English at Swanage Primary

Please click on the icons above to find out more about specific aspects of our English Curriculum.

At Swanage Primary School we believe English should be exciting, engaging and challenging. We use a variety of media - texts, images, film clips and online activities to bring English to life. Children build up spoken language skills

When children first enter the school in the Foundation Stage, we build on their literacy knowledge from home and pre-school / nursery, and daily learning takes place within an integrated EYFS curriculum. There are a wealth of writing and reading opportunities across the classroom, outside areas and throughout the whole curriculum. Children are taught the 44 phonemes of the English language and to blend these together to read new words, and segment them to spell. Development of gross and fine motor control is encouraged through play-based activities including 'dough-gym', using tweezers, writing with water / in cornflour / on large chalkboards etc. Reading and writing is encouraged  in many ways, including through the roleplay area, labelling designs for construction models, reading and writing messages to class members. We aim to instil confidence and independence in early literacy skills that will ensure children attain the Early Learning Goals (expected at the end of the Reception year) and prepare the children well for Key Stage One.

In the rest of the school, the children take part in daily English lessons. These incorporate aspects of spoken language, reading, writing, spelling and grammar. They are taught word reading (decoding skills) and discussion of books (comprehension skills) both as part of the main English lesson, and in discreet guided reading sessions. Children in Key Stage 1 continue to take part in daily phonics and spelling lessons, and further support is provided to children in Key Stage 2 who require it. Each year offers a progression of skills across the curriculum, balancing the need for increasing technical accuracy, with promoting creativity.

Please see the subpages below for the National Curriculum year-by-year progression of learning objectives: