English
Intent
The English curriculum at Flora Gardens is language-rich, skills focused and ambitious. It not only ensures that pupils become literate but also fosters a genuine love of reading and writing. At Flora Gardens, we expect all pupils to develop into thoughtful readers and confident, purposeful writers. We achieve this through a structured, skills-focused approach inspired by I Am a Clever Writer, which places a strong emphasis on explicit teaching, rich vocabulary development, and clear progression in writing.
Through the use of high-quality texts, pupils are immersed in language-rich learning environments where vocabulary development is prioritised. Our curriculum is carefully sequenced to ensure progression in both knowledge and skills, enabling children to revisit and deepen their understanding over time.
Reading at Flora Gardens is brought to life through Reader’s Theatre. This approach transforms reading into an engaging, collaborative experience where pupils perform texts aloud, developing fluency, expression, and comprehension. Rooted in evidence-informed practice, Reader’s Theatre supports pupils in rehearsing and re-reading texts, which strengthens their understanding while building confidence and enjoyment in reading.
Overall, the English curriculum at Flora Gardens is ambitious, engaging, and rooted in a strong foundation of language development. It equips pupils with the knowledge and skills they need to communicate effectively, while nurturing curiosity, creativity, and confidence. Through this approach, children develop not only as capable readers and writers, but also as articulate speakers who value and enjoy language in all its forms.
Implementation
The National Curriculum divides English into five strands: Speaking and Listening, Reading, Writing, Spelling and Handwriting. At Flora Gardens, these strands are taught through a cohesive and carefully structured approach, drawing on I Am a Clever Writer, Reader’s Theatre, and a strong emphasis on purposeful vocabulary development.
Speaking and Listening
Beginning in EYFS and continuing throughout the primary years, children develop their ability to express themselves clearly and confidently for a range of purposes. A particular focus in EYFS is the intentional development of communication and language through the Word Aware approach, where vocabulary is explicitly taught, revisited, and embedded in meaningful contexts. Carefully selected “star words” are introduced and practised to ensure children build a rich and usable vocabulary from an early stage.
Through the I Am a Clever Writer approach, children in EYFS focus on orally rehearsing and retelling familiar stories to internalise language structures and narrative patterns. In KS1, this develops into orally rehearsing sentences that they will go on to write, supporting them to construct accurate and purposeful writing. Across the school, pupils continue to develop their speaking and listening skills through a range of activities including discussion, drama, and performance. As they progress, they learn to recount events, present ideas, take on roles, summarise, and predict with increasing confidence and sophistication. Opportunities such as class assemblies, and performances—including the EYFS and KS1 Nativity and the Year 6 production—allow children to showcase their communication skills to a wider audience.
Reading
At Flora Gardens, reading is prioritised as both a fundamental skill and a source of enjoyment. We aim to develop fluent, confident readers who can understand, interpret, and respond to a wide range of texts, while fostering a lifelong love of reading. High-quality class texts are central to our curriculum, exposing pupils to rich language and diverse genres.
Reader’s Theatre is a key approach used to teach reading. This interactive method involves pupils performing texts aloud, which supports repeated reading, improves fluency, and deepens comprehension. By engaging in performance, children develop expression, confidence, and a stronger understanding of meaning and character.
Each classroom has a dedicated reading area that promotes the value and enjoyment of reading. Pupils have access to a wide range of fiction and non-fiction texts, including banded books for home reading alongside books chosen for pleasure. In the early years and Key Stage 1, parents are encouraged to read regularly with their children and record this in reading records. As pupils move through the school, they take increasing ownership by reflecting on their reading using structured prompts.
Through Reader’s Theatre and whole-class reading sessions, pupils develop key comprehension skills such as inference, explanation, summarising, prediction, and making connections. Additional opportunities, such as reading with sixth form volunteers from St. Paul's Girls' School, further support pupils in becoming confident and enthusiastic readers.
