The speaking and listening strands of the curriculum allow our children to listen with respect to other people’s views. They are able to participate actively and respond appropriately to their peers and the wider community.  The children are given opportunities to develop their speaking skills by taking part in discussions, debates and also using language to offer opinions, explore ideas and justify answers with confidence and resilience when questioned by others.  We believe it is important for children to be able to talk about their own learning with confidence, taking responsibility for their views.

We believe that reading is at the heart of our curriculum.  Every child reads widely and often.

We believe that developing writing skills enables children to become fluent and confident writers.  Children are taught to take responsibility for their own work, to evaluate and understand their next steps for learning. The children will write for real purposes, about real life events so that their writing has meaning and links to the community. They are immersed in a range of genres throughout their school life and they are able to apply their writing skills across all subjects. We feel that literacy is about learning to use reading and writing in real and important ways.  Being literate, allows children to feel like they belong. When we help children become readers and writers, we give them the key to a worldwide community.