At St Nicholas CE Infants' School we aim to develop the abilities of all children to communicate effectively in speaking and in writing; to listen with understanding and to become enthusiastic and insightful readers so that they can take pleasure in their use of English.

We follow the National Curriculum in Key Stage 1 and Development Matters in the EYFS. Communication, Language and Literacy skills are taught on a daily basis in Nursery, Reception and Key Stage 1. These skills are then applied in cross curricular learning opportunities. English specific teaching and learning takes place within a whole class setting (shared/modelled reading and writing) and within guided reading and writing groups. Within guided groups, good practice is shared and modelled and the children also work independently or with a partner on set tasks. Teachers use a variety of interactive teaching methods to deliver the curriculum and achieve set learning objectives. These learning objectives are then assessed with this assessment feeding into planning for the next English session.

Approach of teaching

The Nursery and Reception classes have an exciting and relevant role-play area and a well-resourced writing area. These allow adults to model extended vocabulary and encourages writing through purposeful, meaningful contexts. In the Foundation Stage, emphasis is on teaching Literacy through role play, stories, storytelling, big books, guided reading and home reading. The children in Nursery begin their journey with The Write Stuff by meeting Grandma Fantastic who helps them learn new words. In Reception the children engage in writing activities using The Write Stuff approach.

In Key Stage 1 units of work are planned using the National Curriculum statutory guidance, which are linked in context to other areas of the curriculum. We use The Write Stuff approach to deliver writing lessons.  All the units are based on carefully chosen high quality books with supporting texts for each topic. Each plan has a writing outcome with a particular purpose and audience in mind. Over the year each year group will cover a balance of narrative, non-fiction and poetry text types. A clear set of end of year expectations are followed by each year group and incorporated into planning and assessment.