English is at the core of our curriculum and is central to our vision that every child should experience "Life in all its Fullness" (John 10:10).  We are very keen that every pupil at St. Benedict's develops a passion for reading as we believe that reading for pleasure can enhance our lives in so many ways and that by reading we can share the experiences of others and undertake fantastic journeys.  We follow the Talk 4 Writing English programme, pioneered by Pie Corbett.  We currently have a major focus on writing and believe that strong readers make strong writers, utilising the vocabulary they have read in their subsequent writing.

We are also passionate about our pupils expressing their views and this year, for the first time, we are using Picture News, which promotes lively discussion in classrooms throughout the school, based on a theme in the news.  We also have a 'Star Speaker' slot twice a year in which pupils talk to their classmates about a topic of their choice; the aim being to develop confidence in speaking to an audience - some of favourite topics so far are Sea Cucumbers, Chernobyl, Minecraft and Hamsters.

Please click on the Literacy Long-Term map to see what is happening in each year group throughout the year and click on the panel (right) for more details about English at St. Benedict's...