At ACE, our vision for our children is unapologetically ambitious. We want them to acquire the substantive and disciplinary knowledge they need to be successful in education and in life: to be capable, confident readers, skilful and creative writers, and effective and articulate orators.  

Key principles underpinning our English curriculum: 

1. Compliance with the National Curriculum Programme of Study for English and Year 6 Assessment Framework 

2. Firm Foundations: we have a singular and unwavering focus in KS1 - that of ensuring our children can decode the alphabetic code at an age-appropriate level and are fluent readers (in terms of accuracy, automaticity and prosody). 

3. Fundamental Skills: in Reading, our children develop strong comprehension and literary criticism skills: the ability to appreciate and analyse a text, including commenting upon authorial intent, how characterisation/atmosphere is developed, usage of literary devices, and how structure contributes to meaning. In writing, they develop strong and distinctive narrational voices and can write for different audiences and purposes, applying GPS knowledge and manipulating grammar and syntax to meet the task’s purpose. They have legible handwriting using a range of writing implements, and secure word-processing skills. 

4. Oracy & Vocabulary: we place a strong focus on Oracy, based upon the principle that children cannot write or comprehend what they cannot say and understand. Our children actively listen, build upon points others have made, and engage effectively in discussion and debate using ‘scholar sentences’. Oracy is explicitly taught, through planned and purposeful activities, as is vocabulary, meaning that over time, our children increasingly use language with precision in speech and writing. 

5. Inclusion: we want our curriculum to be both a mirror and a window, so that children see themselves in it, but also learn of lived experiences which differ from theirs. We also recognise that all children enter every year with different levels of prior attainment. Our expectations are ambitious for all children, no matter their background, starting point or learning difference, and we use adaptive teaching strategies, flexible groupings, targetted interventions and embedded dynamic assessment for learning to ensure that all make optimal progress.  

6. High-Quality Texts: we immerse our children in high-quality texts to engage and inspire intellectual curiosity in them, to build their vocabulary, cultural capital and knowledge of the world, and to inculcate a lifelong love of reading. By the time they leave us, they have acquired a deep-rooted knowledge and appreciation of the diverse corpus of classic and contemporary English literature and influential literature from around the world. 

7. Staff Expertise: we engage in extensive staff professional development in recognition of the fact that teacher quality is the single biggest influencer of children’s outcomes. We work closely with Bowdon CS in terms of staff training, curriculum and pedagogy. The KS2 English Lead there is the KS2 Lead Moderator for Trafford LA and a member of the Expert Review Panel for KS2 GPS SATs at DfE in London, and she delivers formal and informal Subject Knowledge Enhancement (SKE), curriculum and pedagogical training to staff across the school, as well as brokering support from external professionals and organising moderation activities with cluster schools. 

English has an extremely high priority in our school in terms of timetabling, school environment, budget allocation, staff PD, in communications with stakeholders (parent meetings), whole school events (World Book Day), competitions (BBC 500 Words) and in outward-facing activities such as author and library visits. 

The implementation of our English curriculum is carefully and cumulatively sequenced and structured to ensure all children become confident and competent readers, writers, listeners and speakers.  

The following outlines how our curriculum is enacted across its different strands: 

Reading 

1. Daily Phonics Instruction: 

1. Frequency: All children in Key Stage 1 participate in daily 40-minute phonics sessions using our accredited scheme: Phonics Bug. 

2. Phonics Programme: We teach children the alphabetic code, starting with single letter sounds and progressing to digraphs and trigraphs. We do this very effectively and few of our children enter KS2 having not passed the KS1 Phonics Screening Check (PSC). Once children enter KS2, if they have still not mastered phonics using Phonics Bug, class teachers, support staff and the SEND team work together to assess the child’s specific needs and develop a bespoke reading programme for them. This may involve continuing with Phonics Bug or transitioning from/supplementing it with other, evidence-led approaches.  

3. Assessment and Grouping: We use a flexible grouping approach. Children are assessed every half-term and regrouped as necessary, ensuring targeted instruction. Those needing additional support are identified for interventions.  

2. Matched Decodable Books: 

1. As children progress through KS1 and are ready to blend sounds, they receive decodable books that match their current phonics knowledge for both in-school practice and home reading. 

2. This practice focusses on developing accuracy, fluency, and comprehension skills. 

3. Alongside word reading, we teach the children that punctuation is signposting for the reader.  

3. Story time/Class Novels: 

1. Reading time is integrated into the daily timetable for every class in the school, promoting a love of reading, of literature and building knowledge and vocabulary. 

2. We have developed a carefully-curated and continually-evolving school canon of class novels, which expose our children to the best that has been thought and said. Our objective is to feed our children the richest and most diverse literary diet to prepare them for further study at KS3 and beyond. We explicitly teach the drawing of links between texts, themes and ideas in order to narrate the cultivation of mental schema. 

