English
English is a wonderfully rich subject that sits at the heart of our curriculum. Speaking, listening, reading, and writing are not only valuable in their own right but also provide access to every other area of learning. Research shows that reading ability is closely linked to success in subjects such as maths and science, and that strong literacy skills shape far more than academic outcomes — literacy influences employment prospects, mental and physical wellbeing, and even life expectancy. By ensuring that every child becomes competent and confident in English, we open doors to future opportunity, knowledge, and participation in society.
At Laburnum Primary School, children encounter a wide range of fiction and non-fiction texts. These stories, poems, ideas, and perspectives help them make sense of themselves and the world around them. Our English teaching is deeply interconnected: understanding the alphabetic code underpins both reading and spelling, while reading literature offers enjoyment and insight and models excellence for pupils’ own writing. Our goal is for pupils to read with understanding, write with clarity, and speak with confidence.
Throughout our English curriculum, children will:
- Be taught to read fluently and with good understanding
- Acquire and learn to use a wide vocabulary
- Develop strong transcription, spelling, grammar, and punctuation skills so that they can write clearly, accurately, and coherently
- Plan and write well-structured, cohesive sentences, paragraphs, and full texts
- Develop an understanding of literary and linguistic conventions
- Develop skills in oracy through speaking and listening
Phonics
From Nursery onwards, we use a linguistic phonics approach to teaching reading and spelling through the Sounds-Write programme.
Children learn four key concepts:
• Letters are symbols that represent sounds
• Sounds can be spelled using one, two, three, or four letters
• The same sound can be spelled in different ways
• The same spelling can represent different sounds
Through lessons that focus on segmenting, blending, and phoneme manipulation, children learn code knowledge and apply it in whole words from the very beginning. With a focus on what the children can hear, all pupils are able to participate fully.
In Years 4–6, children continue to use the Sounds-Write approach to support their spelling, building on earlier work and extending this to polysyllabic words.
Handwriting
Handwriting
At Laburnum, we aim for every child to develop a neat, fluent, and confident cursive handwriting style. We follow a consistent approach from the Early Years through to Key Stage 2, using the Debbie Hepplewhite style and ‘patter’ to support letter formation and fluency.
Children begin with printed handwriting in the Early Years, add lead-in lines in Year 1, and progress to joined writing by the end of Year 2. Handwriting is taught as a separate skill from phonics, in line with the Sounds-Write programme, and we provide targeted support for pupils who need extra help. Our aim is for all pupils to write with clarity, confidence, and enjoyment as their handwriting develops.
Reading
Our English curriculum is centred around high-quality texts carefully chosen to provide a range of learning opportunities. We believe literature should offer both windows and mirrors into the human experience — texts that reflect the children’s lives and those that open their eyes to the wider world.
Each half term, children focus on one text (or a series of linked texts) in guided reading. This provides them with the opportunity to develop their vocabulary, improve the fluency of their reading, and understand texts at a deeper level.
We allow the text to lead the lessons, so there is not a prescribed sequence to the sessions; some books require more vocabulary work than others, while others need a greater focus on discussion. Our teachers expertly decide what the children need to successfully understand what they are reading.
Writing
Writing is a complex task that requires a range of skills and knowledge to be used at the same time in a variety of ways. To support the children, they complete a minimum of two writing sequences based on the book they studied in the previous half term and, where appropriate, their wider studies across the curriculum. This ensures they can use the vocabulary, background knowledge, and key events from a book and learning they know really well. In writing lessons, they are then free to focus on the skills that make their writing effective.
For each writing sequence, the children are shown a model of what a good one looks like and learn the different text features, sentence types, punctuation, and grammar that are specific to the genre or text type they are writing. The children are given plenty of opportunities to revisit prior learning, embed and refine existing skills, and learn new writing techniques.
Oracy
Through our curriculum and teaching, children develop the skills they need to participate in paired, small group, and whole-class discussions, as well as to deliver speeches and presentations, perform poetry, and take part respectfully in debates.
This starts in the Early Years, with pupils listening to and joining in with stories, rhymes, and songs. As pupils progress through school, they are explicitly taught routines and processes for structuring talk, listening closely, and engaging with different types of discussion. Children have plenty of opportunities to practise and apply these skills across all curriculum subjects.
Useful Information
Reading at Home
At Laburnum Primary School, we believe that reading is a key part of learning and a skill for life. Practising reading at home helps children practice decoding, build fluency, confidence, and understanding, while giving them valuable one-to-one time with an adult.
How often should children read?
- Reception – Year 2: Daily reading with an adult, with a focus on practising decoding and developing fluency, alongside building comprehension skills.
- Years 3–6: Aim for reading at least five times a week, with adult support where needed to deepen understanding, vocabulary, and enjoyment.
Supporting your child:
- Reading at home helps consolidate what is taught in school.
- Teachers may provide extra reading resources or support for children who need it.
- Discussing books together and encouraging children to talk about what they read strengthens comprehension and enjoyment.
By reading regularly at home, children develop the skills and confidence they need to succeed across the curriculum and beyond.
Supporting your child with reading, writing and phonics
Here is a link to a reading course that you can complete. This will give you an introduction to Sounds-Write and the way in which we are teaching your children to read. It should take approximately 60-90 minutes and can be stopped and restarted at any point.
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