At Anstey, we know that literacy is the foundational skill that pupils must develop. Our English curriculum has been designed to achieve the ambitious objective that every pupil will be a confident communicator, a fluent reader and a creative writer who is ready to progress to their next stage of education. We aim to nurture an interest in and passion for the subject for all pupils, regardless of their starting points or barriers to learning. Anstey pupils have a love of literature and are exposed to a broad range of experiences, attitudes and cultures as part of our English curriculum. 

Oracy and communication

Oracy is the first skill we seek to develop in our pupils. We believe that children must be able to say a sentence before they can write it, and understand a word before they can use it. Spoken language and "oracy"—the ability to communicate effectively through speech—are the bedrock of all learning at our school.

We don't just teach children how to speak; we provide them with rich, meaningful reasons to talk. By immersing our pupils in high-quality texts, we spark debate, dramatic role-play, and collaborative discussions that naturally encourage children to articulate complex ideas, build empathy, and active listening skills from an early age. As well as promoting the skills of speaking clearly with intention, this also allows to teach active listening.

With this focus on oracy comes a well-planned and sequenced vocabulary progression. We know the language we want children to acquire, and we have planned this into the curriculum so that it is not left to chance. 

Reading at Anstey 

Above all others, reading is the skill we prioritise. It is the key to all other learning, and our reading curriculum reflects the importance we put on this essential skill. 

• Early Reading: We use a systematic synthetic phonics programme, Rocket Phonics to ensure children decode fluently from the start. Rocket Phonics has an accompanying set of books that children use to practise the sounds that match the classroom learning. These are used as home readers as well as in school. 

• Fluency and Comprehension: Pupils will continue working through the Rocket Phonics programme throughout reception and Year one. At Anstey, we also use Rocket Phonics Next Steps. This is an extension of the phonics programme that continues into KS2. Children develop their decoding skills before going on to work on reading fluency and comprehension as well as spelling rules and handwriting. Reading fluency and comprehension are also taught through our English lessons. 

• Reading for Pleasure: From their first day at Anstey, all pupils are given multiple opportunities during the week to read for pleasure. We have a well-stocked library that children love to visit. More than a place to select a book, this is a tranquil part of the school where children are encouraged to read at length and explore their interests. Reading for pleasure is supported to make sure that pupils are accessing a healthy reading diet, consisting of high-quality fiction and non-fiction that caters to all interests and attainment. Story times are special times of the day at Anstey, and we know how much our pupils love hearing familiar stories as well as new ones. 

• Assessment of reading: From the Summer term in reception, pupils are assessed through the nationally  benchmarked reading comprehension assessments, PIRA. Our reading results have been excellent for the last five years: 80% of our pupils from Y1 – Y4 are reading at the expected standard. 

Writing at Anstey

We know that great writing starts with great reading, so at Anstey, we carefully select books that will inspire and motivate our pupils to write across a range of genres and text types. 

We focus on the intention and purpose of writing, and plan our writing sequences to give children this purpose. Examples of this include persuasive letters, posters to communicate ideas clearly, and stories that will illicit emotional responses from our audience.

To support our teachers' planning, we use Literacy Tree resources. We chose this scheme of work because it is adaptable, and can be changed to suit the needs of our pupils. It is also a 'book-first' scheme of work – the initial stimulus for the pupils is the text, rather than the intended writing outcome. This allows children to become immersed in the language, narrative or information before tackling the tasks of writing.

Michael Rosen is a wonderful inspiration for teachers, and we keep his advice in mind when planning children's writing: "How do I write something like that?" is a very powerful question. This brings children into the text, and gets them thinking creatively about what the 'ingredients' of their writing should be.