“Reading is inhaling.
Writing is exhaling.”Atmaja Bandyopadhyay
Follow the Twitter hashtags #STMEnglish #STMWriting #STMReading to see children in action throughout St Michael’s, from Nursery to Year 6.
English: Intent
At St Michael’s, we are explorers of our own learning.
The English curriculum at St. Michael’s strives to support learners to reach national standards and beyond, whilst instilling a life-long love of learning and preparing them for the next stage of their educational journey. Reading is steeped throughout our Explore Curriculum as we maximise opportunities to delve into books across all subject areas, inspiring children to leave our school with a passion for books and a zest for reading. In pursuit of knowledge, our children acquire rich, aspirational vocabulary which allows them to explore new topics and articulate their learning. Year-on-year, children build on their knowledge and skills through a carefully sequenced, progressive curriculum, enabling them to unlock new learning and explore new concepts.
English is woven throughout our entire curriculum: we teach pupils to speak and write fluently so that they can communicate their ideas and emotions to others, and through their reading and listening, others can communicate with them. Through reading in particular, pupils have a chance to develop culturally, emotionally, intellectually, socially and spiritually. Literature, especially, plays a key role in such development. Reading also enables pupils both to acquire knowledge and to build on what they already know, revisiting prior learning through retrieval practice to ensure key concepts are embedded. All the skills of language are essential to prepare our children to become well-rounded members of society.
We follow Read Write Inc. phonics, where we aim that every child, regardless of their age, background or need, learns to read accurately and fluently and develops a love of reading.
We follow Ready Steady Write as our whole-school approach to teaching writing, intertwined with our own teaching and learning strategy, rooted around Rosenshine’s principles of effective instruction.
We use Reading Eggs and Reading Plus (age/stage dependant) as additional reading resources to develop children’s reading skills.
We use Steps to Read as our chosen approach to the teaching of reading, supported by the Literacy Shed’s Reading VIPERS.
Book Breakfast
Parents/carers were invited along to read a book with their children and have some breakfast before school started. Parents and children got to share a story with each other with some parents/carers reading to their children and some children reading aloud to their parents/carers. What a lovely atmosphere experience to share our love for reading with each other!
Author visit - Fred the Fire-Breathing Dragon by Fay Evans
World Book Day 2023
At St. Michael’s, we fully embrace World Book Day every year. We immerse ourselves into a school-wide text that we read, share and enjoy. This year, our focus text was We Are All Wonders R.J Pacacio.
During World Book Day, children and staff alike dressed up as their favourite book characters, or came into school in pyjamas, ready to curl up with a book. We had ‘Book Buddies’, where we went to other classes and read with different children, had a whole school book swap and a lot of ‘DEAR’ time!
Take a look at our useful tips and ideas to help your child with their reading and writing:
Check out more of our fantastic reading work by following the Twitter hashtag:
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