At St. Teresa's RC Primary School, we believe that English is a crucial part of the curriculum: a subject that stands alone, whilst being an essential part of learning all aspects of the curriculum. Therefore it is given the highest priority in our school.
Intent
At St. Teresa’s, reading is central to learning. Our intent is for every child to become a fluent, confident and thoughtful reader who can understand, enjoy and learn from a wide range of texts.
We aim for pupils to:
Read accurately, fluently and with expression
Develop strong comprehension using the VIPERS framework (Vocabulary, Inference, Prediction, Explanation, Retrieval and Summarising)
Build a rich vocabulary and background knowledge
Explain their thinking clearly using evidence from the text
Apply reading skills across the wider curriculum
We place a strong emphasis on fluency and prosody. Prosody means reading with appropriate expression, phrasing and intonation so that meaning is clear and reading sounds natural.
Our approach is inclusive and ensures all pupils, including those with additional needs and those learning English as an additional language, can succeed as readers.
Implementation
Reading is taught explicitly and systematically across the school.
EYFS and Key Stage 1
Children learn to read through the Read Write Inc. phonics programme, which develops strong decoding, early fluency and comprehension. Books are closely matched to pupils’ phonics knowledge to build confidence and enjoyment.
Key Stage 2
Reading lessons follow a clear, consistent structure based on the gradual release of responsibility:
Teacher modelling (I DO)
Guided practice (WE DO)
Independent application (YOU DO)
To develop fluency and prosody, teachers use a consistent sequence:
Model reading
Echo reading
Choral reading
Partner reading
Comprehension is taught through focused work on VIPERS skills, with explicit vocabulary teaching, modelled answers, sentence stems and structured discussion. Texts include high-quality fiction and non-fiction, carefully chosen to build knowledge and understanding of the wider world.
Impact
As a result of our reading curriculum:
Pupils read fluently, accurately and with increasing expression
Pupils demonstrate secure understanding across the VIPERS domains
Vocabulary knowledge improves and is applied across subjects
Pupils explain their thinking clearly and confidently
Reading outcomes improve over time for all groups of pupils
Pupils develop a genuine enjoyment of reading
By the time pupils leave St. Teresa’s, they are well prepared for the next stage of their education as confident, capable readers.
Intent
At St. Teresa’s, we want every child to become a confident, fluent and capable writer who can communicate ideas clearly, accurately and creatively.
Our intent is to:
Inspire enjoyment and confidence in writing
Reduce cognitive load so pupils can focus on meaning and quality
Develop writing fluency alongside accuracy
Secure core skills in sentence construction, grammar, punctuation and spelling
Support pupils to plan, draft, revise and edit effectively
Enable pupils to write for a range of purposes and audiences
Our writing curriculum is inclusive and designed so all pupils, including those with additional needs and those learning English as an additional language, can succeed.
Implementation
Writing is taught using the Essential Writing curriculum developed by HPI Education, which is currently being rolled out across the school.
Lessons follow a clear, consistent structure that:
Reduces cognitive load
Prioritises sentence-level fluency
Secures core writing skills before extended writing
Teachers model writing explicitly and provide guided practice before pupils write independently, following a gradual release approach.
High-quality texts are used to:
Stimulate ideas and vocabulary
Explore language, structure and genre
Support purposeful writing across the curriculum
Grammar, punctuation and spelling are taught in context and pupils are given regular opportunities to proofread and edit their work.
In EYFS, writing is developed through rich language experiences, storytelling and oral rehearsal, providing strong foundations for sentence writing in Key Stage 1 and beyond.
Impact
As a result of our writing curriculum:
Pupils write with increasing fluency, confidence and accuracy
Core writing skills are secure and consistently applied
Pupils can explain and improve their writing choices
Writing is purposeful and appropriate for audience and task
Pupils take pride in their work and edit it thoughtfully
By the time pupils leave St. Teresa’s, they are well prepared for the next stage of their education as confident, articulate writers.