English

At Willowpark we intend for all pupils to experience an inspiring, language-rich and motivational English environment. We aim to foster a love of books and reading, alongside a positive culture of writing, for a variety of purposes and audiences and across all subjects within our broad curriculum.

When children begin their schooling at Willowpark, they will begin their early reading and writing development supported by excellent synthetic phonics teaching, giving them the foundational skills needed to confidently segment, decode and build words. During their times at our school , all pupils will be given the opportunity to immerse themselves in a wide range of texts from a range of different cultures.

Through shared texts and explicit teaching, they will experience a wide range of vocabulary, giving them the understanding and power of language that they need to flourish. Our intent is for every child to leave our care as as able and independent communicators, with the confidence and skills required to read and write fluently. They will be thoroughly prepared in all aspects of English and fully equipped for the next step in their educational journey.

Children will have the opportunity to write across a range of subjects (as a historian, as a scientist, as a geographer, as a humanitarian)

Opportunities are planned out in our long term plans and linked to the substantive and disciplinary concepts for the requisite subject.

Each term our children will take part in a whole school Creative Writing project.

english policy updated 2023.pdf

Writing Intent, Implementation and Impact

writing at willowpark academy ks2 346683 .pdf

genre progression 22 23.pdf

reception basic skills continuum wp.pdf

reading and writing poetry progressionn.pdf

Reading at Willowpark

We promote a love and thirst for learning and curiosity about the nature of reading and its necessity to everyday life . Our reading curriculum is ambitious and empowers our students to become independent and resilient.

We are committed to teaching our pupils to become skilled readers who develop a comprehensive understanding of words, language and texts. We recognise reading is a multi-faceted process involving word recognition, comprehension, fluency and motivation. By securing and being able to apply these key skills, pupils will be able to embed their knowledge and access new learning opportunities across the curriculum as well as develop a love of reading and a desire to read for pleasure.

We know that reading has many other benefits to the holistic development of our children. As well as improving knowledge and deepening comprehension, reading develops critical thinking; improves focus and concentration and develops empathy and imagination.

All pupils are encouraged to read widely across both fiction and non-fiction to further develop knowledge for themselves and the world in which they live, to establish an appreciation and love of reading and to gain knowledge across the curriculum.