The Intent of our English Curriculum at St Francis Xavier

At St Francis Xavier, English is the core of our curriculum. Across each stage of our education in school, pupils are provided with opportunities to develop and apply their spoken and written English within a balanced, inspiring and creative curriculum.

Reading is the master skill of school and we aim to foster a life-long love of reading in all our children, developing avid readers who can access and appreciate our rich literacy heritage. We aim to provide a wealth of powerful reading experiences to fuel our pupil’s imaginations and develop their knowledge of the world in which they live. We prioritise the development of reading fluency to ensure that by the end of their primary education, all pupils who at St Francis Xavier are able to read with confidence, enabling them to be successful in their next stage of education and beyond.

A key aim for our pupils is effective communication of ideas and emotions, both orally and in written form. Spoken language is paramount at St Francis Xavier, forming foundations for reading and writing. By immersing our pupils in high-quality texts and language-rich environments, we aim for our children to be able to describe their world, expressing their views and opinions articulately. We want our children to use discussion and debate to communicate and further their learning across the curriculum, elaborating and explaining their thinking and ideas. We strive to enable all pupils to develop a love of writing and the confidence to explore their imagination, nurturing our pupils’ motivation to write with purpose and with pleasure.

We believe that a secure knowledge of the English language is crucial to a high quality education and will give the children of St Francis Xavier, the tools they need to contribute positively to the life of the school, their local community and the wider environment as a member of society.

We discussed whether the wolf is really as evil as he seems, or if there could be another reason he is trying to eat the pigs. We have had lot's of fun today making pizzas to feed the big bad wolf, so we can help to save the three little pigs!

Year 3 went on a trip to Doncaster library. The librarian started by showing us different books that were looked after and books that people hadn't looked after and how we can care for books. She then read us poems and we explored the different books available in the library.

Year 3 analysed and compared two different informational texts. They identified what they liked and disliked as well as which one they thought was the best. They identified features such as the title, subheadings and paragraphs.

We have been writing a settings description in preparation for our independent writing based on the legend of Robin Hood.

Year 2

Year 2 used their plan to write a newspaper recount about the Great Fire of London.

"Who's been eating my porridge?" 

This week the children have been reading the story Golidlocks and The Three Bears. The children loved using the bears to act out the story.

Oink Oink. Are there 3 little pigs that I can hear. The children have really enjoyed reading the story The Three Little Pigs. The children have acted out the story and pretended to be the Big Bad Wolf!

A beanstalk? I wonder where that leads to. The children have been reading the story Jack and The Beanstalk. The children loved playing in the tuff tray and learning all about the magic beans. 

In Year One we have been reading Paddington and for our Literacy journey we tried marmalade and toast and tea just like Paddington in the story!

Rhyming words everywhere! The children have been matching/identifying words that rhyme!

This week the children have been reading the story The Very Hungry Caterpillar. The children have loved exploring all the different fruits from the story.

For the beginning of our Literacy journey we immersed ourselves in the Italian cuisine. We tried different types of pizzas, pastas and macarons. Once we had tried them we described the appearance, the smell and the taste of the food to help us when it comes to the end of journey when writing a persuasive letter about Italy.

Year 4 split into six different groups each representing someone who had an interest in whether deforestation should be stopped or not We had people arguing for deforestation from McDonalds, builders and miners. And we had people arguing against deforestation from climate activists, environmentalists and the traditional owners of the land.  

In Nursery we have been reading the story Zog. We have been focusing on having conversations about the story and looking at what the pictures and the words tell us. The children have really enjoyed this story and have enjoyed acting out different parts. Poor Zog, he is always getting hurt, but luckily there is a lovely doctor there to help!

In English, Year 2 have been working towards writing a non-chronological report all about the five oceans (linked to their Geography topic of 'Planet Earth').

This week in Nursery, we have been reading the story Harry and The Bucketful of Dinosaurs! The children have been developing their phonological awareness and have been clapping the syllables of different words in the story. Nursery children have also been exploring initial sounds such as b for bed and b for bucket. Nursery were really good at this! Nursery children have also been making marks and drawing their own items that they would like to put in their bucket! What would you put in your bucket?  

Nursery have been enjoying the story Stickman! This week children have been working hard at rhyming and remembering the repeated refrain! Children have loved talking about the story and seeing what journey the stickman goes on. Children have particularly loved when the stickman has been reunited with his Lady Love and his children 3!

🧸 Immersive learning in Year 1🧸
The toys in our class reader text are so mischievous - they like to play hide and seek when it’s dark! This morning, we entered our classroom to find notes such as ‘getting warmer, cold, hot hot hot, you’re on fire’ which we followed outside… to find our old toys in sneaky hiding places!

We came back to the classroom and described each of the found toys. Check out our findings…

Year 6 have been planning, writing and editing an independent piece of writing. They have produced an instructions text that is linked to their history topic of ancient Egypt. 

Year 5 have been planning, writing and editing a historical narrative based on Beowulf - the book that they have been reading in Book Talk. 

During National Poetry Day, Year 4 wrote acrostic poems based around the theme of the environment.

For National Poetry Day Year 3 listened and explored different poems. We looked at the rhymes within the poems and said what we liked and disliked about each poem. We listened to poem by Michael Rosen and Dennis Lee. Then we got into groups and practiced reading a poem about Martin Luther King Jr. Each group then read their poem to the class.

Year 2 have been planning, writing and editing an alternative fairy tale. 

Year 1 have been looking at labels, captions and lists.