‘The power of imagination makes us infinite’ 

John Muir 

We aim for our children to be enthused about reading and writing and to develop a life-long love of literature.

We believe the development of language underpins children's achievement across the curriculum and lays the foundations for active involvement in cultural life, society, work and lifelong learning.
At Berrow, English and communication and language sit at the heart of the curriculum, engaging children to imagine, think, create and make a crucial contribution to children's development as successful learners. We believe the breadth and depth of literature used across our curriculum helps children to reveal their imagination, see the world through the eyes of others and read and write for pleasure.

We teach our children to become increasingly fluent and accurate in expressing their thoughts and emotions, orally and in writing.  Throughout the curriculum, children become more skilled at generating ideas, thinking critically and creatively.

We follow the National Curriculum for English. Reading at Berrow is intrinsically linked to writing and wider English skills, and is woven into the fabric of our full English curriculum. Our texts have been carefully selected to offer children an exposure to a broad and rich world of literature, drawing on cultures from around the world and supporting deep discussions that enable our children to grow into global citizens, whilst also becoming successful readers, writers and speakers.

Reading
We want to ensure that every child leaves primary school with a deep love of books, enjoyment of reading and a thirst for knowledge. We know that developing children as lifelong readers is a fundamental entitlement for every child as reading opens the door to opportunities. Reading is a journey that starts with children learning to read and develops into children being able to read in order to learn. We are committed to ensuring our children get off to the best start in education through reading.

We understand that in order to love reading, children need the skills to access texts with automaticity and fluency. At Berrow, we follow the Ruth Miskin – Read Write Inc Phonics Programme, which is a systematic, synthetic and rigorous approach to teaching decoding and word recognition skills from the moment a child starts their reading journey with us in early years.

In order to be competent readers who can confidently access and enjoy texts, children must be explicitly taught strategies to help them to fully understand what they are reading. We teach comprehension through a carefully curated progression of skills so that children can access texts for both pleasure and information. Comprehension sessions have a specific focus on a particular content domain taken from the National Curriculum reading framework.

For more information, visit our Reading at Berrow progression document.

Phonics
We follow the Read Write Inc Synthetic Phonics Programme to ensure our children begin their reading journey with a strong start. For more information, visit our Early English and Phonics curriculum page.

Writing
At Berrow, we believe every child is an author and understand that developing a love for writing, and a life-long engagement with books and wider literature, is essential for each child to achieve across all aspects of the curriculum. We believe writing expresses thoughts and breaths creativity, allowing our children to make their mark and for their voices to be heard.

We promote a positive ethos, where children are able to develop their love of literacy and literature through being given many opportunities to write across the curriculum and apply taught skills in a nurturing and safe environment.

In order to develop as writers, children need:
• inspirational teachers who are writers

• experience of a wide range of texts

• opportunities to talk about what they write before, during and after writing

• experience of writing for a range of purposes

High-quality texts form the spine of our writing curriculum, allowing learners to access models of excellence whilst developing their own style of writing. We aim to model and immerse children in different styles of writing, including a wide range of vocabulary, rhythmic patterns and figurative language.

Through literature, children from our demographic are taught about cultures from around the world; broadening their horizons from their locality, and our wider coverage is selected with this diversity in gender and culture deeply rooted at its heart.

We know that children who read, and are read to by others, achieve significantly improved outcomes and that is why reading at Berrow is intrinsically linked to writing and wider English skills. Reading and writing are intertwined and are woven into the fabric of our English curriculum.

For more information, visit our Writing at Berrow Progression document.