English

English Curriculum – Intent

At Nonsuch Primary School, our English curriculum equips pupils with the knowledge, skills, vocabulary, and understanding they need to become confident, articulate, and imaginative communicators—both in writing and in speech.

English Curriculum – Implementation

Our curriculum ensures that all pupils:

• Develop a love of reading by reading widely and regularly for both pleasure and information.
• Read fluently with confidence and understanding.
• Build a broad vocabulary and a secure understanding of grammar and language conventions across reading, writing and spoken language.
• Appreciate and engage with a rich and diverse literary heritage.
• Write with clarity, accuracy and coherence, choosing language and style appropriate to different purposes, audiences and contexts.
• Use discussion as a tool for learning, confidently explaining and developing their ideas.
• Speak and listen effectively, including through formal presentations, demonstrations and participation in debates.

Reading Curriculum – Intent

At Nonsuch Primary School, we aim to foster a lifelong love of reading in every child. Through a rich and varied reading curriculum, we ensure pupils develop the skills to read fluently, confidently and with understanding. We introduce children to a diverse range of texts, authors and genres, helping them to explore the world through books and develop empathy, imagination and critical thinking. Our goal is for all pupils to leave Nonsuch as enthusiastic, independent readers – who read for both pleasure and purpose.

Reading Curriculum – Implementation

At Nonsuch Primary School, our English lessons are built around high-quality, engaging texts that provide a meaningful context for learning and nurture a lifelong love of reading. Through well-structured, text-based units, pupils are taught key reading skills and explore the features of a wide range of genres. Our carefully planned lessons are adapted to meet the needs of all our learners, ensuring a broad and balanced selection of texts in line with National Curriculum expectations. Children have daily opportunities to read independently and also enjoy listening to adults share a variety of rich, high-quality texts.

Reading is taught through:

• Reading lessons – This daily lesson supports children in developing reading fluency, deepening their understanding of texts and responding to questions with confidence. Our focus includes vocabulary development, retrieval of information, inference, close reading and a weekly comprehension activity to reinforce key skills.
• Library – Children enjoy fortnightly visits to our well-stocked school library, where they have the opportunity to choose books independently and spend time reading, helping to promote a lifelong love of reading for pleasure.
• Cross-Curricular Reading – Pupils apply the reading skills they have developed to deepen their knowledge and understanding across all areas of the curriculum.

Nonsuch Primary School is privileged to have a well-stocked library, containing an extensive selection of high-quality books and reading materials. Pupils attend fortnightly library sessions, providing them with valuable opportunities to expand their reading experiences and engage with a diverse range of literary genres.

Writing Curriculum – Intent

At Nonsuch Primary School, we understand that fluency in written English is fundamental to a child’s success both now and in the future. Strong writing skills are essential across all areas of the curriculum and empower our pupils to express their ideas clearly and confidently to the wider world. We are dedicated to supporting every child to achieve their full potential by providing engaging and meaningful contexts that inspire learning and skill development. Our approach builds on solid foundations, encouraging pupils to explore a variety of writing genres while developing precision and clarity in their communication. Through this, we aim to nurture confident, articulate writers who can adapt their style and voice for different purposes and audiences.

Writing Curriculum – Implementation

At Nonsuch Primary School, all classes follow a carefully designed long-term overview of texts, selected to suit the age and ability levels of our pupils. The texts are a diverse range of fiction, non-fiction and poetry in order to meet National Curriculum requirements as well as providing rich and varied reading experiences. Pupils engage in text deconstruction to build confidence in understanding structure and key features, followed by lessons focusing on different elements of grammar, culminating in the creation of an extended piece of writing inspired by the text.

Mighty Writer

At Nonsuch Primary School, we are committed to fostering a love for writing among our students. To support this goal, we have integrated Mighty Writer, an innovative and engaging tool, into our English curriculum. Mighty Writer is a hands-on resource designed to enhance children’s writing skills through interactive and visual support.

🧩 What Is Mighty Writer?

Mighty Writer is a tactile teaching tool that simplifies the process of learning to write. It consists of a large, colorful mat and a variety of detachable, colour-coded tiles representing words, punctuation marks, sentence starters and themed images. These elements allow children to physically construct sentences and stories, facilitating a deeper understanding of sentence structure, grammar and punctuation.