Every Lesson's an English lesson

At More Park our priority is to establish in staff and in pupils the principle that literacy skills are the key to learning across all subjects. Furthermore, that they are skills for life and as effective communicators they will enable us to live life to the full. Every lesson is an English lesson and so literacy is at the centre of our drive for whole-school improvement. Our strategy is always developing, but at its centre sits workplace research, Ofsted's reviews of English in schools and our own Pupil Voice conferences:

- "One of the most effective developments over recent years has been the increasing tendency for teachers to demonstrate writing for their pupils. At its best, this involves teachers in writing with pupils, explaining their choice of words and phrases, and amending their work as they produce it. Pupils can see how ideas and language are created, shaped, reviewed and revised."

- Proofreading is a fundamental part of our writing curriculum: to improve, to consider alternatives, to check for accuracy – spelling, punctuation and correct grammar. Teaching grammar explicitly and in context is a key element. Our curriculum is all about effective and accurate writing that connects with the reader. Time is taken to explore words, develop phrases, borrow from experiences and reading, play with sentences and paragraphs to encourage children to always consider the impact on the reader when they write.

- Book studies and planning longer sequences allows children to know a book inside and out, to look at how writers use language and words to impact on the reader and use them as models for their own writing. The all-important time to develop their own ideas for writing is built into longer-term planning and delivered as part of a cross-curricular approach. One of the hardest aspects of writing is having enough well thought out ideas to write about. Only then can children concentrate on how to write those ideas down. And that leads us to one of life's other key skills and one of our additional priorities -  developing a love of reading.