Our English Curriculum

At Sacred Heart Primary School, English lies at the heart of our curriculum, enabling all pupils to become confident, fluent and articulate learners who can both access and contribute to a literate world. At Sacred Heart we aim to ensure all children speak, read and write fluently so they can become courageous, resilient and world-class communicators. 

Systematic phonics, taught consistently and progressively, enables all pupils to develop secure decoding skills leading to fluency and comprehension. Adaptive teaching ensures every child can access learning at an independent level, with targeted support and challenge provided where needed.

Our high-quality core texts are sequenced across year groups to promote progression, cohesion and a love of literature. These texts reflect our diverse school community and enables pupils to explore universal concepts such as identity, belonging and the natural world.

Through discussion, performance and debate, pupils develop oracy, reasoning and confidence in expressing their ideas.  Fluency in transcription is prioritised for our children to develop confidence in writing and to free up working memory for creative ideas and expression (Education Endowment Fund, 2020). Retrieval of key punctuation, grammar and spelling knowledge is embedded through a daily dictated sentence, ensuring essential skills are continually revisited, practised and secured.

Our English curriculum is built around the school’s 6Rs (Relate, Read, Rip, Rehearse, Writing and Review). Each learning sequence is carefully designed to develop these skills explicitly, ensuring that children make strong progress in literacy while also supporting their wider personal development.

Our Intent

By the end of their primary journey, every child will:

Recognise the power of language to inform, entertain, persuade and inspire.

See themselves as confident readers and writers, developing their own voice, opinions and preferences.

Write with confidence and authenticity for a range of purposes, audiences and forms.

Value literature as a means of understanding themselves, others and the world around them.

Reading, Writing and Oracy

The dynamic relationship between reading, writing and oracy sits at the core of our English curriculum, fostering both independence and courage in every learner. High-quality texts not only model excellence in writing but also inspire pupils to think deeply, question ideas and engage in meaningful discussion and debate. Through shared and independent reading, children explore a rich range of voices and perspectives, building the confidence to form and express their own views.

Through purposeful talk, pupils are encouraged to speak with clarity and conviction, developing the courage to articulate, challenge and justify their ideas. This strong foundation empowers them to become independent thinkers and communicators who are confident in their voice and resilient in sharing it.

PAFI

Each unit is carefully mapped using PAFI so that children understand not only how to write, but why they are writing, who they are writing for, and the impact they want their words to have. Wherever possible, completed pieces are shared with their intended audience whether that be peers, other classes, families or the wider community so that writing has genuine purpose and value beyond the classroom.

Purpose – Children write for a wide range of meaningful purposes, including to narrate, inform, instruct, persuade, discuss and reflect. As they progress through the school, these purposes become increasingly sophisticated in line with the National Curriculum.

Audience – Writing is always shaped with a clear audience in mind. Children understand that their words are meant to be read, heard and responded to, and opportunities are created for their work to be shared with that audience. By upper KS2, pupils can independently select their audiences, strengthening ownership, independence and a sense of authorship.

Form – Children are taught to organise their ideas into the most effective form, such as stories, letters, reports, articles, play scripts or poetry. By Year 6, they confidently make independent decisions about structure and form to suit their purpose and audience.

Impact – Reflection and refinement are central to the writing process. Children consider how their writing is received by its audience and edit their work to strengthen clarity, effectiveness and overall impact.

Find out more information about our English curriculum by speaking with Harriet.flavell@Sacredheartpri.com