{"id":15087,"date":"2026-06-10T12:27:47","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T12:27:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/originalmangogroup.co.uk\/flp\/?page_id=15087"},"modified":"2026-09-22T11:44:44","modified_gmt":"2026-09-22T11:44:44","slug":"english-curriculum","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/futuralearning.co.uk\/schools\/northgate-primary-school\/english-curriculum\/","title":{"rendered":"English curriculum"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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English curriculum<\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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English curriculum<\/h2>

\"\"<\/p>

Intent:<\/strong><\/h3>

At Northgate, English sits at the heart of the curriculum.\u00a0<\/p>

By the time they leave Northgate:<\/strong><\/p>

All children will, through talking, reading, writing and vocabulary acquisition, learn to communicate ideas, express themselves deeply and understand the world in which they live.<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>

Reading<\/u><\/p>

We place a huge importance on learning the skills of reading, developing both decoding and comprehension in partnership.\u00a0<\/p>

By the time they leave Northgate:<\/strong><\/p>

All children will become confident and skilled readers with a lifelong love of books.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>

Writing<\/u><\/p>

By the time they leave Northgate:<\/strong><\/p>

All children will plan, revise and evaluate their writing,\u00a0developing an awareness of the audience and the purpose and context of their writing. They will use a wide range of vocabulary and grammar\u00a0and also have fluent, legible and speedy handwriting.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>

Implementation<\/strong><\/h3>

Reading<\/u><\/strong><\/p>

Early Reading:<\/u>\u00a0Becoming an accomplished reader is underpinned by a strong start in early reading.\u00a0Phonics (taught using Unlocking Letters and Sounds) is the beginning of our children\u2019s journey towards mastering reading. Our team of practitioners are relentless in their dedication to ensuring each and every child at Northgate learns to read as quickly as possible.<\/p>

In phonics lessons, children learn one thing at a time, then keep practising it until they are ready to move onto learning the next skill.\u00a0 The Unlocking Letters and Sounds approach\u00a0ensures\u00a0that everything connects: children connect sounds with pictures and signs; decodable words and words that need to be leant by sight; stories with the sounds they know, and children connect their own experiences to the stories they read.<\/p>

Starting from the third week of school, we teach phonics every single day to ensure success. Children are grouped according to their phonic ability so that every child makes rapid progress and any children falling behind are quickly identified and early interventions are put in place with trained staff.<\/p>

We invest in the development of our staff through an ongoing relationship with the Schools Literacy Network and the English hub (St Peter\u2019s school, Portishead). There is regular coaching from experienced Phonics practitioners. We understand the importance of engaging with parents: the\u00a0Phonics Lead holds regular parent workshops, as well as maintaining dialogue with parents regarding their children\u2019s reading.<\/p>

At school:<\/u>\u00a0Every child from Reception upwards at Northgate participates in both individual and\u00a0class reading sessions. These are based around high-quality books and are also supplemented with non-fiction texts and poetry. This exposure to a wide range of literature not only enhances comprehension skills but supports the acquisition of knowledge and ambitious vocabulary. Within these sessions, children learn the necessary comprehension skills of retrieval; inference; paraphrasing and sequencing; as well as learning to make connections between texts; to discuss and evaluate ideas; and to express opinions. Vocabulary is taught both implicitly and explicitly so that the children can rapidly increase their ability to embed new words into their writing and into their speech.<\/p>

At home:<\/u>\u00a0At Northgate, we recognise that children need constant practice to become established, fluent readers and therefore place a strong emphasis on reading at home in addition to school. All children from EYFS to Year 6 are expected to read at least three times a week and record their reading in a reading record book given by the school. Parents are encouraged to support children in this. Teaching staff monitor children\u2019s reading habits and book choices, working with parents to inspire our pupils to become great readers. In parallel with this, we celebrate children\u2019s reading through sharing stories, partner classes, assemblies, awards and World Book Day.<\/p>

Writing<\/u><\/strong><\/p>

Writing:<\/u>\u00a0At Northgate, writing begins from a very early age – as soon as a child can mark make. Gross and fine motor skills are developed through our provision within EYFS, ensuring all children developmentally prepared to form letters correctly (taught in phonics sessions) and reinforced in adult-led session.<\/p>

In Key Stage 1 and 2, children are taught skills of writing through well-sequenced and progressive units of writing that are based on high-quality and age-appropriate texts. Children are given the opportunities to write a range of genres and consider the form, purpose and audience when writing. Writing units are sequenced into three stages of immersion, imitation and invention. The immersion stage allows children to engage with a high-quality text, understand its features and learn background context and vocabulary. The imitation stage allows for skill development. During this section, children will learn spelling, punctuation and grammar features that are expected in the end of unit outcome. Skills are taught over two lessons: \u2018try it\u2019 and \u2018use it\u2019. \u2018Try it\u2019 lessons are discrete SPAG lessons and these skills are then applied in a piece of writing at length during a \u2018use it\u2019 lesson. Short burst lessons are spaced throughout the imitation stage to recap and revise previous SPAG objectives. In the final invention stage, children complete their \u2018prove it\u2019 piece which is the main end of unit outcome. The success criteria for this should be based on objectives covered throughout the whole unit.<\/p>

Teachers initially model and scaffold the learning before giving the children the opportunity to practise the skills needed for them to write independently. Intentional monitoring is used throughout the lessons to provide the children with timely and constructive feedback, having immediate impact on their writing progression. Understanding the structural and technical knowledge of language, enables children to grow a life-long means of communication and ability to express themselves.<\/p>

Spelling:<\/u>\u00a0Our spelling curriculum follows on from the Letters and Sounds Programme taught in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2, developing the children\u2019s understanding of the rules of spelling and the common exception words required in each year group. Children in Years 3-6 receive a spelling session, following Essential Spelling, where they are systematically taught the spelling rules and requirements before embedding them throughout the week. Spellings are sent home as part of homework and children are tested each week.<\/p>

Handwriting:<\/u>\u00a0We use Unlocking Handwriting to deliver handwriting lessons throughout the school. Children in EYFS practise letter formation as part of their daily phonics and they progress to discrete handwriting lessons as the year develops. This is carried through to Year 1 where children receive timetabled handwriting sessions. In year 2, children will learn to join their handwriting. In Key Stage 2, children continue to work on joining, legibility and writing at length, receiving a pen license when they can fluently write in a neat, cursive style through the curriculum. By the time children get to year 5, all children are expected to be writing in pen. Handwriting progress is celebrated across the school through writing walls and published workbooks.<\/p>

Overview<\/strong><\/h3>

We believe in the importance of using quality texts to support the teaching of reading and writing at Northgate. Our English overview for this year can be seen\u00a0here:<\/p>

Northgate Primary School English Curriculum Overview and Progression Document<\/a><\/strong><\/p>

Northgate Reading Progression Document<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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SCHOOL SNAPSHOT<\/h4>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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NORTHGATE PRIMARY SCHOOL<\/h5>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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A creative and innovative place of learning.<\/p>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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01278 226070<\/a><\/p>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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office@northgateprimaryschool.org.uk<\/a><\/p>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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