4. Reading Scheme: 

1. Structured Reading: After completing the Phonics Bug programme, children transition onto book bands, with their progress monitored and recorded by class teachers and support staff. Please see the note below on how we approach reading with our lowest 20% of readers.  

2. Free Reading: From Y2 to Y6, we baseline all children’s reading ages annually in September using NGRT standardised tests. Those whose reading age is 2 years above their chronological age transition to Free Reading. We use Reading Journals to monitor progress. Those children whose reading age is not 2 years above their chronological age continue to follow a scheme. Our class shelves are well-stocked and oft-refreshed with modern and classic fiction and non-fiction texts, and the children can also borrow books from our library. Children in Years 5 & 6 who are not meeting age-related expectations (ARE) for reading, read daily or frequently with an adult (depending on how far from ARE they are). All children in KS2, no matter their reading ability, read aloud, in class, at least twice during the week.  

5. Whole Class Guided Reading (WCGR): 

1. We follow an evidence-led approach in the teaching of reading, exposing our children to ambitious and varied fiction, non-fiction and poetry extracts using a pedagogy which includes modelled expert prosody, repeated reading, echo and choral reading, text marking and modelled comprehension. The focus in reading lessons is the acquisition of rich vocabulary, cultural capital and powerful knowledge, the cultivation of early literary criticism skills, and subsequent retrieval practice of this content to ensure it sticks. We use the Comprehension Ninja books for this in KS2, and a mix of Comprehension Ninja & book-banded texts in Year 2. 

2. Our children’s Reading exercise books/folders contain ACE-specific objectives, which align with the National Curriculum. 

6. Library and Independent Reading: 

1. All classes have timetabled library lessons, during which the children can choose books and participate in reading activities. 

2. All classes (Year 1 up) have the opportunity to visit our local library for a librarian-led session during the year. 

7.  Strategies for Struggling Readers:  

Reading provides the knowledge and skills to unlock the rest of the curriculum. It is children’s birthright and entitlement to be taught to read well. Thus, we are laser-focussed on closing the gap between our lowest-attaining readers and their peers:  

• Lowest 20% of readers KS1: provision includes daily phonics lessons and reading practice; same day interventions of requited; progress carefully monitored using online assessments each half term and earlier if required; extra phonics practice videos shared for home use; SALT interventions where appropriate; spotlighting in Pupil Progress meetings; on SLT radar; SEND adaptations made if required;  progress closely monitored HoS & SENDco.    

• Lowest 20% of readers KS2: provision includes daily/frequent reading with a dedicated, accountable adult; small-group boosters using EEF pedagogical approach; invitation to before/after school reading sessions where capacity allows; EAL support if appropriate; FFT reading assessments; bespoke reading/Phonics scheme if best practice suggests it; SALT interventions where appropriate; spotlighting in Pupil Progress meetings; SEND adaptations made if required; progress closely monitored by English & Assessment leads.   

Writing 

1. Curriculum Design & Content: 

1. We use the Pathways to Writing approach and scheme Yr2 -6, focusing on genre immersion, vocabulary-gathering, modelling, cognitive chunking, structured, guided practice followed by independent practice and reflection (proofreading and editing, using purple pens/pencils). Rec/Yr1 use Drawing club.

2. To ensure our children become skilled independent writers and see themselves as authors, they engage in purposeful writing tasks after guided practice, over which they increasingly have choice as they move through school, thus allowing them to apply taught knowledge and skills.  

3. Compliance with National Curriculum: 

1. Our writing tasks are selected based on ensuring our children write for a wide range of purposes and audiences, ensuring that the breadth of the National Curriculum Programme of Study for English is covered.  

2. Our children’s Writing workbooks contain ACE-specific objectives, which align with the National Curriculum and are used for self, peer and teacher assessment. 

3. Handwriting & Word Processing: 

1. Handwriting is taught using the Nelson scheme in timetabled sessions across the school. 

2. In Reception, our children build the gross and fine motor skills they need for fluency in writing, including the teaching of correct (tripod) pencil grip and posture for writing. Correct letter formation is taught using the Phonics Bug Club handwriting phrases and visuals during our daily phonics sessions, to ensure each letter has the correct orientation.  Our expectation by the end of EYFS is that all children can write (print) recognisable letters, most of which are correctly formed, and that they can scribe simple phrases and sentences which are readable by others. In Year 1, we continue to develop their fine and gross motor skills before making the transition to pre-cursive writing in teacher-modelled handwriting sessions. In Year 2, we begin to teach the joining of letters and embed the concepts of relativity of letter sizing and orientation.  This work continues in Year 3, and beyond if required. By Year 6, the vast majority of our children meet the KS2 standard for handwriting, which is that they can 'maintain legibility in joined handwriting when writing at speed'.  

3. All classes have access to class sets of Ipads and all of our Year 6 children have a personal Chromebook (launching Autumn 2026). This ensures that by the time they leave us, our children have secure word-processing skills.  

Grammar, Punctuation, and Spelling (GPS) 

1. P&G Curriculum Design & Content: 

1. Our punctuation & grammar curriculum includes a range of teacher-made and published resources and, in Years 5 & 6, the SPAG.com portal.  

2. Teachers create sequences of lessons based on National Curriculum objectives, using a “small steps” approach to ensure that over time children know and can do more, and engage in ongoing retrieval and spacing practice to ensure learning sticks. 

3. Our responsive teaching pedagogy means that teachers are continuously reviewing children’s output and ensuring that gaps in skills/knowledge are plugged.  

2. Spelling: 

1. Years 2-6 follow the No Nonsense Spelling Scheme, which introduces spelling rules and provides practice opportunities as well as regular checks to monitor progress and for diagnostic gap analysis. 

2. Regular assessments of taught spellings and frequent exposure to high-frequency words are incorporated into planning, to reinforce learning. 

3. In KS2, children are regularly assessed against statutory words.  

Oracy 

1. Dialogic Classrooms: 

1. Speaking and listening activities are embedded throughout our curriculum and are explicitly taught through purposeful and planned activities, in English and all subjects, to promote excellence in oracy. These may take the form of collaborative learning structures, discussions, debates, drama, our Thursday 'Thunks' or our weekly 'Topical Talk' sessions.  

2. We speak in 'scholar sentences' and use agreed discussion guidelines when collaborating with each other.  

3. Our vision is for our children to 'speak like specialists' in all subjects.  

4. Children are provided with public speaking opportunities in assemblies, class worship, to visitors and at church events, fostering confidence and public speaking skills. 

2. Vocabulary Building: 

1. We explicitly teach Tier 2 and Tier 3 vocabulary and vocabulary teaching/usage has a high profile in all classes, from high quality interactions in Robins to the usage of atypical language in Year 6 writing.  

Homework and Parent Engagement 

1. Reading at Home: 

1. Our expectations of home reading are made clear to parents, who are encouraged to support daily personal reading at home, reinforcing skills learnt in school. Teachers and our SENDco work closely in partnership with those families whose child is a struggling reader.  

2. As children progress through our school, they receive varied, purposeful English homework to further support their learning. 

2. Collaboration with Parents: 

1. We maintain open communication with all parents about expectations and provide resources to support their children’s development across our English curriculum. 

2. We regularly invite parents into school, to inform them about how we teach reading, why we do it the way we do, to invite questions and offer advice.  

 

Assessment and Inclusion 

• In all aspects of English, we have developed our own, bespoke objectives grids, based upon the National Curriculum Programme of Study for English but adapted for our context. These appear in children’s work books and are used for teacher, self and peer assessment.  

• Teachers engage in ongoing formative assessment to assess children’s progress and to monitor the impact of teaching and learning. These informal assessments are high challenge, low threat and are not formally recorded.  

• We formally test Reading using NGRT standardised tests at the start of each academic year, as a baseline. 

• Formal, standardised tests are thereafter completed twice per year (apart from Year 6, which follows a different approach due to KS2 SATs) in Reading, and the results are recorded on our assessment MIS Insight.  

• Writing is formally teacher-assessed twice a year and moderated both internally and externally with cluster schools. The results are recorded on our MIS.  

• Punctuation and Grammar are assessed using ongoing, low-stakes checks and in the children’s writing. 

• Spelling is assessed using NNS spelling checks and also in children’s writing.  

• Twice annually, teachers make teacher judgments about children's attainment across all areas of English: Reading, Writing, Oracy, P&G and Spelling. These judgments, against the National Curriculum Programme of Study for English and informed by test results and a broad spectrum of evidence, are recorded on our assessment MIS and are shared with parents in mid-year and annual reports. We assess children as Below, Working Towards, Secure or Greater Depth when judged against the objectives for their year group. Those children assessed as Below are also assessed using the Pre-Keystage (PKS) Framework in Reading & Writing. By Year 6, it is exceptionally unusual for any of our children to be assessed using the PKS Framework.   

• Our English curriculum is continually evolving, based on teacher and child feedback, the attainment and progress of our learners, developments arising from benchmarking/networking with other schools, and emerging educational research. We are wholly committed to ensuring that it remains relevant and optimally effective. 

