English is used in every subject and our approach is to link speaking and listening with reading, writing and spelling. We try to foster a love of reading and use a variety of methods to give children the necessary skills and also enjoy a range of books and confidence in choice, including phonics.

Department for Education Letters and Sounds is used to give our children a phased and thorough basis on which to build reading and writing skills.  A daily lesson for all children in school teaches sound/letter recognition groups of sounds, spelling patterns and development of grammar.

We encourage the children to write clearly about a variety of experiences, topics and stories.

We foster the love of poetry. We use mime and drama to develop the imagination and also for problem solving.

Reading is taught in all classes in the school using a wide variety of texts. Our main reading scheme is Oxford Reading Tree.

The children will be given a school book bag when they come into school and will bring reading books and library books home daily. They have a reading diary, which staff will record their reading activity in and we ask that parents share the books by reading with the children at home and marking the ‘Home’ section of the diary. Children will normally change reading and library books once a week.