English Curriculum
Phonics
At St Mary’s, we are committed to ensuring the curriculum is broad, balanced and purposeful. We recognise that we are building the foundations for life-long learning with Christ at the centre. A shared love of literature throughout school and our faith life and Gospel values, Trust Character Virtues and British Values, sits alongside our curriculum drivers. Our curriculum drivers are what makes our curriculum unique to us here at St. Mary’s. They are woven through all that we do and underpin our shared belief that our role is to support and help our children to understand their place within their local town, their country and in their world as a global citizen; to have experiences that become part of their life story; and aspire to achieve their very best, having been shown that there is a world of possibility awaiting them, outside of the school gates.
Intent
We believe that phonics provides the foundations of learning to make the development into fluent reading, spelling and writing easier. The teaching of phonics is of the highest priority.
Implementation
At St Mary’s we use the Sounds-Write phonics programme to teach our children to read, spell and write. Trained teaching and support staff have participated in 4 days of Sounds-Write training in order to deliver the programme effectively.
Beginning in Autumn term in Reception, children are taught phonics daily for 30 minutes, this continues until the end of KS1.
The Sounds-Write programme begins with what all children know from a very early age – the sounds of their own language. It then moves to carefully sequenced, incremental steps to teach the sounds in the English language and how they can be spelt. See our Phonic Long Term Plan.
Phonics Long Term Plan
In EYFS children will be introduced to the Initial Code. During KS1 children will continue following the systematic phonics teaching and learn the Extended Code looking at ‘same sounds different spelling’ and ‘same spelling different sounds.’
Same spelling different sounds
In Year 3, the recommendation from Sounds-Write is to repeat everything covered up to Year 2, but faster and introducing longer polysyllabic words. In Year 4, the programme goes through every sound that appears in Sounds-Write, which we have cross referenced against the KS2 statutory spelling lists.
Sounds-Write teaches children that:
- Letters are symbols (spellings) that represent sounds
- Each sound may be represented (spelled) by a 1, 2, 3 or 4-letter spelling
- The same sound can be spelled in more than one way (goat, slow, note, toe, over)
- Many spellings represent more than one sound (ea in read and bread)
The following skills are taught throughout the Sounds-Write program:
- Blending – the ability to push sounds together to build words (c-a-t = cat)
- Segmenting – the ability to pull apart the individual sounds in words (pig = p-i-g)
- Phoneme manipulation – the ability to insert sounds into words and delete sounds out of words. This skill is necessary to test out alternatives for spellings that represent more than one sound.
Children are continually formatively assessed throughout phonic sessions, 'keep up' sessions are delivered by both teachers and teaching assistants to support children who are not on track.
Additionally, we teach ‘tricky words’ these are words that appear frequently in books for children and are usually learned using a whole word approach, with an action. See our Long Term Tricky Word Plan.
Long Term Tricky Word Plan
At the end of Year 1 children take the statutory Phonic Screening Check, this shows how well children can use the phonics skills they've learned. Any children who do not pass this test have small group interventions to continue and review their phonics journey in year 2
Phonics screening test
If you would like to learn more about our approach to phonics and how to support your child at home, please register for the online course, free for everyone! Click here to register online!
Sounds-Write also provide an interactive app for iPad’s which offers a variety of activities to develop the skills of blending, segmenting, sound spelling correspondence, word reading and writing and sentence word.
Impact
Children will become confident readers, spellers and writers
Writing
At St. Mary’s, we are committed to ensuring the curriculum is purposeful, progressive and empowering for every child. We value all of our children and celebrate diversity of experience, need, interest, and achievement. Our curriculum provokes curiosity and excitement for all children at St. Mary’s. We recognise that we are building the foundations for life-long learning with Christ at the centre. A shared love of literature throughout school and our faith life and Gospel values, Trust Character Virtues and British Values, sits alongside our curriculum drivers. Our curriculum drivers are what makes our curriculum unique to us here at St. Mary’s. They are woven through all that we do and underpin our shared belief that our role is to support and help our children to understand their place within their local town, their country and in their world as a global citizen; to have experiences that become part of their life story; and aspire to achieve their very best, having been shown that there is a world of possibility awaiting them, outside of the school gates.
