English Lead: Mrs Schofield

English Governor: Mrs Angela Sterling 

English at Catchgate Primary School

At Catchgate we believe that the English curriculum should develop a love of reading and writing.  We also place high importance on the ability to discuss and communicate confidently.  We want children to develop speaking and listening skills using a wide vocabulary in discussions and to further their learning. 

We believe that children need to develop a secure knowledge base in English, which follows clear progression as they advance through the primary curriculum.  We believe that developing a secure basis in reading, writing and speaking and listening skills is vital in delivering a high quality curriculum.  We want our children to leave primary school as confident and literate individuals. 

The Little Wandle Phonics programme we follow ensures children develop early reading skills with a huge emphasis being placed on vocabulary and reading for pleasure.  

How is English taught at Catchgate Primary School?

In our school we use Talk for writing as the basis for our English curriculum. This is based on a training programme led by Pie Corbett for which all staff completed two years of training.

We go through three stages of writing for each text we study; these include imitation, innovation and invention.

In the imitation stage we do lots of reading of the class text, mapping the story and drama activities so the pupils fully understand the story and can write it.

In the innovation stage the pupils change different aspects of the story to make it their own; these changes could include different characters, settings, time periods and lots of other innovations.

During the invention stage the pupils will write their own story based on the theme of the text, so maybe a wishing story, a beat the baddie or a portal story. for the whole range look on the whole school text map.

Throughout all the stages the pupils will complete short burst writing activities which will teach them the skills they need to read, deconstruct texts and write their own. These activities are all based on the class text and include spelling, grammar and vocabulary activities. Games are encouraged to support the class teaching an to engage the pupils in their learning.

Non-fiction writing will also be based on the class text and covers a wide range of genres including diaries, biographies, instructions, explanations and information texts.