English

Our vision for teaching English

The overarching principle for the English curriculum at The Blue School is to install a love of reading, writing and discussion in all children, allowing them to excel and prepare for life as successful and socially responsible citizens.

Our English curriculum is a celebration of the diversity of our school community through our choice of books and authors that are readily available for children to read as well as our topics and creative and enrichment opportunities. Our texts are chosen carefully to ensure that they are challenging, engaging and inspirational. We nurture a culture where children take pride in their writing and can write clearly, imaginatively and accurately, adapting their language and style for a range of audiences and purposes.

We inspire our children to be confident in the art of speaking and listening through pupil voice and discussion enabling them to communicate and further their ideas and learning across the curriculum.

Our English curriculum is progressive and promotes the academic, social and spiritual development of every child to help them prepare for life as successful and socially responsible citizens in secondary and school beyond.

Reading

At The Blue School, we are a community of readers. We provide our children with the opportunity to read rich and varied texts, enabling them to become critical and resourceful readers with a genuine love for literature.

We teach our children to read fluently, with understanding and for enjoyment. Our reading programme ensures that children are taught to use a range of strategies, e.g., phonics, word recognition and the use of context to help them make sense of what they read.

We believe it is essential for children to read as wide a range of literature as possible therefore all of our children are provided with age appropriate, challenging texts and the opportunity to choose what they want to read enabling them to be active participants in their reading journey.

Reading Skills Progression Map

What is Read Write Inc?

Read Write Inc (RWI) is a consistent, rigorous and dynamic literacy programme to teach EVERY child to read by the age of six. Using synthetic phonics, children quickly learn to blend letter sounds together following a fun and effective programme.

Writing

Our writing curriculum is designed to provide a broad and balanced education that meets the needs of all children. We follow the award-winning Ready Steady Write from Literacy Counts to develop confident, independent and successful writers with high aspirations.

Our writing curriculum is research-informed and impact-proven, carefully designed to support all children to master the foundational skills and write for a clear audience and purpose. Through the use of high-quality, vocabulary-rich texts, we provide exciting and meaningful reasons to write. Children are immersed in literature and taught to craft their writing with precision, using a range of pedagogical approaches, including sentence accuracy, modelled writing and shared writing, as well as regular opportunities for editing.

We value spoken language as a foundation for writing. Through structured talk, drama and vocabulary exploration, children learn how to organise and express their ideas clearly before writing them down. Our aim is for every child – regardless of need – to write fluently and take pride in their work. We want our pupils to leave primary school as enthusiastic writers, ready for the next stage of their education.

Writing Progression Map Final Sept 2025

Oracy

All children deserve to have their voice heard and at The Blue School; we recognise the importance of oracy in developing children’s academic and social development.

We encourage and help children to speak clearly, confidently and with expression in order to communicate ideas and feelings and to listen to others and respond appropriately. Children are provided with opportunities in all areas of the curriculum to develop skills in spoken language, including through discussion, drama and role play.

Children in EYFS are taught Communication and Language through activities planned according to the Early Years Foundation Stage Profile and Development Matters guidance. Our oracy progression map highlights particular focus skills for each year group which are built upon throughout each half term and then recapped and extended during every school year.

Oracy Progression Map.docx