Clever Writers at Flora Gardens Primary School
Intent
At Flora Gardens Primary School, writing is taught in whole class lessons so that all children have access to the age-related skills and knowledge contained in the National Curriculum. We believe good teaching of phonics, reading and handwriting go ‘hand in hand’ to produce confident writers. We want all of our children to be able to confidently communicate their knowledge and ideas through their writing. We will ensure:
- Each individual is guided and nurtured on their own personal journey to become a successful writer.
- All children are given exciting and purposeful writing opportunities that engage them
- All children will acquire a wide vocabulary and be able to spell new words by effectively applying the spelling patterns and rules they learn throughout their time in primary school.
- All children have a clear understanding of grammar and apply it effectively to their writing.
- Children write clearly, accurately and coherently.
- Children have the necessary tools to adapt their language and style for a range of contexts, purposes and audiences.
- All children are encouraged to take pride in the presentation of their writing, by developing a legible handwriting style by the time they move to secondary school.
Implementation
At Flora Gardens Primary School, we use ‘I am a Clever Writer’ as a basis for teaching writing skills. We ensure our children write every day, practising newly taught skills discreetly before layering them with previously taught skills.
I am a Clever Writer is a 'clearly structured approach to teaching writing' where each strand of writing is broken down into small steps to allow pupils to experience success with their writing. Teaching sequences are carefully planned to ensure opportunities for consolidation and the development of a skill relating to the Clever Writer Checklist. The Clever Writer Checklist remains visible and accessible within the learning environment and is added to as new skills are introduced.
Our teachers create their own WAGOLLs (What a Good One Looks Like) based on the stimulus text to model to the children how to include the identified features in their own writing. These are produced for both fiction and non-fiction sequences of learning.
At the end of each sequence of lessons, which usually lasts around a week, the children take part in an extended writing activity on a text type. This is our 'Star Write' and the different aspects of spelling, grammar, punctuation and vocabulary taught during the week should be evident in the children’s extended writing. These strands are taught to match the curriculum for each year group, becoming increasingly complex over the course of the year as the children become more highly skilled. This allows teachers to teach specific skills discretely and ensure they are layered to give our children the tools they need to become confident writers.
Impact
The writing journey that children take as they move through Flora Gardens Primary School ensures they can successfully develop their composition (ideas) and transcription (spelling and handwriting). Rigorous teacher assessments and responsive teaching allow us to identify next steps for the children and the school. Monitoring is regularly carried out by the subject leader and the senior leadership team. This monitoring and evaluation cycle is mainly done by book looks, learning walks, analysis of data and planning. The children at Flora Gardens Primary School thoroughly enjoy showing their work to classroom visitors and they show confidence and pride in their learning. Assessment is tracked via Educator where teachers update their judgements every term.
If you want to find out more about the Clever Writer approach, click on the link below:
https://www.iamacleverwriter.co.uk/
How Parents Can Help
Parents have the ability to influence their children’s attitude to reading and ensuring they have a positive attitude to reading. Talking about books and sharing them together can be an enjoyable and effective activity. We understand that many parents speak more than one language and at Flora Gardens we think that regular practise and a focus on reading for pleasure is a skill everyone can give to their child. Reading with your child can take many forms and doesn’t necessarily have to be limited to a particular genre or even language!
Making sure your child has a quiet place to read is also important. At EYFS, KS1 and lower KS2, we ask for your support in filling out a reading record that indicates you have heard your child read. For upper KS2, the children complete their reading records independently and discuss their chosen books with their class teacher.
Quality Texts
We believe giving children experience of quality books will not only enhance their literary skills but also inspire them to engage with books, develop a love of reading and create motivation to write.
Below is a wonderful and highly recommended list of ‘100 books to read before…’ series created by Ashley Booth, a Year 6 Teacher in Liverpool.
You will find books suitable for all primary ages in the attachments below:
100 best picture books for Early Years
100 books to read in Key Stage 1