Our Mission Statement

'Making a difference by inspiring a love of life and learning for all. We build strong foundations within God's loving hands'. 

Our Core Values

We provide a Catholic Christian education based on the life and teaching of Jesus Christ. Our Core Values. Our Core Values are inspired by Gospel values and stem from love - love is forgiveness, sharing and kindness. They are:

• Responsibility
• Compassion
• Respect
• Honesty
• Perseverance
• Courage

At Christ the King Catholic Primary School we inspire our children to have a lifelong love of learning through a broad, enriched and balanced curriculum. We aspire for all children to be the best they can be and make a difference to our world by building strong foundations within God’s loving hands.

Our Approach, Aim, and Curriculum

Our key curriculum drivers are:

• Inclusivity
• Creativity
• Curiosity
• Oracy 

At Christ the King Catholic Primary School, our aim as English teachers is to develop articulate speakers, inspiring writers and avid readers, who can apply this knowledge in an ever-changing world. English is an integral part of education and society. A high-quality education in English teaches children the art of speaking and listening, how to write and communicate ideas coherently for different purposes, and how to read fluently with a clear understanding. Through reading and writing, children have an opportunity to develop culturally, emotionally, intellectually, socially and spiritually. Being immersed in good quality texts develops pupils’ vocabulary choices and writer’s voice, and also allows them to explore and appreciate our rich and varied literary heritage. We carefully select the texts we share with the children in our classes so that we can plan for purposeful opportunities to discuss important aspects of British values, mental health, well-being and citizenship, which in turn develops children’s cultural capital. We further promote a love of learning through widespread reading for pleasure across the school. 

Primary English helps pupils to acquire knowledge and understanding of:

• Reading 
• Writing 
• Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling 
• Speaking and Listening

Reading

Intent

Reading is the foundation for the rest of the children’s learning to build upon across the curriculum. We aim to:

• Develop children’s understanding and skills to help them become independent, enthusiastic readers.
• Allow children to access age-appropriate texts.
• Understand that the vocabulary pupils have acquired may be relevant across other areas of their learning, and to give them opportunities to apply that language where possible

Implementation

For the teaching of early reading, children learn the English alphabetic code: first they learn one way to read the 40+ sounds and blend these sounds into words, then learn to read the same sounds with alternative graphemes.

Phonically-decodable reading books are closely matched to the children’s increasing knowledge of phonics and ‘sight’ words and, as children re-read the stories, their fluency increases.

Along with a thought-provoking introduction, prompts for thinking out loud and discussion, children are helped to read with a storyteller’s voice.

Writing

Intent

Our aim is to develop the children’s ability to produce well-structured writing with appropriate detail, in which the meaning is clear and the interest of the reader is engaged. Our approach to writing aims to help children to develop their own writer’s voice and the ability to write confidently for a range of different purposes. We aim to:

• Develop understanding and skills to help children become independent, enthusiastic writers.
• Encourage children to enjoy using language in different contexts and have the confidence and ability to do so.
• Help children to develop a fluent, legible handwriting style and take care with the presentation of their work.
• Support children with the process of editing their writing by proofreading, making word additions and revisions, and redrafting and rewriting attempts (Year 2 and Key Stage 2).
• Help children to write in a variety of contexts, including writing lessons, topic-based and cross-curricular learning, and through the Foundation Stage curriculum.
• Support children in their study of language through shared texts and writing experiences.
• Teach compositional skills to all children, such as purposeful language choices, grammar and punctuation.

Implementation

Throughout the school, teachers are flexible in their selection of teaching materials for English but also follow a planning sequence for each unit of writing, which usually takes between 2-3 weeks. In Key Stage 1, Story Maps provide children with invaluable opportunities to express their own ideas and develop their own characters and plots. Children in all Key Stages are given daily opportunities to write in a range of contexts, for a variety of purposes, and have regular opportunities to write at length in extended independent writing sessions. Our medium term planning for writing covers the range of text types set out in the National Curriculum, ensuring a breadth of coverage. We have a writing Working Wall displayed in all Key Stage 1 and 2 classrooms, which shows our current writing focus in each class and allows visitors to see the writing progression across the school.

Spelling and Grammar

Intent

The two statutory appendices in the National Curriculum (on Spelling and Vocabulary, Grammar and Punctuation) provide an overview of the specific features that are included in the teaching of these programmes of study.

Opportunities for teachers to enhance pupils’ vocabulary arise naturally from their reading and writing. As the pupils’ vocabulary range increases, teachers show them how to understand the relationships between words and their meaning. We also teach pupils how to work out and clarify the meanings of unknown words and words with more than one meaning.

Pupils are taught to control their speaking and writing consciously, to use Standard English, and to effectively use spelling, grammar and punctuation.

