English consists of reading, writing, spoken language, handwriting, phonics, spelling, vocabulary, punctuation and grammar.

Each of these aspects are taught both as subjects on their own and alongside other areas of the curriculum. We use the English programme of study for Key Stage 1 as the foundation of our English curriculum.
 

Phonics

At Mount Street Academy we strive for our children to develop a natural love of reading and writing. We want all our children to become keen, confident and fluent readers. We want them to have no limits in their ambitions and to grow up knowing the worth of being able to read and write independently.

Phonics and reading are truly embedded into every aspect of our curriculum, and throughout every school day.

We start teaching phonics in Nursery through nursery rhymes, hearing and identifying environmental sounds and listening to different poems. In Reception, we teach phonics in lessons using the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds programme. This ensures children build on their growing knowledge of the alphabet, mastering phonics to read and spell as they move through school and feel confident to tackle unfamiliar words when they are reading.

We know that speaking and listening are crucial skills for reading and writing in all subjects, so teachers model the use of phonics during shared reading and writing, and across the curriculum, to support children’s language development.

Reading

At Mount Street Academy, we believe reading is a key that unlocks children’s access to, and understanding and appreciation of, the world around them. It allows children to reach out beyond what they know, share in cultural experiences and develop the vocabulary they need to effectively express themselves.

Reading is prioritised throughout school to enable pupils to succeed in all areas of the curriculum. We are ambitious for all our children and aim for them all to be fluent readers by the time they leave us and transition to a Key Stage 2 setting.

Our reading curriculum is delivered through synthetic phonics along with guided reading, home reading, reading across the curriculum and hearing quality texts read aloud. These essential components offer the range of opportunities children need to become fluent, enthusiastic and critical readers.

Reading for pleasure

It is important that our children are motivated to read regularly at school and at home. When their reading opportunities increase, so does their fluency and stamina which, in turn, increases their enjoyment of reading.

We know that reading pleasure is beneficial not only for not only reading outcomes, but for wider learning enjoyment and mental wellbeing. Therefore, we work hard to support our children in being able to read and build a community of engaged readers. We also work closely with parents and carers to develop their confidence to support their children with reading at home.

Writing

Writing is important in everyday life. It enables children to communicate with other people, and to share their ideas and experiences. With this in mind, we endeavour to ensure that children develop a healthy and enthusiastic attitude towards writing that will stay with them.

We aim to provide a high-quality writing curriculum that teaches children how to speak and listen effectively and to write and communicate ideas effectively for a variety of audiences and purposes in order to fully prepare them for the next step of their learning journey.

We are determined that every pupil will learn to write fluently and instinctively, enabling them to flourish in all aspects of the school curriculum.

You can find full descriptions of our phonics, reading, and writing curriculum intent, implementation and impact in the Quality of Education (QED) documents below.