1. Performance in Statutory Assessments: 

• Reading Attainment 

KS1 - our goal is for 100% of our children to pass the KS1 Phonics Screening Check (PSC) by the end of Year 2. In 2026, we had 25 children in Year 1. Of those who sat the Phonics Screening Check (21 children1), 19 passed, giving a pass rate of 90%. In Year 2, we had 28 children. Most had passed the check in Year 1. 2 were disapplied from sitting it in Year 2. Of those who sat the check, 2 did not pass, giving a pass rate of 92%.  

KS2 - our goal is for all our Year 6 children to meet Age-Related Expectations (ARE) in Reading, or if not, to perform in line with or exceed their own prior attainment. We also aim for >40% to attain at the higher level in KS2 SATs. In 2026, 78% of our Year 6 children met the Expected standard in Reading and 41% performed at the Higher standard. All performed in line with or exceeded their own prior attainment.  

• Writing Attainment  

Our goal is for all our Year 6 children to meet ARE for Writing, or if not, to perform in line with or exceed their own prior attainment, and for >20% to attain Greater Depth. In 2026 in Writing, 73% met the Expected standard and 17% achieved Greater Depth. All performed in line with or exceeded their own prior attainment. 

• GPS Attainment 

Our goal is for all our Year 6 children to meet ARE for GPS, or if not, to perform in line with or exceed their own prior attainment, and for >30% to attain Greater Depth. In 2026, 78% of our Year 6 children met the Expected standard in Reading and 36% performed at the Higher standard. All performed in line with or exceeded their own prior attainment. 

• Oracy Attainment (no statutory assessment) 

As of the academic year 26-27, we measure progress and attainment in Oracy through our bespoke Oracy framework and end-points, across 3 areas: Speaking, Listening & Collaborating. These areas include tracking children’s small-step development across the 4 strands of Oracy as described by Voice 21, which are Physical, Linguistic, Cognitive and Social & Emotional. 

2. Vocabulary and Knowledge 

• Vocabulary Acquisition: Through exposure to diverse texts and explicit vocabulary instruction, by the time they leave us, our children have atypical vocabulary. They have been taught and learnt a wide range of Tier 2 & Tier 3 words, which enhance their comprehension skills and ability to articulate their thoughts effectively in spoken language and writing. This is evidenced in their written and oral classwork, in pupil voice activities, and through monitoring.  

• Knowledge of the world: We feed our children a rich literary diet to build their general knowledge, in order that more subjects become familiar to them so that they can infer and comprehend effectively. Research demonstrates that background knowledge is fundamental to effective understanding of unfamiliar texts. This is evidenced in children's written and oral classwork, in pupil voice activities, and through monitoring.  

• Critical Thinking: By design, our curriculum exposes children to texts and ideas which promote critical thinking. This is evidenced in their oracy and comprehension work.  

3. Engagement, Motivation and Optimism 

• Love of Reading: our emphasis on high-quality texts and teacher modelling of engaging reading fosters a genuine love for reading amongst our children. Pupil voice activities tell us that our children understand the transformative power of literacy, that they love reading, understand the benefits of reading and see themselves as readers.  

• Active Participation: monitoring activities tell us that our children actively participate in class discussions, writing tasks, library visits and WCGR sessions, using taught oracy skills.  

• Fortitude and Positivity: our children are given the tools for success in writing, which motivates them and supports the development of resilience, where they learn to critically evaluate and improve their work. This attitude supports their overall academic and personal development. 

• Feedback and Reflection: the incorporation of reflection and feedback into our English pedagogy cultivates a growth mindset, ensuring that our children view mistakes, challenges  and feedback as opportunities for learning. 

4. Adaptive Teaching/Inclusion 

• Equitable Access: OAIP, dynamic groupings, targeted interventions and personalised support ensure that all children have fair access to the curriculum and make excellent progress from their starting points.  

• Catch-Up Strategies: our aim is always for children to keep up rather than catch up. However, for a few children, the curriculum moves at a pace which exceeds their capacity. In all areas of English, we provide these children with additional support and resources to narrow the attainment gap. 

5. Strong School-Wide Reading Culture 

• Community of Readers: timetabled and planned activities such as daily story time/class novels, author visits, theatre visits, celebrating national events and library engagement contribute to building a school-wide reading culture where reading and literature are platformed, spotlighted, celebrated and valued. 

• Parental Involvement: communication and collaboration with parents regarding the transformative power of reading, and reading at home, reinforces the importance of literacy.  

6. Transition Success 

• Frictionless KS2 to KS3: our curriculum and pedagogy prepares children for the next phase of their education, ensuring that they are in possession of the necessary skills to succeed in Key Stage 3. Monitoring data indicates that this transition is extremely effective and that our children flourish. 

Through staff expertise, a focus on high-quality texts and teaching, ongoing assessment and targeted interventions, we believe that we are successful in delivering upon our statement of intent : our children are capable, confident readers, skilful and creative writers and effective and articulate orators.  

We fix firm foundations which serve our children well in education and in life.