English vision statement:

‘Open a book

                                                                                       and

                                                                                       you’re a pilgrim

                                                                                       at the gates

                                                                                       of a new city.’

Hebrew proverb

At South Walney Junior School we have a clear, coherent vision for our English curriculum.

The study of English has a ‘pre-eminent place in education and in society’ (NC 2016).  At South Walney Junior School our vision is to gift the children the highest quality education in English so that they can communicate their emotions and ideas effectively through their reading, writing and speaking.  Competency in these skills is given a high priority to ensure that pupils have access to all aspects of the curriculum and are able to fulfil their educational potential.

Learning to read is the foundation for all educational success.  The Ofsted report on Reading by six showed that the best primary schools teach virtually every child to read, regardless of their socio-economic circumstances, their ethnicity, the language spoken at home and most special educational needs or disabilities.  It concluded that: ’If some schools can do this, it should be a moral imperative for all primary schools.’

Our overarching aim for English at South Walney Junior School is to:

• to enable all our pupils to read confidently, fluently, accurately and with understanding. Our vision is to make sure that our children not only have the opportunity to learn to read (a time-limited skill) but to become lifelong readers for purpose and pleasure.  They will become people who not only can read, but do read from choice a wide variety of texts on paper and on screen.

As a school we recognise that through a rich literary canon in particular, pupils have a chance to develop culturally, intellectually, socially and spiritually.  We understand the key role that English plays in children’s further education and we are determined that all children will learn to read fluently so that they are not disenfranchised from this next step in education. ‘Quality matters to children, but it matters especially for disadvantaged children’ Julian Sherringham.

• We aim to make our pupils enthusiastic, fluent and responsive speakers and writers who can learn and gain pleasure from the spoken and written word. 

 We believe we have an inspirational, ambitious and coherently planned knowledge-rich English curriculum. We believe our curriculum helps them to ‘know more, remember more, do more’ both in reading and writing through specific teaching of key vocabulary and through rich reading and writing experiences.

 Our curriculum aims to be transformative, raising aspirations to see beyond our locality as well as valuing the uniquely rich literary experience of our locality   We are aware that some of our pupils have limited literary and cultural experience and so are passionate about expanding their love of English through rich and diverse reading books, visits and visitors and trips.  We want to deliver a curriculum that will break the cycle of disadvantage that traps some of our pupils and English can help them overcome adversity. We want all of our children to have the firm foundations to move on fluidly to the next stage of their learning and beyond.

Our English curriculum is underpinned by our core principles, using the mnemonic SAFE:

A Supportive school

helping children to Achieve

And Flourish

On a foundations of Excellence