English
Vision and Principles
English at Blenheim
At Blenheim, our English curriculum is designed to inspire a lifelong love of language and literacy. We provide every child with rich opportunities to develop their speaking, listening, reading, and writing skills in a supportive and stimulating environment.
Children become confident communicators and attentive listeners, laying the foundation for strong comprehension and expressive writing. Through engaging lessons and purposeful activities, they learn to write with clarity, creativity, and intent.
In an increasingly digital world, we place great value on books—as sources of knowledge and as gateways to imagination. While children are familiar with screens, we ensure they also experience the joy of reading for pleasure and the importance of writing by hand.
Our approach includes:
- Phonics instruction to build strong foundations in decoding and spelling, enabling children to blend sounds for reading and segment words for writing.
- Exposure to a wide range of fiction and non-fiction texts, helping pupils explore different genres, authors, and styles.
- Development of key comprehension skills such as prediction, summarising, retrieval, and inference.
- Encouragement to read independently and with parents/carers at least five times a week, fostering fluency and a love of reading.
In writing, children learn to:
- Construct clear, well-structured sentences to express their ideas.
- Enhance their writing using rich vocabulary, varied sentence types, and effective punctuation.
- Apply spelling strategies, grammar rules, and punctuation skills through dedicated lessons.
- Practise and improve their handwriting in discrete sessions, learning to write in a cursive style and begin joining letters from an early stage.
Weekly spelling lists are sent home and assessed in school to reinforce learning. Throughout their journey at Blenheim, children are supported to become thoughtful readers and expressive writers, ready to thrive in all areas of the curriculum.
Reading at Blenheim
