At St Mark’s CE Primary School we believe that English underpins all areas of the curriculum and recognise the crucial importance of studying the English language. The ability to read, write and use spoken language articulately will enable our pupils to express their thoughts and ideas more fluently, accurately and, ultimately, strive for the highest standards. A solid foundation in English will help the children to deal more successfully with other curriculum subjects, while enriching their lives beyond school. The teaching and learning of language skills are, therefore, given a high priority in our school and where possible the wider curriculum and IT will be used to enrich the learning. Our aim is to provide opportunities for the children to access a range of fiction and nonfiction genres through English lessons, class novels, picture books, films and reading comprehension activities. We want to foster a lifelong love of reading by immersing our children in a wide variety of literature across all curriculum areas, exposing them to a diverse, broad and balanced range of materials. The national curriculum for English aims to ensure that all pupils:

• read easily, fluently and with good understanding
• develop the habit of reading widely and often, for both pleasure and information
• acquire a wide vocabulary, an understanding of grammar and knowledge of linguistic conventions for reading, writing and spoken language
• appreciate our rich and varied literary heritage
• write clearly, accurately and coherently, adapting their language and style in and for a range of contexts, purposes and audiences
• use discussion in order to learn; they should be able to elaborate and explain clearly their understanding and ideas are competent in the arts of speaking and listening, making formal presentations, demonstrating to others and participating in debate.

At St Mark’s CE Primary School we encourage all children to become independent learners and be confident in all strands of their learning so they are prepared to be future citizens. We involve and value children’s contributions in the decision making process that impacts upon their learning, personal development and their environment. Therefore, we give them opportunities to speak in a variety of contexts and learn to listen to and value the views of others.

Phonics Statement of Intent

At St. Mark’s CE Primary School we are passionate about ensuring all children become confident and enthusiastic readers and writers. We believe that phonics provides the foundations of learning to make the development into fluent reading and writing easier. Through phonics children learn to segment words to support their spelling ability and blend sounds to read words. The teaching of phonics is of high priority. We use Read Write Inc, a high-quality systematic synthetic phonics programme of proven effectiveness. It is followed with rigour and fidelity and children are taught consistently to use phonics as the route to reading unknown words. Phonics is the key to children's future learning.