At Clifton Upon-Teme Primary School, we want every child to develop a love of language, reading and writing and the confidence to express themselves clearly and creatively. As a small rural school, we value knowing our children well and use their interests, experiences and the world around them to make learning meaningful and memorable.

We aim to equip pupils with the skills to speak, read and write fluently, enabling them to communicate their ideas, thoughts and feelings effectively. We encourage children to become confident readers and writers who are curious about words, enjoy exploring stories and are ambitious in what they can achieve.

English is at the heart of our wider curriculum. Our creative, topic-based approach provides opportunities for children to apply their reading, writing, speaking and listening skills in meaningful contexts across the curriculum. Children regularly revisit and build upon previous learning so that, as they move through the school, they know more, remember more and understand more.

Our rich and varied curriculum exposes children to a wide range of high-quality texts, authors, genres and vocabulary, alongside opportunities to draw inspiration from our local rural community and the wider world. Children have plentiful opportunities to write for different purposes and audiences, and our weekly 'Star Writes' celebrate their creativity, progress and achievements.

Throughout their English journey, children learn to respect the ideas and opinions of others, take responsibility for their learning and develop confidence in sharing their thoughts. They show perseverance when faced with challenging texts or writing tasks and develop collaboration through discussion, shared reading and working together. Above all, we want our children to be ambitious readers, writers and communicators who leave Clifton with the skills, confidence and lifelong love of English needed to thrive.

The carefully planned sequences of learning allows us to ensure complete curriculum coverage and engage children to write with clear audience and purpose. Using novels, poetry collections and high-quality, non-fiction books allows us to take children through whole books to teach reading comprehension and create critical readers. (Please refer to the Phonics and Early Reading information for Reception and Year 1).

Our English curriculum overviews can be found below: