“Reading makes all other learning possible.”
– Barack Obama
Intent
At Olga Primary School, our English curriculum is designed to reflect and celebrate our wonderfully diverse community. We aim for every child to leave Olga as a fluent speaker, reader, and writer who can communicate ideas, emotions, and concepts with confidence and creativity.
Through a high-quality, structured, and inspiring English curriculum, our children learn to adapt their communication for different purposes and audiences. We believe that reading is the foundation of all learning—opening doors to knowledge, imagination, and opportunity.
Implementation
Reading and writing are at the heart of everything we do at Olga.
Our children develop a lifelong love of reading through a rich, language-filled environment, engaging and diverse book corners, and story times in every year group. Teachers share their own love of books and reading, inspiring children to read for pleasure, for information, and for personal growth.
From Reception and through KS1, children are taught to read through Little Wandle, our systematic synthetic phonics programme, which gives them the essential tools to decode words and build fluency. For children across the school who need additional reading support, daily Rapid Catch-Up sessions ensure that gaps are quickly closed.
In KS2 children take part in daily Guided Reading sessions. Children develop fluency and expressive intonation through regular ‘eyes on text’ reading, ensuring every child is actively engaged with the words on the page. They then work on comprehending what has been read through extended and close reads, where they focus on retrieving information, summarising, inferring, predicting, discussing meaning, and making connections across texts.
In writing, we focus on building solid foundations from the start. Our English curriculum is built around high-quality, carefully chosen books that inspire children’s imagination, model rich vocabulary, and provide meaningful contexts for writing. In EYFS and KS1, children are taught to form letters correctly, punctuate accurately, and spell using their phonics knowledge. As they move through the school, they learn to write for a range of purposes and audiences, crafting their ideas with increasing sophistication and style. Handwriting and spelling are taught systematically and revisited regularly, enabling children to develop fluent, legible handwriting and accurate spelling that supports confident, independent writing.
Impact
Our children leave Olga Primary School as confident, articulate communicators who find joy in reading and writing. They can read fluently and with understanding, using books to explore the world around them and to express their own ideas and emotions.
They are equipped with the skills to succeed in all areas of learning and to continue their educational journey as passionate, independent readers and writers.
At Olga, we believe that when children learn to love reading, they unlock every other aspect of learning—and their potential becomes limitless.
Getting Involved: Sharing Reading at Home
We know that reading at home makes a huge difference to children’s progress and enjoyment of books. No matter your child’s age, sharing a story is one of the most powerful ways to support their development.
- EYFS and KS1: Your child will bring home a phonics-based reading book matched to their current stage, along with a book to share for pleasure.
- KS2: Children take home Big Cat books, changed weekly, along with a book to read for pleasure. Teachers read with pupils each half term to ensure books are well matched to their reading level.
Tips for reading together:
- Before reading: Look at the front cover together and talk about what your child thinks the book might be about. Discuss whether it’s fiction or non-fiction, and if they’ve read anything else by the same author.
- While reading: Help with unfamiliar words by sounding them out, breaking them into syllables, or spotting prefixes and suffixes. Pause to check for understanding and encourage your child to think about what’s happening in the story.
- After reading: Talk about favourite parts, characters, and surprises. Encourage your child to make predictions or connections with other books or their own experiences.
For more ideas on how to make reading together fun and meaningful, visit:
