English

Welcome to our English page! Miss Grieve is the English Lead in school and is supported by Mrs Dowd (Deputy Headteacher) and Mrs Goodwin (Phonics Lead). 

English: Reading

Reading Intent Statement

At St Theresa’s, we value reading as a key life skill and are dedicated to enabling our pupils to become lifelong readers. We believe reading is key for academic success and by the end of their time in our school, our ambition is that all children will be able to read fluently, and with confidence, in preparation for their secondary school education and beyond.

We want our children to develop a real love of reading, a good knowledge of a range of authors and be able to understand more about the world in which they live, through the knowledge they gain from books. We intend for them to develop such an enjoyment for reading that they leave as avid readers choosing to read for pleasure and to read to learn. Most importantly, we do not put ceilings on what pupils can achieve in reading and we do not hold pre-conceptions about any child’s ability to make progress.

It is our intention that St Theresa’s is a school which is built on books because we place reading at the heart of everything. We intend that reading will not only strengthen the core knowledge rooted with our writing and wider curriculums but will also play an important role in educating the whole child emotionally, culturally, socially and spiritually.

Early Reading and Phonics

At St Theresa’s, the development of early reading is a key priority, and we recognise that strong phonics teaching is essential in helping children become confident, fluent readers. We follow the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised programme, a government-approved systematic synthetic phonics scheme, which provides a clear and structured approach to the teaching of phonics. Through daily lessons, children are taught to decode, blend and read with increasing confidence, using books that are closely matched to their phonic knowledge. This ensures that all pupils are well supported as they build the foundations for a lifelong love of reading.

Please look at our dedicated phonics page on the website to find out more information about the teaching of phonics at St Theresa's. 

Children are encouraged to read at home every day.  Little and often is the key.  There is a section in the home/school diary for recording daily reading. There is a section at the rear of the diary that gives parents/carers advice and guidance on how to support their child in developing reading at home. We also have access to a virtual library which parents/carers can access here: 

Virtual Library Resource

World Book Day Celebrations

This year, we gave the children the theme of dressing up as a word. We were blown away by their costumes and how creative they were! Well done everyone at St Theresa's! 

English: Writing

Writing Intent Statement

At St Theresa’s, we are passionate about developing a love of writing and believe that every child should see themselves as a writer. Our writing curriculum is shaped by the principles of The Writing for Pleasure Centre, placing enjoyment, creativity and purpose at the heart of all writing. We ensure that each unit of work has a clear focus on genre, audience and purpose, giving children meaningful reasons to write and opportunities to write for real-life contexts. Through this, pupils develop the knowledge, skills and confidence to express themselves effectively across a range of forms. Our aim is to equip children with the technical skills of writing, alongside the ability to craft, edit and improve their work, so they can communicate with clarity and creativity. By fostering a positive writing culture, we prepare our pupils to become confident, independent writers who are ready for the next stage of their education and beyond.

Writing Progression Document 

Our teaching and learning staff use a 'Writing Progression Document' to identify the variety of genres that should be covered in their year group. It further identifies the learning outcomes for each genre for their year group. The document identifies the spelling, punctuation and grammar elements that are covered within each year group. 

Termly Assessment 

Assessment in writing is ongoing as teachers carry out in-depth assessment of children’s writing at the end of each term, and identify the age-related outcomes that have been achieved. Each young person has an assessment document in the front of their books. At the end of the academic year, teachers use their previous assessments across the terms and their professional judgement to tick whether a learning outcome has been achieved overall.

Genre Coverage 

As a school, we ensure that a wide selection of genres are covered in the appropriate year groups. Our teachers have a ‘Writing Progression Document’ which identifies the expected genre coverage for their year group.

Year 6 Writing

World Book Day Celebrations.

We had a wonderful afternoon starting with an assembly to celebrate books and the love of reading and then parents/grandparents came to read stories as a family while our Year 6 children served hot chocolate. We were overwhelmed with the number of adults that attended this event. Thank you everyone for making our World Book Day so special!

March 4th 2022 World Book Day

We celebrated World Book Day today and it was amazing to see the children dressed up as their favourite book characters. Miss Mulkeen led the assemblies and it was a joy to hear the children enthusiastically and eloquently talk about their favourite books. They also paraded their costumes with a twirl and a bow, and two children from each class were awarded a book prize for their imaginative costumes. It was very difficult to choose the winners, but luckily everyone has a book voucher to spend, so all our children are winners!