Literacy
Subject Leader: Katherine Roberts
At St Willibrord’s, we believe that strong literacy skills are fundamental to children's success across the whole curriculum and throughout their lives.
Our Literacy curriculum develops pupils as confident readers, writers, speakers and listeners. We want children to read with fluency and understanding, communicate their ideas clearly and become increasingly independent and purposeful writers.
High-quality texts are at the heart of our curriculum. Children encounter a carefully planned range of stories, poetry and non-fiction throughout their journey through school, giving them opportunities to explore language, broaden their vocabulary, develop knowledge and experience a diverse range of authors, characters, cultures and perspectives.
Our curriculum is aligned with the National Curriculum for English and develops learning through:
spoken language and vocabulary;
reading and comprehension;
writing and composition;
spelling;
grammar and punctuation;
handwriting and transcription.
Reading is a priority throughout St Willibrord’s.
Our aim is for every child to become an accurate, fluent and confident reader who can understand increasingly complex texts and develop a genuine enjoyment of reading.
Reading develops through three closely connected areas:
Children's first formal steps into reading are through Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised, our systematic synthetic phonics programme.
Children learn the relationship between sounds and letters and are taught to:
recognise grapheme-phoneme correspondences;
blend sounds accurately to read words;
develop automatic recognition of increasingly familiar words;
read books which are closely matched to their phonics knowledge;
develop increasing fluency and confidence.
Pupils who require additional practice receive targeted support so that gaps in early reading knowledge are addressed quickly.
As decoding becomes increasingly automatic, pupils develop their understanding of what they read.
Teaching develops children's ability to:
retrieve information;
make inferences;
predict;
summarise;
explore vocabulary;
understand how texts are organised;
consider authors' choices;
compare ideas across texts;
justify answers using evidence.
Teachers explicitly teach vocabulary and provide opportunities for children to discuss texts, explain their thinking and listen to different interpretations.
We want children to see reading as something they choose to do as well as something they need to learn.
Children encounter a wide range of high-quality books through:
class texts;
shared reading;
independent reading;
poetry;
reading across the curriculum;
teacher read-alouds;
access to books within classrooms and the school.
We encourage children to talk about books, make recommendations and develop their own reading interests.
Writing at St Willibrord’s is based around the P.I.C.C. a Text approach developed by One Education.
High-quality texts provide the inspiration and context for writing. Pupils explore how successful authors communicate before applying this knowledge to their own work.
The approach develops through four connected phases.
Children are introduced to a text or writing context and use clues, prior knowledge and discussion to make predictions.
This helps generate curiosity, develop inference and give pupils a meaningful reason to engage with the text.
Children explore the inspiration text in depth.
They read both as readers and as writers, considering:
vocabulary;
meaning;
structure;
grammatical choices;
sentence construction;
genre conventions;
author's choices and their effect on the reader.
Grammar and punctuation are taught explicitly and in context so that pupils understand not simply what a grammatical feature is, but why a writer might choose to use it.
Children gather the ideas, vocabulary, knowledge and content they will need for their own writing.
This may involve:
discussion and oral rehearsal;
drama;
research;
vocabulary collection;
sentence practice;
exploration of additional texts;
recording and organising ideas.
This stage gives children something meaningful to say before expecting them to concentrate on how they will write it.
Children bring their learning together to create their own writing.
They plan, draft, write, evaluate, edit and publish, applying the knowledge and techniques developed throughout the unit.
As pupils progress through school, they take increasingly independent responsibility for making choices about vocabulary, sentence structure, organisation and authorial effect.
An important part of our writing curriculum is helping children understand that effective writing depends upon its purpose.
Teachers use RAFT to make this explicit:
Reason – Why am I writing?
Audience – Who am I writing for?
Features – What will make this writing effective?
Tone – How should my writing sound?
This moves pupils beyond simply reproducing a text type.
Children learn that writers make deliberate choices according to what they are trying to achieve and who will read their work.
Our writing curriculum is carefully sequenced so that pupils encounter an increasingly broad range of purposes and audiences while developing progressively sophisticated sentence, transcription and composition skills.
Literacy develops alongside Communication and Language.
Children develop:
listening and spoken language;
vocabulary;
phonological awareness;
oral blending and segmenting;
fine-motor and handwriting foundations;
letter formation;
early word and sentence writing;
oral rehearsal before writing;
confidence in communicating ideas.
Writing is closely matched to children's phonics knowledge.
Our early writing approach draws upon the Write Beginnings work, breaking writing down into manageable steps so that children develop secure sentence foundations without unnecessary cognitive overload.
Children build secure foundations as sentence writers.
Through high-quality texts they experience:
simple and innovative narratives;
instructions;
postcards;
captions and labels;
factfiles;
simple non-fiction reports;
posters;
recounts;
poetry.
Children increasingly rehearse sentences orally, use their phonics knowledge independently and develop control of basic punctuation and sentence construction.
Children extend their sentence-level knowledge into increasingly sustained pieces of writing.
They encounter:
narrative innovation;
character description;
biography;
diary and recount writing;
letters;
instructions;
non-chronological reports;
poetry.
Children develop greater control of sentence structure, vocabulary, punctuation and organisation while becoming increasingly independent through the writing process.
Children begin to make increasingly deliberate choices as writers.
