Our English Vision

At Bassett Green Primary School, we want every child to be:

1. A Fluent, Enthusiastic Reader

A child who reads widely and often, exploring diverse, high-quality texts that reflect different cultures, experiences, and voices. They read with confidence, accuracy, and deepening comprehension as they move through the school.

2. A Thoughtful, Critical Interpreter of Texts

A child who can discuss, question, analyse and think critically about what they read - identifying themes, making inferences, and forming opinions supported by evidence.  They understand how writers use language, structure and viewpoint to shape meaning.

3. A Skilled, Purposeful Writer

A child who can craft writing for a range of audiences and purposes, using rich vocabulary, accurate grammar and spelling, and increasingly complex sentence structures. They take pride in improving their writing through drafting, editing, and reflection and take increasing ownership of their progress.

4. A Fluent, Legible Hand-writer

A child who takes pride in their presentation, developing clear, consistent, and fluent handwriting that supports effective communication. As they progress, their handwriting becomes increasingly automatic, allowing them to focus on the content and quality of their ideas.

5. A Confident, Articulate Speaker

A child who can express ideas clearly, listen actively, and participate in discussions with respect and confidence. They adapt their spoken language to suit different contexts.

6. A Vocabulary-Rich Communicator

A child who develops a broad, ambitious vocabulary through reading, talk, and explicit teaching. They use language precisely and creatively in both speech and writing and recognise how language can influence, persuade, or represent people and ideas.

Above all, we want our children to be curious, to have a love of reading and writing, and to be prepared for everyday life through understanding others, expressing themselves and making sense of the world around them. Our aim is for every child to experience success and enjoyment in English so that they leave primary school with the fluency, comprehension and communication skills needed for lifelong opportunities.

 

Our English Curriculum

At Bassett Green Primary School, our English curriculum is ambitious, creative and rooted in a deep love of reading and writing. High-quality books sit at the heart of our approach, inspiring children, igniting imagination and providing rich contexts for learning. We use Literacy Tree to support this, offering a complete, book-based spiral curriculum for Writing, Reading, Spelling and Vocabulary that enables every child to flourish as a confident reader, writer and communicator.

 

 

Children engage with diverse texts by significant authors, immersing them in a wide range of literary worlds, themes and viewpoints. Through drama, discussion and debate, they explore characters and ideas in depth, developing curiosity, empathy and confidence. These experiences provide meaningful foundations for writing and help children see themselves represented while also understanding the lives of others.

 

Carefully planned sequences of lessons introduce and revisit key writing skills, enabling children to build increasingly complex mental models by connecting new learning with prior knowledge. Grammar is taught explicitly and always meaningfully, connected to the text, the purpose and the intended audience so that children understand how and why writers make particular choices. Writing opportunities are purposeful and varied, with short bursts of writing sitting alongside extended pieces, all with clear audiences and real reasons to write, whether explaining, persuading, informing or instructing.

 

High-quality texts introduce children to rich and ambitious vocabulary, exposing them to language that broadens their understanding of the world and deepens their literacy skills. This vocabulary is explored through drama, oracy and writing, enabling children to use new words confidently and purposefully in different contexts. Through repetition of sophisticated language, children develop a strong command of vocabulary that supports their reading comprehension, strengthens their writing and helps them express themselves with clarity and creativity.

Our curriculum is designed so that every child can succeed. Teaching is flexible and responsive, enabling children of all backgrounds, abilities and additional needs to flourish within a robust pedagogical framework.

Children are taught to see themselves as writers. Planning, drafting, revising and editing are integral parts of the writing process, and teachers model these skills explicitly using working walls and physical resources to make learning visible. Writing is shared, celebrated and valued, helping children take pride in their progress, creativity and identity as writers.

Further information on what is taught in each year group and the diverse range of texts used in our approach can be seen below.