Throughout the programmes of study, teachers teach pupils the vocabulary they need to discuss their reading, writing and spoken language. Pupils therefore learn the correct grammatical terms in English and these terms are integrated within teaching. The children are then given opportunities to use a range of spelling strategies and then apply them to their independent work.

Children access and experience precise and dynamic teaching of all expected grammar objectives for their year group. Grammar is predominantly taught through the children’s current writing focus in English lessons, which they practise using within their current writing unit, and then apply their knowledge of these grammar components in an independent writing piece at the end of their writing unit.

Implementation

In every year group, the teaching of spelling focuses on the common exception words for each year group.

Children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 have daily phonics lessons, and apply their newly-learnt sound knowledge to their spelling in these lessons and also in whole-class learning across the curriculum.

Speaking and Listening

Intent

At Christ the King Catholic Primary School, we endeavour to combat gaps in language and vocabulary, which can affect the cultural capital of our children. We seek opportunities to develop the oracy skills of our pupils and increase the potential for improving their knowledge of speaking and listening. We aim to:

• Help children to become articulate speakers and good responsive listeners in a variety of situations.
• Encourage pupils to evaluate their own and others’ contributions through a range of drama activities.
• Develop pupils’ abilities to reflect on their own and others’ contributions to their use of language.
• Encourage children to enjoy using language in different contexts and have the confidence and ability to do so.

Implementation

We develop the children’s speaking and listening skills in a range of ways, through:

• stories, songs and poems
• reading aloud
• learning stories through Story Maps (Key Stage 1)
• imaginative play and role play
• describing events, observations and experiences
• hot seating
• drama
• giving reasons for actions
• explaining ideas and opinions in discussion
• reflecting and responding to others
• planning for writing
• predicting and investigating in small groups
• performing to different audiences

Monitoring:

The English Subject Leader monitors, evaluates and provides feedback on planning, lesson observations, book looks, reading levels, pupil voices and progress made. Alongside our SLT, we also work with other English Leads across the South Gloucestershire Catholic Schools Cluster to ensure consistency, quality assurance, and moderation of our assessments. Children’s reading will be monitored through the use of their Reading Records at home and at school when reading aloud to an adult in order to track their progress made.

Overall Impact in English:

At Christ the King Catholic Primary School, the impact of our curriculum will be that children will have developed a love of reading and writing and made at least good progress in both curriculum areas from their last point of statutory assessment. By Year 6, children will have built a repertoire of reading skills and knowledge, which will be rooted in experience of high-quality picture books, novels, poems and non-fiction texts. Children will also have built a repertoire of writing skills and knowledge which will be rooted in experience of high-quality fiction and non-fiction writing. Our pupils will then be able to use these skills going forward as a key tool in helping them to learn when they transition to secondary school.

In the EYFS, children’s achievements are ongoing and are assessed against the Early Learning Goals. Teachers in Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 will make judgements about the children’s reading and writing in relation to their age-related expectations using ARE grids for their year group. Year 2 and Year 6 children will also be assessed in accordance with the end of Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 statutory Teacher Assessment Frameworks. Statutory assessments take place at the end of Year 1, Year 2 and Year 6. Summative assessment is recorded three times a year for each child on SIMs tracking sheets for reading and writing. This data is carefully analysed to make sure that all children and groups are making progress and achieving their potential. Children in Years 1-6 also complete termly NFER assessment tests for reading, spelling, grammar and punctuation (dependent on the year group).

Assessment for learning underpins teaching and learning in English. Children’s work is regularly assessed through observation, discussion, book monitoring across all year groups and evaluating outcomes. Termly pupil progress meetings are used to track the progress of each child in reading and writing across the year. Pupil Trackers are also updated regularly online using SIMs against the year group’s ARE objectives.

Formative Assessment:

Teacher assessment is an integral part of best practice. Assessment is carried out on a daily and weekly basis. It involves identifying children’s progress against teaching objectives, and identifying which children have achieved these objectives and are ready to move onto the next stage of their learning. Where appropriate, additional support and interventions are identified for children who are not making the expected progress. Teachers will assess their pupils through observing their discussions and responses to targeted questions in class, developmental marking of written work in pupils’ books, and partaking in several writing moderation meetings throughout the year with fellow teachers at Christ the King Catholic Primary School and other teaching practitioners in the same year group from local primary schools. 

Summative Assessment:

This includes:

• Baseline testing in Reception
• Year 1 Phonics Screening Testing
• Year 2 and Year 6 SAT’s testing
• Years 1 – 6 termly NFER progress assessments
• PM Benchmark used to assess reading levels and ages (predominantly in Key Stage 2)
• Spelling Tests of the National Curriculum statutory spelling lists for each year group
• Tracking in reading and writing against the ARE objectives
• Analysis of pupils’ reading records.

Download more information

• CTK Reading Learning Ladder
• CTK Writing Learning Ladder