At St Barts we inspire, motivate and develop the teaching of English through engaging teaching approaches and promoting a love of reading.  Children explore high quality texts which are at the heart of our English learning; to develop a love for reading is the gateway to creativity and greater knowledge. 

Writing is seen as a journey which evolves from purposeful engaging activities, where children are immersed in speaking and listening to deepen their understanding of a text and its grammar, then using this to support extended writing.

Children spend time understanding characters, settings and context, which enables them to interrogate the text at a greater level of understanding.  This is facilitated through the use of activities that include story mapping, conscience alley, questioning, hot-seating, drama and discussion.  Speaking and listening skills are integral within our learning, with the aim being that every child is able to communicate their thoughts, ideas and opinions.  This range of activities leads to positive outcomes by developing their use of adventurous vocabulary and varied spoken grammatical structures, but also their generation of ideas.  This approach is developing a community of children whose ideas are valued and who can confidently communicate with each other. 

Grammar objectives are  integrated within our English lessons so that children can apply their learning in context.  The grammar learning is focused on skills needed for the speaking and writing within the teaching sequence as well consolidating and developing underlying core grammatical knowledge and skills.    

The teaching sequences provide the children with a variety of writing opportunities, short and extended, as well as other creative outcomes. 

‘Working Walls’ in all classrooms support the children with their learning and provide reference to their ‘journey’ within sequences of work.  This allows them to refer back to previous learning outcomes,, such as, key facts, word banks, key grammatical structures, context maps, character ‘role on the walls’ and WAGOLLs.  This promotes independence and expectations within their work, as well as supporting the writing process.  These high expectations are transferred to all other areas of the curriculum.