English
Here at St Paul’s, English is taught in an innovative, creative and interactive way. We aim to engage, inspire and challenge pupils. We follow the New National Curriculum and we continually adapt and revamp our plans. The English Curriculum covers Reading, Writing, Grammar, Punctuation, Spelling, Speaking and Listening, Presenting and Drama.
All children should be able to read easily, fluently and with good understanding
All children should develop the habit of reading widely and often, for both pleasure and information
All children should acquire a wide vocabulary, an understanding of grammar and knowledge of linguistic conventions for reading, writing and spoken language
All children should appreciate our rich and varied literary heritage
All children should write clearly, accurately and coherently, adapting their language and style in and for a range of contexts, purposes and audiences
All children should use discussion in order to learn; they should be able to elaborate and explain clearly their understanding and ideas
All children are competent in the arts of speaking and listening, making formal presentations, demonstrating to others and participating in debate and drama activities.
We want all of our children to leave St Paul’s equipped with the essential reading, writing, speaking and listening skills, as well as a love of books and language.
English Across the School
School Overview Table for English
Whole School English Overview.pdfEnglish Policy
English Policy 2024.pdfNational Poetry Day 2023
Refuge
In Year 6 at St. Paul's CofE Primary School, something truly special happened during National Poetry Day in 2023. The students delved into the world of poetry by studying a thought-provoking poem titled "Refugees" by Brian Bilston. This poem touched their hearts and sparked their creative spirits.
The poem, "Refugees," shed light on the plight of those seeking refuge and the challenges they face. It inspired our Year 6 students to explore their own emotions and thoughts about this important issue. They embarked on a poetic journey of their own, crafting their unique versions of the poem.
With immense creativity and compassion, our Year 6 students gave voice to the experiences and emotions of refugees, using their words to raise awareness and evoke empathy. Their poems were like windows into the hearts and minds of those who seek safety and a better life.
National Poetry Day 2023 was not just about celebrating the beauty of language and self-expression; it was a week of learning, empathy, and solidarity. Through their poetry, Year 6 showed the world that even young hearts can be filled with understanding and a desire for positive change. They left an enduring mark on our school community, inspiring us all to be more compassionate global neighbours.
What our children say about English
“ I enjoy English because we get to read back our written work and share it with others. My favourite book was the Lonely Beast.“
“ I like it when we write stories and do big writes as we have no boundaries and can use our imagination. I particularly liked Michael Morpurgo’s ‘The Dancing Bear’ because of the language used and how the author wrote about the characters.”
Reception
Year 1 Reading For Pleasure
Maple: George’s Marvellous Medicine
It is about a young boy, George, who is forced to stay with his witchlike grandmother one day. While his parents are out shopping, George remembers to give his grandmother her medicine. But, he decides to banish her and create his own recipe using various household items.
Willow: Mia Mayhem is a Superhero
Mia thinks she is clumsy, chaos follows her where ever she goes, but then one day she discovers that she is in fact a super hero!!. The book follows Mia as she starts her Super Hero Training .It is full of chaos, mishaps, friendship and laughter as Mia settles in to her new super hero training while still being only 8.
Book Recommendations:
Ten Little Monsters
Oi Puppies /Oi Frog/Oi Dog/Oi Cat/
The Mega Hair Swap
Look Up
Rosie Revere Englineer
Silly Billy
The Smeds and The Smoos
The Snail and the Whale
Hair Love
Something else
The Caude books e.g Claude on Holiday
Gorilla
The highway ratThe funny bones
The ice cream that had a meltdown
The owl who was afraid of dark
Fantastic Mr Fox
The friendship bench
Year 2
Class novels - Hodgeheg by Dick King Smith -
Max is a hedgehog who lives with his family in a nice little home, but it’s on the wrong side of the road from the Park where there’s a beautiful lily pond and plenty of juicy slugs, worms and snails! The busy road is dangerous but Max is determined to make his way across. If humans can do it, why can’t hedgehogs?
His first attempt ends in a nasty bump on the head and, when Max tries to speak, he realises his words are all mixed up. He is no longer a hedgehog but a hodge-heg! Still determined to fulfil his mission, Max discovers the best way to cross the road – with the help of the lollipop lady and some careful detective work .
Book recommendations for Y2
To read themselves. Any of the little gem books are really good as a starting point for more independent reading.
