English

Our vision for children at Richard Taylor School is to have a
love of language.’

Reading, writing, speaking and listening are fundamental life skills and underpin all we do in other curriculum areas.

To be understood and to understand is a key skill which underpins all aspects of learning. Speaking and listening is therefore an essential part of every lesson. When working collaboratively with the whole class, partners and in small groups, children learn to listen and take turns in sharing ideas. We encourage the children to explain their thinking clearly and reflect on their learning.

Our aim is for every child to want and be able to read for pleasure. Teachers and parents work in partnership to teach and help the child to enjoy reading. We encourage parents of older children to continue sharing books together; reading to children of all ages has huge benefits.

We initially teach children to read through our systematic phonics program. Alongside this, other approaches are interwoven. Having a wealth of books and magazines in school, children enjoy a wide selection of both fiction and non fiction. All classes in KS2 share class novels around their topics and we regularly enjoy visits from authors.

Younger members of our school read with older children bringing our school community together and we are extremely proud of the role of our reading ambassadors.

We aspire for all our pupils to become young writers who the process. Our classrooms offer stimulating and supportive learning environments. The writing of all our pupils is valued and feedback is given by teachers and other children to help improve a piece of work.

Children are taught to distinguish between the four main areas of writing…

Writing to entertain

Writing to persuade

Writing to inform

Writing to discuss

Within these four areas, children have the opportunity write in many different styles including stories, poems, letters, newspaper reports and instructions to name but a few. All of our writing is linked to topics in class; often the writing is linked to other curriculum areas, such as history or science. We endeavour to provide real opportunities for the children so writing is meaningful and exciting. Alongside this, spelling, grammar and punctuation is taught in context.