Intent
At St. Mary’s we intend for children to:
- develop a love for writing as a lifelong means for communication and expressing oneself
- write clearly, accurately and coherently, adapting language and style for a range of contexts, purposes and audiences
- appreciate a rich and varied literary heritage
Writing at St Mary’s
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At St Mary’s, we believe that writing is a fundamental skill that empowers children to express themselves, communicate effectively, and engage with the world around them. Our writing curriculum is designed to inspire creativity, develop technical accuracy, and ensure that all pupils become confident, articulate writers.
Our Approach to Writing
To ensure high-quality writing outcomes, we follow a structured process that immerses children in rich learning experiences, builds their technical skills, and supports them in crafting well-developed pieces of writing.
Immerse – Each writing unit begins with an immersive experience designed to create a sense of wonder and excitement. This could involve drama, role-play, high-quality stimuli, or real-life experiences that help children fully engage with the topic. At this stage, key vocabulary is introduced, ensuring children have the language they need to express their ideas effectively. Writing is closely linked to our wider curriculum, meaning each unit is rooted in our key curriculum driver for that topic. This ensures writing has a real purpose and deepens subject knowledge across different areas of learning.
Rehearse – During this stage, children refine their grammar, punctuation, and sentence construction skills. Rather than teaching these elements in isolation, we embed them within the context of their writing focus, ensuring that learning is meaningful and applied in a purposeful way. This enables children to see the impact of grammar and punctuation choices in real writing scenarios.
Create – In the final stage, children bring together everything they have learned to draft, edit, and publish their final pieces. This process develops resilience and independence, encouraging children to reflect on their work, make improvements, and produce writing they are proud of.
The Role of Reading in Writing
At St Mary’s, we recognise that reading and writing are deeply connected. Through our VIPERS reading approach, children develop essential reading comprehension skills, expand their vocabulary, and explore high-quality texts that act as models for their own writing. By analysing how authors use language, structure, and style, children gain a deeper understanding of how to craft their own pieces effectively. The vocabulary and ideas gathered through reading are seamlessly woven into the writing process, strengthening children’s ability to express themselves with confidence and creativity.
Writing Across the Curriculum
Writing is not taught in isolation—it is embedded throughout our curriculum. Each writing unit is carefully linked to our key curriculum driver for that term, ensuring that writing has a meaningful purpose. Whether writing a historical diary entry, a scientific report, or a persuasive speech linked to geography, children are given opportunities to write for real audiences and purposes, reinforcing their understanding of different subjects while developing their literacy skills.
By following this approach, we ensure that writing at St Mary’s is engaging, purposeful, and equips children with the skills they need to succeed in all areas of their learning.
Writing Overviews
Progression of Skills- Writing
Reading
At St. Mary’s, we are committed to ensuring the curriculum is purposeful, progressive and empowering for every child. We value all of our children and celebrate diversity of experience, need, interest, and achievement. Our curriculum provokes curiosity and excitement for all children at St. Mary’s. We recognise that we are building the foundations for life-long learning with Christ at the centre. A shared love of literature throughout school and our faith life and Gospel values, Trust Character Virtues and British Values, sits alongside our curriculum drivers. Our curriculum drivers are what makes our curriculum unique to us here at St. Mary’s. They are woven through all that we do and underpin our shared belief that our role is to support and help our children to understand their place within their local town, their country and in their world as a global citizen; to have experiences that become part of their life story; and aspire to achieve their very best, having been shown that there is a world of possibility awaiting them, outside of the school gates.
Reading- Quality of Education
Intent
At St. Mary’s we intend for children to:
- read fluently with a good understanding
- read often for both pleasure and information
- acquire a wide knowledge and vocabulary from a range of genres and text types
At St Mary’s we teach the National Curriculum for Reading, see our reading programme of study for each year group (Early Learning Goal, Year 1, Year 2, Year 3, Year 4, Year 5, and Year 6), and our Progression of skills in reading which this ensures knowledge and skills are built upon each year. Teachers use a variety of texts and written material for group reading lessons, these often link to writing genres being studied or other curriculum areas being taught.
Reading Intent
Progression of Skills- Reading
Our Reading Pledge
