St Clement's Catholic Primary School

Our starting point for teaching and learning in English at St Clement’s Catholic Primary School is the National Curriculum. This is the basis for all planning and teaching. At St Clement’s we use the ‘Read to Write’ and ‘Steps to Read’ programme of work (from Literacy Counts) which empowers our teachers to provide high quality teaching of reading and writing through a broad range of high quality literature.

At St Clement’s Catholic Primary School, we aim to promote high standards of language and literacy by equipping children with a strong command of the spoken and written word. Spoken language underpins the development of reading and writing. The quality and variety of language that pupils hear and speak are vital for developing their vocabulary, grammar and understanding.

Our intent is to provide all pupils with a high-quality education in English, that will teach them to speak, read and write fluently so that they can communicate their ideas and emotions to others effectively.

At St Clement’s Catholic Primary School we promote a strong love of reading, ensuring every child becomes a reader and has access to a wide range of texts. As our children become more independent with their reading, they have access to a wide range of books with a rich vocabulary. Children have opportunities to read for pleasure and take part in structured, shared reading sessions in ‘Steps to Read,’ where children investigate the techniques of the writer. This enables our children to make strong links between reading and writing.

Our aim is to develop a whole school love of reading, making every child at St Clement’s a reader and developing a love of books. It is our intention to ensure that, by the end of their primary education, all of our children are able to read fluently, and with confidence, in any subject in their forthcoming secondary education, as well as having a personal enjoyment of reading.

Our aim is for your child to develop a love of reading as well as recognise the vital role that reading takes in all of their learning.  All children in Early Years and Key Stage 1 receive daily phonics lessons in ability groups based on the Letters and Sounds scheme of work. This provides a synthetic and systematic approach to the teaching of phonics and supports both the development of children’s reading and writing skills.