At Charlton-on-Otmoor, we believe that literacy and communication are key life skills. Through the English curriculum, we will help children develop the skills and knowledge that will enable them to communicate effectively through spoken and written language and equip them with the skills to become lifelong learners. By teaching English through rich and exciting texts, we will foster a love of reading in our pupils.

Our school vision ‘Aspire and Grow Together’ underpins the aims of our English curriculum. Aligned with our school vision are our three strategic goals: to prepare children with the skills required for the 21^st century; to become global citizens and to have high aspirations for all pupils.

Our aims are as follows:

• To ensure that all pupils from Nursery to Year 6 are exposed to different genres and authors through a curriculum that is (1) rich, exciting and balanced, (2) relevant and engaging, with pupils’ voices driving and shaping the curriculum wherever possible, (3) differentiated to match the needs and abilities of all children within mixed classes (4) secures and embeds the knowledge, skills and understanding to enable pupils to attain highly and (5) prepares them for their next stage of learning.
• To ensure that each teacher is providing pupils with a consistent approach to English teaching.
• To ensure that all pupils are given the opportunity to extend their knowledge and skills, and communicate through spoken and written forms.

We use the Read Write Inc. handwriting scheme alongside our spelling and phonics teaching. This supports children's handwriting along side the development of their writing and spelling. Please see below our handwriting policy, as well as planning progression documents. There is also a copy of the handwriting guideline sheet which is used to teach children about letter positioning.