English

St Ambrose RC Primary School - English Curriculum Intent

“Jesus replied, ‘Scripture says: Human beings live not on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”

(Matthew 4:4)

At St Ambrose, we reflect the National Curriculum aims to:

To have a high-quality education that will teach children to speak, write, listen and read fluently so that they can communicate their ideas and emotions to others, Reading allows pupils to develop in a cultural, emotional, intellectual, social and spiritual way.
Children acquire knowledge to build on what they have already learnt.
All English language skills are essential to participating fully as members of society.

In this subject:

We recognise that a good grasp of English allows children to access the whole curriculum. We believe that it is important that a love of literature will continue to strive when the pupils leave school.

At St Ambrose, we aim to spread the Word of God. We teach children to read, write, and speak well, as these are the skills they will need to make Christ known to the world. We have high expectations for all children’s English ability that we will enable them with skills that will allow them to communicate and express themselves in an ever-changing society.

At St Ambrose we aim to promote high standards of language and literacy by equipping pupils with a strong command of the spoken and written word, and to develop their love of literature through widespread reading for enjoyment.

In English, we create opportunities for work to be celebrated, for example, publishing writing, sharing with other classes, and writing to different people and organisations. Staff are reading role models who actively promote reading for pleasure, ultimately helping students to become lifelong readers. Through reading a range of high-quality texts with relevant themes, we teach children about social injustice and how it can be overcome. We teach children to be respectful and effective communicators.

Communication skills are taught throughout the whole school curriculum, especially in English, through high-quality texts and themes for writing. In all areas, speaking and listening are key. Early reading led by structured synthetic phonics and reading for pleasure are integral to promoting high expectations and standards across the school.

We measure the impact of the English curriculum over time by assessing how much knowledge, skills and vocabulary have been acquired and retained. To inform these judgements, teachers use regular retrieval practices, knowledge organisers, pre and post-assessment tasks, marking and pupil discussion opportunities.

In God's family, we grow and learn in love, hope and faith.