English Intent
The intent for English at St Margaret Clitherow is to develop a love of Spoken Word, Reading and Writing in all our pupils through a broad and balanced programme of learning. We intend to create passionate, competent readers and writers who are eager to learn through an integrated approach to the teaching of English. Our intent for our English curriculum is to promote a shared love and understanding of English for all. We strive to make our curriculum engaging and accessible so that our pupils leave us with a passion for reading and writing, and can apply these skills in everything they choose to do.
Writing Intent
Our Vision
At our school, we strive to develop enthusiastic, confident, and reflective writers who combine imaginative ideas with strong technical control. We believe writing is both a creative and disciplined process. Through rich texts, purposeful discussion, and explicit teaching of sentence construction and grammar, our pupils learn to communicate clearly, accurately, and with impact.
Our aim is that every child leaves our school able to write with fluency, precision, and pride across a wide range of genres and purposes.
Our Writing Principles
We aim to ensure that every child:
- Develops a love of writing and confidence in expressing ideas
- Draws inspiration from high-quality books and model texts
- Understands and applies accurate sentence construction
- Uses grammar and punctuation purposefully and effectively
- Writes with clear structure appropriate to genre and audience
- Edits and improves their work independently
- Uses spoken language to rehearse, refine, and strengthen ideas
Writing is taught as a craft: ideas are nurtured, modelled, practised, and refined.
Curriculum Overview
Our writing curriculum is carefully sequenced to ensure progression in transcription, composition, grammar, and authorial craft from Early Years through to the end of primary school. Books are at the heart of our writing curriculum as each unit of learning is built around a carefully chosen text that provides:
- Rich language and strong narrative structure
- Clear examples of genre features
- Opportunities for discussion and analysis
- Inspiration for imaginative outcomes
Pupils are immersed in stories, exploring characters, themes, and language choices before crafting their own writing influenced by these models.
A significant focus of our curriculum is developing accurate and purposeful sentence writing. Children practise constructing, combining, and refining sentences daily. Secure sentence-level accuracy forms the foundation for confident extended writing.
We recognise that strong writing begins with strong talk, therefore we provide numerous opportunities to allow pupils to explore ideas deeply, experiment with vocabulary, and refine their thinking before writing independently. Writing is then carefully scaffolded to build independence and confidence through Shared Writing, Guided Practice and moving towards Independent Writing. This gradual release approach ensures pupils understand both the craft and the expectations of high-quality writing.
Writing Culture
We foster a culture where writing is valued, celebrated, and purposeful.
- Writing is displayed proudly across the school
- Drafting and editing are seen as positive and essential
- Success is celebrated through publishing opportunities
- Vocabulary is collected, shared, and applied across subjects
We encourage pupils to see themselves as authors — individuals whose ideas matter and whose words have impact.
Reading Intent
Our Vision
At our school, we are committed to developing passionate, confident, and thoughtful readers. We believe that reading opens doors to knowledge, imagination, empathy, and opportunity. Our curriculum is designed to nurture a lifelong love of reading while equipping pupils with the vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension skills needed to succeed across all subjects
Reading Spine
Our Reading Principles
We aim to ensure that every child:
- Develops a genuine enjoyment of reading
- Reads widely and often, across a rich range of genres and text types
- Builds a broad and ambitious vocabulary
- Reads fluently, accurately, and with expression
- Applies inference and comprehension strategies confidently
- Discusses and evaluates texts thoughtfully
- Makes meaningful connections between texts and the wider world
Curriculum Overview
Our reading curriculum is carefully sequenced from Early Years Phonics teaching where children are supported to become accurate, automatic readers, enabling them to focus on meaning and enjoyment through to Whole Class Reading Lessons using Reading Fluency and Inference Strategies from Year 2 until the end of primary school to ensure progression in skills, knowledge, and confidence where children are taught to justify their ideas with evidence, building confidence in discussion and written responses.
Pupils engage with a broad and balanced texts which are carefully selected to challenge, inspire and reflect a wide range of experiences and cultures. An important part of our teaching of reading is collecting, exploring, finding meaning and applying ambitious vocabulary we have discovered in texts in both discussion and writing.
Reading Progression
Reading Culture
We foster a vibrant reading culture through:
- Daily story time and class novels
- Well-stocked, inviting reading spaces
- Reading challenges and celebrations
- Strong home–school reading partnerships
We believe that reading should be visible, valued, and celebrated throughout the school community.
Spoken Language Intent
At St Margaret Clitherow, we strongly encourage the development of effective communication skills through all aspects of learning as spoken language plays an essential role in the development and knowledge of all pupils. We intend to stimulate language skills through the use of speaking and listening activities in every lesson to develop the knowledge and understanding of all pupils.
