Vision Statement:

 At St. Anselm's we believe that English is an essential part of the curriculum.  It is not just a stand-alone subject, but also a subject that should be an integral part of all learning.  We provide engaging cross-curricular opportunities for our pupils to develop and practise their literacy skills, in order for them to become confident and articulate communicators.

Writing:

In St. Anselm's we deliver an engaging and exciting curriculum through Cornerstones.  We make careful links across the curriculum to ensure that children have meaningful and purposeful independent writing opportunities.                                                                                                     

Children's positive attitude towards writing is fostered in EYFS.  In Nursery, children are provided with opportunities to build their fine and gross motor skills as this is critical for the act of writing.  In Reception, teachers model writing for a purpose so that children understand that it is a form of communication and self-expression.

In Years 1-6, our English lessons are taught using 'The Write Stuff' approach by Jane Considine.  This develops children's understanding of the writing process, including proofreading and editing to enhance their writing. Through our sentence stacking lessons (scaffolded writing), we provide children with the essential skills in spelling, punctuation, grammar and composition, to ensure that they are ready for secondary school and beyond.  There are plenty of opportunities for children's vocabulary to develop through the use of high-quality text, experiences and discussions.

Our high expectations for all children, as well as a culture where children love and take pride in their writing, ensure that we achieve our school's vision of 'Success for All.'

Reading:

In St. Anselm's, we want to not only inspire children through books but also to promote a love of reading to empower our children to become lifelong readers.  Books should not be seen as a chore but as a gateway to other worlds, the opening of our imaginations.  We believe that reading is a life skill that every child should be entitled to have.

In EYFS and KS1, we focus on developing our children's decoding skills through our chosen systematic, synthetics phonics scheme, Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised.  Without the ability to read and decode text, so much is closed off to a child and later on as an adult.

In Years 3-6, we use the VIPERS question stems to explicitly teach children the skill they need to develop their reading comprehension.  This is to ensure that all children have the necessary skills to access the reading and vocabulary demands of the secondary curriculum and beyond.