English at Eastcroft Park

Our English lead is Miss Bennett (Y5 class teacher)

BA Hons Primary English Education with QTS

NPQLL (National Professional Qualification in Leading Literacy)

At Eastcroft Park, English is at the heart of learning. We want every child to become a confident reader, skilled writer and articulate speaker.

Through the Literacy Counts Ready Steady Write scheme, we immerse pupils in rich, high-quality texts that inspire creativity, build vocabulary and develop a love of storytelling. Writing is purposeful and meaningful, with clear links to reading, and children are taught to express themselves with confidence and flair.

Early reading and phonics are taught using the Read Write Inc. programme, ensuring strong foundations in decoding, fluency and comprehension. As a result, our pupils not only make excellent progress in reading and writing, but also develop the communication skills, imagination and self-belief they need to thrive across the curriculum and beyond.

Glossary of key terms:

SPAG - Spelling, punctuation and grammar

Narrative - a piece of writing that focuses on telling a story

EYFS - Early Years Foundation Stage

WAGOLL - 'What A Good One Looks Like'

RWI - Read, Write, Inc (phonics scheme)

RSW - Ready, Steady Write (writing scheme)

Reading:

From Reception, our pupils will begin learn how to read and write through daily phonics sessions. At Eastcroft Park, we use Read Write Inc. to teach phonics.

Children will learn to read and write the sounds from RWI set 1. Each sound comes with a rhyme to help the children to form each letter sound correctly.

When children know some of these sounds they will begin to learn how to blend the sounds into words. E.g. b-e-d ... "bed" and how to segment words into their sounds "bed" ... b-e-d. 

Each week children will be given a different set of green words to practice at home as well as in school which can all be blended and segmented in this way.  Children will also be exposed to some trickier red words, these cannot be broken up in this method and require some additional learning.  

Please see our Phonics tab for more detailed information about early reading.

In Years 2-6, each class takes part in 3x weekly ‘Reading’ sessions. During these sessions, children read a variety of different texts and practise their comprehension skills. They

practice key reading skills such as clarifying, inference and summarising and also engage in speaking and listening skills.

We take part in partner, choral and echo reading to practice reading fluency. Vocabulary and opportunities for partner discussion are built into every lesson and each child completes one question based on the focus skill of the session. Children then come together with their teacher to mark and assess their learning following models and scaffolds.

During this time, groups of target children may receive their RWI Phonics input, particularly in KS2. We use RWI Fresh Start with pupils in Y5/6 who are still working on their phonics skills.

Writing:

At Eastcroft Park, we use the Literacy Counts 'Ready Steady Write' programme to deliver writing lessons. Across the year, each class from Reception-Y6 study several books (or vehicle text) which are the inspiration for the writing. They also study an example text (or WAGOLL) per book, which shows the class a good example of the writing outcome and what is expected for their year group. We aim to provide our pupils with a variety of opportunities to read and write different types of writing, such as narratives, diary entries, reports and information leaflets.

Lessons leading up to the final written piece aim to give  give children the tools they need to complete a piece of writing as independently as possible. These lessons include SPAG learning and smaller, shorter writing outcomes, or 'incidental writes’ which are all geared towards producing the final written outcome. These lessons also include opportunities for children to really understand and explore the context of their vehicle text, such as learning new vocabulary and drama activities.

All writing is completed within our purple Perfectly Polished books, where we show our editing, drafting and up-levelling process.

Reading for pleasure:

We advocate and encourage Reading for Pleasure through the use of quality texts in class libraries (rotated termly) and by providing attractive and comfy reading areas designed to entice children. We also hold reading competitions, invite the book fair into school twice a year, regularly engage with book talk and have daily timetabled reading sessions, such as ‘ERIC’ (Everybody Reading In Class) and Class Reader. We also broaden our children’s reading knowledge by allocating each class an author to focus on each term. We have carefully selected our authors to ensure they reflect the modern world and are accessible to our pupils, whilst also including some classic authors and novels. 

Inclusion:

Tasks and activities in English lessons at Eastcroft Park are designed to be accessible while still containing appropriate challenge. For advanced learners, the written outcome and expectation is higher. For SEND children, writing frames, scaffolds, use of technology and if needed, scribes are used to enable all children to create an outcome which meets the lesson/unit objectives.

Shared reading/writing and guided writing are used for all abilities to enable teachers and LSAs to model the skills needed to read & write successfully. Additional phonic interventions are put in place from Y1-Y6 dependent on cohort needs. In EYFS, teachers have interventions for SALT (Welcomm tool for example). 

EYFS:

In EYFS, pupils at Eastcroft Park explore the components of English through the 7 areas of learning; specifically the Prime area of Communication & Language, and the Specific area of Literacy. Each week they have 3 teaching inputs per day and a daily story. Teachers also provide continuous provision activities linked to their RSW book to provide complete immersion. Learning is child-initiated but in all areas, activities are enhanced through exploratory talk.

Please see EYFS curriculum or class page for more information about how they utilise the English curriculum.

Communication, Language and Vocabulary:

By its very nature, English and Literacy places language at the heart of learning. Through structured talk opportunities, modelled writing, and vocabulary-rich texts, children build the communication skills they need to speak, read and write with confidence. Each unit in Ready Steady Write includes explicit teaching of ambitious, topic-specific vocabulary, helping pupils broaden their language and express complex ideas with clarity and precision. 

Aspirations:

Our English curriculum includes texts that inspire ambition, perseverance, and courage—often featuring characters who overcome adversity or achieve great things. Pupils are encouraged to explore their own goals through meaningful writing outcomes such as letters, speeches and narratives, giving them a voice and a sense of purpose in their learning.

Mental Health:

Many of the chosen texts deal sensitively with themes such as friendship, identity, loss, hope, and resilience. This creates safe opportunities for children to explore emotions and discuss real-life challenges through the lens of story. Writing and discussion activities (such as role on the wall or freeze frame drama activities) allow pupils to reflect on their feelings and develop empathy, supporting their mental wellbeing.

Cultural Capital:

Ready Steady Write introduces pupils to a broad range of literature, settings, authors, and life experiences—expanding their knowledge of the world and enriching their cultural understanding. Texts range from classic literature to contemporary stories, non-fiction, and global voices, ensuring all children are exposed to a diverse and inclusive literary library.

Tolerance and Diversity:

Diversity is embedded throughout the scheme. We have worked tireless to carefully select authors and texts that represent a range of cultures, family structures, experiences, and perspectives. Children learn to appreciate difference, challenge stereotypes, and celebrate the uniqueness of individuals and communities. This fosters empathy, open-mindedness, and respectful discussion.

'Picture This' Competition - in association with National Literacy Trust and Amazon:

We entered and won a national competition for reading, which allowed us to expand our knowledge of picture books. We were filmed opening our prizes - a HUGE collection of new books for our school! This footage was then used at the National Literacy Trust's yearly gala. We were so excited to see ourselves on the big screen!

National Literacy Trust and Amazon's 'Young Readers' programme

We are working closely with Amazon and National Literacy Trust to take part in their 'Young Readers' programme, where pupils in Y2-Y4 take part in three workshops and each receive a brand new book to take home and keep. We had a visit from Amazon volunteers and a professional storyteller to share our love of reading. We love expanding our knowledge of books!

YoungWriters poetry competition

We entered a poetry competition with 'Young Writers' and wrote poems under the theme of 'This is Me'. We wrote rhyming, acrostic, haiku, kennings and other types of poetry. We were so excited to see that we had been published in their book!