Their curriculum includes:
adventure and fantasy narrative;
narrative innovation;
persuasive speech;
instructions;
letters;
diary and journal writing;
explanation;
non-chronological reports;
poetry.
They begin to use a wider range of sentence structures, vocabulary and organisational techniques and increasingly explain why particular choices are appropriate for their audience and purpose.
Children develop increasing control over sustained writing.
They experience:
character description;
biography;
narrative;
explanation;
persuasive letters;
diary and journal writing;
fables;
instructions;
recount and report writing;
non-fiction;
poetry.
Pupils increasingly manipulate vocabulary, grammar, sentence structure and organisational features to create particular effects.
Children work with increasingly sophisticated purposes and audiences.
Their writing includes:
character-focused and extended narrative;
letters;
persuasion and debate;
myth;
reports and recounts;
biography and autobiography;
explanation;
diary writing;
persuasive letters;
poetry.
Children are expected to draw increasingly independently upon previous learning and make deliberate choices about structure, vocabulary, cohesion and tone.
Children consolidate and extend their knowledge as increasingly independent writers.
They encounter:
sophisticated narrative;
biographical narrative;
journal and diary writing;
application and formal letters;
persuasive speech;
balanced argument;
newspaper reports;
descriptive writing;
non-chronological reports;
writing incorporating dialogue;
poetry and performance poetry.
By the end of Year 6, pupils are expected to select and apply appropriate writing knowledge independently, adapting their language, structure and tone for different audiences and purposes.
Oracy and vocabulary run throughout our Literacy curriculum.
Children need opportunities to say ideas before they write them.
Teachers therefore use:
discussion;
oral sentence rehearsal;
partner talk;
storytelling;
drama and role play;
debate;
performance;
explicit vocabulary teaching.
Through repeated opportunities to listen, articulate ideas and refine their language, pupils become increasingly confident communicators and writers.
Spelling develops from secure phonics knowledge into increasingly sophisticated understanding of spelling patterns, morphology and word structure.
Children are taught to:
use phonics knowledge when spelling;
recognise and apply spelling patterns and rules;
understand relationships between words;
use prefixes and suffixes;
develop knowledge of statutory and frequently used words;
proofread and correct spelling;
apply spelling knowledge independently within their writing.
Spelling is taught explicitly and revisited through writing so that pupils learn to transfer knowledge rather than simply complete isolated activities.
Grammar and punctuation are taught both explicitly and through meaningful writing contexts.
Within P.I.C.C. a Text units, children investigate how authors use grammatical structures and punctuation to communicate meaning.
They then practise these techniques before applying them within their own writing.
As pupils progress through school, they develop an increasingly sophisticated understanding of sentence structure, cohesion, tense, punctuation and grammatical terminology.
Children need increasingly fluent transcription skills so that the physical process of writing does not prevent them from concentrating on composition.
We use a consistent handwriting approach through Letter-join.
Children develop from:
correct posture and pencil grip;
accurate letter formation;
appropriate size and orientation;
consistent spacing;
joining where appropriate;
increasing fluency, speed and legibility.
Teachers expect taught handwriting skills to transfer into independent Literacy work and writing across the curriculum.
Poetry forms an explicit part of our writing curriculum from Year 1 to Year 6.
Children encounter, discuss, write and perform a broad range of poetry.
As they progress, they explore increasingly sophisticated language, structure, rhythm and poetic techniques while also developing confidence in speaking and performing for an audience.
Our Literacy curriculum is ambitious for all pupils.
Teachers identify the specific barrier preventing a child from succeeding and adapt teaching accordingly without unnecessarily reducing the intended curriculum.
Support may include:
explicit vocabulary teaching;
oral rehearsal;
sentence stems;
visual prompts;
additional modelling;
manipulable sentence structures;
phonics and spelling support;
carefully selected word banks;
reduced transcription demands where appropriate;
additional time;
assistive technology;
alternative ways of recording ideas.
High-quality texts and ambitious ideas remain accessible to pupils through appropriate support.
For pupils at an earlier stage of English acquisition, strong modelling, visuals, vocabulary work and structured opportunities for talk support access to the same curriculum.
Assessment takes place throughout Literacy teaching.
Teachers use:
questioning and discussion;
reading responses;
phonics and fluency information;
independent writing;
pupil workbooks;
spelling and transcription evidence;
National Curriculum Basic Skills;
teacher assessment;
moderation.
In writing, particular importance is placed on what pupils can apply independently rather than simply what they can reproduce immediately after teacher modelling.
Teachers use assessment to identify what has been secured, what needs revisiting and which pupils require additional support or further challenge.
Literacy is not confined to English lessons.
Pupils apply their reading, writing, vocabulary and spoken-language knowledge throughout the wider curriculum.
Teachers explicitly teach pupils how the language, structure and conventions of writing change according to the subject and purpose.
This enables children to apply their literacy knowledge meaningfully in areas such as Science, History, Geography and Religious Education.
Our aim is for pupils to leave St Willibrord’s able to:
read accurately, fluently and with understanding;
enjoy and discuss a wide range of texts;
communicate confidently through spoken language;
use an increasingly rich vocabulary;
write effectively for different audiences and purposes;
make deliberate choices as authors;
edit and improve their own work;
apply spelling, grammar and handwriting knowledge with increasing fluency;
see themselves as readers and writers.
Our year-group curriculum plans show the texts, purposes and writing outcomes taught throughout the school.
Curriculum by Year Group – Click here