At Our Lady Queen of Heaven, our definition of progress in English is the widening and deepening of essential knowledge, skills, understanding and learning behaviours. We design, organise and plan our curriculum to ensure that children are not merely covering content, but achieving a depth to their learning that enables them to use their skills and understanding in all areas of the curriculum.

In Literacy, we widen and deepen the essential knowledge, skills and understanding of learners in a variety of ways. Learners’ understand how Literacy is vital across all areas of the curriculum and is an essential life skill. The skills developed in Literacy mean they can communicate with others’ in a variety of ways, such as sharing texts and experiences with their peers and the wider community.

We encourage children to discuss and improve their work in literacy, through editing  what they have produced. They also self assess their work and review if success criteria has been met. 

As a school, we emphasis the importance of learners’ understanding their role as a citizen in modern Britain; appreciating creative authors who shape our imaginations and give us inspiration. At Our Lady’s an awareness of learners’ responsibility as a global citizen is paramount in all literacy. Learners’ are continuously encouraged to take risks, solve problems and have ambition.

Speaking and Listening

At Our Lady Queen of Heaven we believe that speaking and listening is at the heart of all children’s thinking and learning and is a fundamental skill for life. Children need opportunities to continually develop their vocabulary in order to become successful readers and writers. Through first-hand experience and listening to an ever increasing variety of vocabulary the children are given the opportunity to develop their understanding of language and how to use it. We believe that language is primarily learnt through ‘hearing’ and saying. Once children can express themselves orally they can begin to develop the skills they need to read and write this complex language.  The ability to speak clearly and communicate effectively is a lifelong skill, which is why we believe that it is imperative that speaking and listening remains a key learning focus in all areas of the curriculum.

Phonics

English is a core subject because it is a thread that runs through the whole of the curriculum. This journey begins in Reception with the learning of phonic sounds (the Programme of Study taught is 'Song of Sounds'). Phonics is at the centre of all reading and writing and therefore remains an important skill throughout their primary school career.

We use a wide variety of reading materials, to support children in phonics learning. This may be a variety of fiction and non-fiction texts, games, flashcards and ICT programs.  

We match children’s phonic knowledge to the texts they are reading. 

Reading

Reading gives learners full access to all curriculum subjects. The most important thing to remember when helping a child learn to read is it must be enjoyable and fun. At Our Lady Queen of Heaven pupils are continually exposed to different texts, giving them the opportunity to find pleasure in reading. Our overriding aim is to help all pupils develop into strong, independent readers. Reading is taught individually, in guided and shared reading groups and as a whole class. Pupils have the opportunity to not only read to themselves and to an adult in the class, but also to an audience and for a purpose, such as following instructions. Exposing pupils to a range of diverse reading experiences will help them to become confident, independent readers.

As a school, we use reading schemes initially to support readers but it is equally important that pupils can read a range of texts. Children can take home books supplementary to reading schemes.  All children have an opportunity to visit the school library and we also regularly  have books delivered from the library service. As pupils move up the school they  further develop their reading repertoire moving away from scaffolded texts, introducing reading materials such as comics, recipe books, newspapers, emails and websites about their school topics or personal interests they may have.

We believe that good readers become good writers and that the richness, depth and breadth of a pupil’s reading experience determines the writers they will become.

Writing

At OLQOH we believe that strong writing begins with secure foundations in transcription, handwriting and spelling so that these skills become automatic and allow pupils to focus on composition. Pupils rehearse ideas orally before writing, helping them plan, structure, and refine their sentences with confidence.

Our approach prioritises sentence‑level mastery, gradually building pupils’ ability to craft coherent and cohesive paragraphs. Structured talk is used to develop vocabulary, deepen understanding, and generate ideas. Writing tasks are purposeful and meaningful, with real audiences in mind rather than being driven solely by assessment. This approach is guided by the new DfE Writing Framework and ensures our teaching is consistent, evidence‑informed, and developmentally appropriate.

We emphasise quality over quantity, introducing extended writing only when pupils are ready. Early, targeted support is provided for those who need additional help with fluency. Across the school, we nurture a rich writing culture through clear progression, visible model texts, and consistent teacher modelling.

Handwriting

We use the Oxford owl scheme to teach Handwriting from Reception. We believe that this early introduction impacts across the whole school, to promote confidence, accuracy and fluency and improves standards and presentation. 

Specific handwriting sessions are varied and multi-sensory. (This is particularly appropriate in the Early Years when writing develops gross and fine motor skills – e.g. writing in sand, using a variety of mark making tools and experimenting with both hands to ensure the dominant writing hand becomes obvious).

Explicit Handwriting lesson  happen weekly but handwriting and presentation is a focus in all subjects. 

With the correct teaching Children should develop a consistent and efficient handwriting style, which means they can write comfortably for a sustained period of time. The style should be easy for anyone to read.

For any further information please contact our English leads:

Clare Reddick KS1 Eng lead - creddick@olqoh.com

Beckie Johnson KS2 Eng lead - rjohnson@olqoh.com

National curriculum in England: English programmes of study - GOV.UK

English Curriculum Overview Documents