Good Dog Little Lion by Alexander McCall Smith
Grandpa Bert and The Ghost Snatchers by Malorie Blackman
Budgie by Jospeh Coelho
Captain Whiskers by Jeremy Strong
Isadora Moon series by Harriet Muncaster
Famous Five by Enid Blyton
Amelia Fang by Laura Ellen Anderson
The Puffin Keeper by Michael Morpurgo
Little People, Big Dreams series - Eliza still really loves them
The Worst Witch series by Jill Murphy
100 Dogs by Michael Whaite
100 Cats by Michael Whaite
The Detective Dog by Julia Donaldson
The Hospital Dog by Julia Donaldson
The Station Cat by Stephen Hogtun
The Lion and the Bird by Marianne Dubuc
Year 3
The Twits by Roald Dahl
A hideous, vindictive, spiteful married couple known as the Twits live together in a brick house without windows. They continuously play nasty practical jokes on each other out of hatred for each other. They also keep a family of pet monkeys, the Muggle-Wumps.
The lesson: how we can overcome our differences and achieve common goals by being kind to one another.
The Hodgeheg, by Dick King-Smith
Max is a hedgehog who lives with his family in a nice little home, but it’s on the wrong side of the road from the Park where there’s a beautiful lily pond and plenty of juicy slugs, worms and snails!
The busy road is dangerous but Max is determined to make his way across. If humans can do it, why can’t hedgehogs?
His first attempt ends in a nasty bump on the head and, when Max tries to speak, he realises his words are all mixed up. He is no longer a hedgehog but a hodge-heg!
Still determined to fulfil his mission, Max discovers the best way to cross the road – with the help of the lollipop lady and some careful detective work . . .
This lovely new edition has a colourful cover illustration by the talented Steph Laberis.
If you enjoyed The Hodgeheg, Dick wrote a sequel called King Max The Last.
Year 4
Year 5 & 6 arriving shortly
What our children say about English
“ I love reading, especially adventurous stories by authors like Rick Riordan.”
“ When you read and hear stories, it is like you are teleported into a different world.”
“ I like English because we do lots of different things. My favourite thing to do is drama and I also enjoyed creating my own Just So Story book.”
World Book Day 2024
Reception
Children brought in their favourite book to share with a friend. Miss Simpson came down to Reception to read us a story. We also had a parent coming in to read a story to the children at the end of the day. We looked at a book called ‘Hippobottymus’ by Steve Smallman and Ada Grey and we used musical instruments to follow the story.
Year 1
Children brought in their favourite books to share with the class.We listened to a story , but we covered up the front cover and the children designed their own front and back covers for the book.We read a book to each others classes.
Year 2
We took part in the virtual author visit meeting John Patrick Green. He told us about his books and we completed a story inspired by his characters. During the day, the reading alarm went off. When we heard the alarm, we stopped what we were doing and read a page of our favourite book.
Year 3
We decorated and made our very own bookmarks to kick off World Book Day. We participated in an online Footy & Booky quiz for World Book Day. We also attended John Patrick Green's virtual author visit meeting. He presented us to InvestiGators Mango and Brash, the agents of S.U.I.T. who have a fondness for sewers and are the bane of all supervillains! Before we made our own InvestiGators, John gave us writing and sketching advice and we watched a live drawing recording! Before we created our Reading River posters, we had the opportunity to have Ethan and Emilia's mother read a story to us.
Year 5
Year 5 looked at the author A. F Steadman. We listened to her telling us about what inspired her to read and then write novels. After that, we listened to her read an extract from her book ‘Skandar and The Unicorn Thief’.
We then read a chapter of the book and discussed what we thought about: its themes and characters; if we would recommend it to our friends; and finally, if there were similar books we had read.
We also looked at reading fluency and how to read so that others will listen. To do this we listened to Amanda Gorman read part of her poem ‘The Hill We Climb’. Then we ‘echoed’ her.
We are making our own book of reviews so that we can help each other out with ideas on ‘good reads’.
Year 6
Year 6 conducted a reading survey across the school to ask about reading habits, recommended reads and where we like to read best. From our research, we came up with different ways to promote reading across the school, such as: posters promoting books, making reading challenges, making posters giving tips about engaging in reading.
World Book Day
Extreme Reading Competition
Author Visits
Year 5 & 6 visit by local author Zohra Nabi
On 24th of May, Kingston based author Zohra Nabi visited St Paul’s and spoke about her latest book: The Kingdom over the Sea.
It is a fantasy story about immigration; a girl who is an outsider in the UK and disconnected from her own culture. Inspired by the Golden Age of the Islamic World and her Grandparents stories of their childhood home in the Kashmir Valley, Zohra has created a beautiful, rich fantasy world for this soul-fulfilling adventure about a girl finding out where she belongs in a land of sorcerers, alchemists and simmering magic.
Zohra talked about the processes she goes through to create her stories, sharing her drawings and notes with the children.
The children had time to ask Zohra lots of questions at the end.
Otis the Reading Dog
St Paul’s have been very lucky to have a furry visitor come listen to us read! Otis, a reading dog, has been coming in once a week to listen to children read him stories!
Otis’ owners are hoping to train him to become a therapy dog and are very keen for him to socialise with lots of different people. We love reading to Otis because he is such a good listener as well as very cuddly.
