Our primary school curriculum is carefully designed to ensure a broad and balanced education that meets the needs of all pupils. The curriculum intent aims to inspire a love for learning, foster curiosity, and equip pupils with the skills and knowledge they need to flourish academically and personally. It is rooted in a deep understanding of the local community that ensures that we ‘value our past’, celebrate diversity, promote cultural capital, prepare pupils for life in modern Britain and ‘look to the future with hope’.

Commitment to our pupils is fulfilled through our high aspiration, passion and drive and is founded upon the following four key principles:

1. Unlocking children's true academic potential to ensure that they ‘flourish’.

We aim to develop confident, resilient, inquisitive, independent & knowledgeable children through the delivery of a coherent & structured enquiry based curriculum which builds on prior learning from nursery to year 6. Individuals are challenged to reach their true potential and be ready for the next stage in their education. We want our children to believe in the transformative power of change and to ‘look to the future with hope’ in their hearts.

In Phonics and Early Reading we do this through:

• Recognising that reading is the core skill to everything children do and that in order to fully access the curriculum in KS2, our pupils need to be fluent readers by the time they leave KS1. The ability to read and comprehend is integral to our school's ambitious curriculum and a fundamental life skill that impacts on the acquisition of knowledge. 

• Ensuring that our approach to teaching phonics and reading is accessible to all learners, regardless of background and ensures success for all pupils.  

• Adopting the principles set out in The Reading Framework (2022) and recommendations set out in The English Education Subject Report (Telling The Story 2024)

• Delivering an aspirational, systematic and synthetic phonics programme which goes beyond the expectations of the EYFS and KS1 (Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised Programme) with pace, positivity and fidelity

• Ensuring that phonics and early reading is a priority and therefore phonics is taught daily and discrete group reading sessions three items a week

• Ensuring our readers are equipped with the tools to tackle unfamiliar vocabulary. 

• Ensuring children are reading decodable texts correctly matched to their phonic ability

• Delivering timely and rigorous interventions for pupils who are not at the expected level, identified by our half termly assessments and daily assessment for learning

• Ensuring that staff are fully trained and receive ongoing training and support in order to deliver the programme effectively, driven by a passionate and relentless reading leader

 

2. Unlocking children’s true social and emotional potential to ensure that they ‘flourish’ as unique, well-rounded individuals.

We aim to foster happy and healthy children, within a safe environment, who are given the help they need to learn, grow and achieve as much as they possibly can in an atmosphere which nourishes a healthy mind and body. We want our children to believe that each one of them holds the power to make a difference in the world through ‘doing all of the good they can.’ 

In Phonics and Early Reading we do this through:

• Developing fluent , independent and reflective readers who are confident to talk about books and authors from a variety of genres. 

• Ensuring 100% participation in phonics and reading practise sessions by listening and responding and by practicing and applying what they are learning

• Timetabled collective story time across EYFS, KS1 and KS2 classes

• Encouraging regular reading at home (aspirational target of five times a week)

3. Unlocking children’s true potential to ‘flourish’ as life-long learners through raising individual expectations, self-belief and exposure to ‘opportunity’

We aim to help our children to be aware of and see ‘opportunity’ beyond their locality and starting points through exposure to the wider world. We aim to provide a broad, balanced curriculum with a wide variety of experiences which nurture the talents and interests of our children enabling them to become resilient, creative, enquiring learners and effective communicators who persevere and aspire for excellence.

In Phonics and Early Reading we do this through:

• Developing positive attitudes towards reading so that it is a pleasurable and purposeful activity 

• Delivering an aspirational, systematic and synthetic phonics programme which goes beyond the expectations of the EYFS and KS1 (Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised Programme) with pace, positivity and fidelity

• Regular visits to the local library so that children can select books reflecting their own interests

• Providing a range of texts in class libraries which reflect real life situations, read to and discussed with the children in story times and in curriculum subjects as well as in English lessons.

• Having a strong focus on language development for our children because we know that speaking and listening are crucial skills for reading and writing in all subjects. 

 

4. For our children to ‘do all of the good they can’ by broadening their horizons and developing each of them as a responsible local and global citizen. 

We want our children to appreciate their role as part of our community. We encourage them to ask questions, make informed choices and to take responsibility for the decisions they make. As a result we hope to foster in our children an awareness of the difference they can make as local & global citizens, treating others with compassion and respect.

In Phonics and Early Reading we do this through:

• Providing a range of texts in class libraries which reflect real life, read to and discussed with the children in story times and in curriculum subjects as well as in English lessons  

Website Phonics Curriculum Intent Map East Halton pdf (1)

[pdf 198KB]