Intent

English has a pre-eminent place in education and in society. A high-quality education in English will teach pupils to speak and write fluently so that they can communicate their ideas and emotions to others and through their reading and listening, others can communicate with them. Through reading in particular, pupils have a chance to develop culturally, emotionally, intellectually, socially and spiritually. Literature, especially, plays a key role in such development. Reading also enables pupils both to acquire knowledge and to build on what they already know. All the skills of language are essential to participating fully as a member of society; pupils, therefore, who do not learn to speak, read and write fluently and confidently are effectively disenfranchised.

Reading Project

Along with 13 other schools within our cluster, Furness Primary Collaborative, we are embarking on a significant reading project to improve reading outcomes across all 14 schools. It is widely recognised that reading skills increase pupils' life chances. As a collaborative, we want to significantly raise standards in reading across Furness. In the first instance, this is focused on phonics and reading for pleasure.

This project is being supported by a local business, Orcina Ltd, and is allowing us to invest significantly in quality reading resources and quality CPD. This project is expected to run for three years from 2022 - 2024.

This year, we have purchased the Oxford University Press Floppy Phonics Teaching scheme to help us provide rigorous phonics intervention support to those children who need it.