing, grammar, speaking and listening as fundamental and interconnected expressions of human communication. We carefully select the texts we use to drive our curriculum ensuring that they offer a mirror for our children to see themselves reflected but also act as windows; allowing them to develop their broader understanding of the world and further their cultural capital.

Our English curriculum ensures all children are fluent, confident decoders and comprehending readers; catalysing their academic success. We also seek to ensure all children are imaginative, eloquent and skilful writers whose broad vocabulary and creative flair enable them to craft purposeful texts. Through opportunities for drama, debate and discussion, we support children in becoming confident, articulate speakers and responsive, analytical listeners; empowering them to communicate in tomorrow’s global world.

Implementation

Writing

Our Writing curriculum is developed around Literacy Count's Ready Steady Write units of learning.

At the heart of our Writing curriculum is a carefully chosen range of high-quality texts. Each text provides meaningful opportunities for pupils to:

Develop their understanding of grammar and punctuation and apply these skills across the wider curriculum through focused sentence accuracy lessons.
Explore the structure and characteristics of a variety of writing genres, considering their purpose and intended audience.
Plan, draft and produce extended pieces of writing within a clear context and for a specific purpose, before evaluating, editing and refining their work to improve its effectiveness.

Building upon these foundations, we teach Writing through a range of evidence-informed strategies that support children in becoming confident and successful writers:

Group Discussion

Pupils engage in purposeful discussions in both small groups and whole-class settings. They are encouraged to share, challenge and develop ideas collaboratively while listening respectfully to others and responding to feedback to enhance their own understanding and explanations.

Partner Talk

Working with a partner enables pupils to verbalise and refine their ideas before writing. Through discussion, they deepen their understanding of texts and develop confidence in expressing their thoughts and opinions.

Questioning

Teachers use a variety of questioning techniques to assess understanding, extend thinking and deepen learning, ensuring that all pupils are appropriately supported and challenged.

Modelled Writing

Teachers explicitly model the writing and editing process, demonstrating high expectations and effective writing techniques. Through ‘thinking aloud’, they make the writing process visible, helping pupils understand how ideas are developed, organised and refined while exposing them to rich and varied vocabulary. This takes place daily through sentence accuracy lessons.

Shared Writing

Teachers and pupils work together to create shared pieces of writing, drawing upon children’s ideas and contributions. This allows pupils to observe the writing process in action whilst fostering a sense of pride and ownership in the finished outcome.

Editing and Improving

Regular opportunities are provided for pupils to review, edit and improve both their own work and that of their peers, developing independence and a strong understanding of the writing process.

Working Walls

Working walls are regularly updated by both teachers and pupils throughout each unit of learning. They celebrate progress, capture key knowledge and provide a valuable reference point to support learning and independence.

Handwriting is taught through direct, explicit instruction, with children learning letter formation, joins and presentation skills in small, manageable steps. We follow the Ready Steady Handwrite programme from EYFS to Year 6. Lessons include regular opportunities to practise and apply handwriting skills, helping children build confidence, accuracy and fluency. Children are taught correct posture, pencil grip and paper positioning to develop comfortable and effective writing habits.

Handwriting progress is monitored through ongoing assessment and across all areas of the curriculum. We encourage pupils to take pride in the presentation of their work and to apply their handwriting skills consistently in every subject.

Spelling is taught through the Ready Steady Spell programme, which provides a clear, structured progression from Year 2 to Year 6 and covers all National Curriculum expectations. Each lesson follows a consistent four-part structure: Revisit/Revise, Teach, Practise and Apply. Children learn spelling rules and patterns, develop strategies for remembering words and apply their spelling knowledge in their writing.

Regular assessment, including weekly reviews and dedicated assessment points, helps teachers monitor progress and identify any pupils who may need additional support. Key spelling objectives are revisited throughout the year to help children retain and embed their learning.

Reading

In Reading lessons, children are supported to read challenging texts in extract form, allowing them to develop their decoding, fluency and comprehension skills. Reading lessons are underpinned by our Active Reading Skills, which form the core of the taught curriculum and help pupils develop the strategies needed to become confident, independent readers. Through regular engagement with carefully selected, high-quality texts, children naturally strengthen their understanding of the reading content domains while developing fluency, broadening vocabulary and deepening comprehension. Reading lessons promote a rich understanding of texts, build reading stamina and foster a lifelong enjoyment of reading. Through the careful selection of high-quality texts, we ensure that our reading provision fully reflects the DfE's expectations around fluency, support for children who find reading challenging and the promotion of reading for pleasure. We curate book collections which enable children to develop fluency, recognising the importance of practice in school and at home to help pupils bridge the gap between decoding and comprehension.

Each class enjoys daily story time, with high-quality texts carefully selected to engage pupils emotionally, broaden their experiences of literature and foster a love of reading.

Alongside the main school library, which sits at the heart of our school and is visited regularly by all children, each classroom has a well-stocked class library where high-quality texts are displayed, spotlighted and celebrated. Children regularly borrow books from both the school and class libraries to share and enjoy at home, helping to foster reading for pleasure beyond the classroom.

To further support children's reading development, pupils also take home books that are carefully matched to their individual phonics or fluency needs. This ensures that those who still require decoding support have access to texts that reinforce systematic synthetic phonics, while enabling all children to experience success, build confidence and progress as readers.

All books are tracked through Little Library, an online platform that allows children to scan, review and recommend the books they read. The system enables teachers to monitor reading journeys, celebrate reading achievements and gain valuable insight into children's reading preferences, helping to inform future book purchases, recommendations and reading provision. By giving pupils opportunities to review, discuss and recommend books, the platform helps to strengthen our reading culture and promotes reading for pleasure.

We are committed to fostering a culture of reading for pleasure through rich, inviting reading environments and access to a diverse range of high-quality, engaging literature. Books are carefully selected to reflect a wide range of authors, themes, cultures and experiences, enabling all children to see themselves in the texts they read whilst also broadening their understanding of the world around them. Regular reading events, celebrations and initiatives help to raise the profile of reading across school, while author visits provide inspiring opportunities for children to engage with writers, gain insight into the creative process and develop a deeper appreciation of literature. Together, these experiences help to nurture enthusiastic, lifelong readers who read for both enjoyment and purpose.

Impact

Our pupils love reading and writing. They are able to talk about their favourite authors and books they have enjoyed as a class and independently. Because of this love and skilful teaching, our pupils achieve well; exceeding National expectations. Three times a year, children are formally assessed in both Reading and Writing with their attainment moderated by subject leaders. Teachers also regularly assess their children’s attainment in reading through using a bench marking tool to ensure that the texts they are reading at home are carefully matched to their skill level.

Within lessons, assessment for learning strategies are employed to enable teachers to identify the strength of understanding of the children. Teachers use this information to make adaptations to their planning to meet the needs of the children. Teachers may also change the focus of learning during a lesson to ensure children are supported and challenged. Verbal feedback and written feedback is used to support children in understanding more about their progress. School leaders monitor pupil’s books termly and children’s views and understanding are ascertained through pupil surveys which are compared against national data.