At Greenhill Primary School, we believe that reading and writing are vital for developing confident learners and communicators. These skills enable children to share their thoughts, feelings, and beliefs, access the broader curriculum, and express their ideas about the world while shaping it. Through a creative and
supportive approach, we nurture every pupil to see themselves as an author, storyteller, and thinker, helping them grow into well-rounded individuals with a lifelong love of language.

Our curriculum inspires pupils with high-quality, diverse texts and real-world experiences, encouraging both reading for pleasure and purposeful writing. From the foundational skills developed in EYFS, through the fluency and sentence-building of KS1, to the creative and critical writing opportunities in KS2, pupils learn to communicate for a range of purposes and audiences. With targeted support, such as oracy and phonics interventions, alongside engaging activities like World Book Day and interactive storytelling events,
we ensure every child thrives as a reader and writer, ready to succeed in the wider world.

 English at Greenhill Primary School
At Greenhill Primary School, we believe that reading and writing are at the heart of developing children as confident learners and communicators. These essential skills enable our pupils to share their thoughts, feelings, and beliefs while opening doors to the wider curriculum. Through reading and writing, children can express their ideas, understand the world around them, and even begin to shape it for themselves. Our approach encourages every child to see themselves as an author, a storyteller, and a thinker. We nurture creativity and experimentation with words and language, helping pupils grow into well-rounded individuals.

In EYFS, we focus on building foundational skills such as word and language acquisition, alongside developing fine and gross motor skills. This stage lays the groundwork for confident communication. 

Key Stage 1
As children progress to KS1, they develop basic skills, including oracy, reading fluency, and writing simple sentences. Pupils learn to communicate for various purposes, setting the stage for more complex skills.

Key Stage 2
In KS2, pupils build on their earlier learning, engaging with diverse texts and writing for a range of purposes. This stage fosters critical thinking and creativity, preparing children to be articulate and thoughtful communicators.

Reading at Greenhill
Our reading curriculum is designed to inspire a love of literature and lifelong learning. Pupils are exposed to high-quality, diverse texts, including novels, poems, traditional tales, graphic novels, videos, and audiobooks. Real-life experiences, such as class trips and visits from authors and community members
from a range of cultural and religious backgrounds, further enrich their learning. Reading skills such as retrieval, inference, and summarising are developed through exposure to meaningful, high-quality texts.

We build a culture of reading for pleasure through:
 Special events like World Book Day and our EYFS Bedtime Story Event.
 Engaging spaces, such as cosy classroom book corners and an inspiring school library.
 Topic-themed book collections linked to our history and geography themes.

Writing at Greenhill
Writing is taught through a structured process that encourages creativity and clarity:
1. Inspiration: Units often begin with an inspiring text, real-world experience, or visual stimulus.
2. Planning and Research: Pupils gather their ideas and organise them effectively.
3. Drafting and Revising: Children draft their writing and refine their work.
4. Editing and Publishing: Finished pieces are celebrated and shared with the intended audience
through displays, read-aloud sessions, assemblies, videos, and more.
Pupils write for a wide range of purposes, including:
 To inspire
 To entertain
 To instruct
 To inform
 To recount
 To persuade
 To explain
 To discuss

Essential writing skills are revisited regularly through our spiral curriculum, ensuring sustained progress. Vocabulary development is a core part of lessons, alongside explicit teaching of spelling and handwriting, which is applied in writing activities every day. Ongoing assessment and feedback allow teachers to
monitor progress effectively and target areas for support.

Supporting Every Child
We are committed to ensuring that every child thrives in reading and writing. To support this:

 Pupils receive targeted help with oracy skills, motor skills, and phonics/spelling interventions.
 We focus on high-quality texts and real-life experiences which enrich vocabulary and understanding.
 Adaptations are made by skilled staff to meet individual needs, empowering every child to communicate their ideas effectively.

At Greenhill Primary, we inspire our pupils to read and write with confidence and creativity, fostering skills that will serve them throughout their lives.