English

Intent - What Do We Aspire for Our Children?

Our Curriculum Intent for English

At Helsby Hillside, our English curriculum fulfils the requirements of the National Curriculum by providing a broad and balanced, ambitious, and inclusive programme of study. The central aim of our curriculum is to ensure that children acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to become fluent readers and competent authors. Furthermore, our curriculum recognises the vital role literature plays in developing children's cultural capital by exposing them to a range of culturally diverse texts that reflect our literary heritage.

Our curriculum is built around units of work that develop spoken language, reading, and writing skills through a mastery approach. Whilst being carefully sequenced, each unit of work is tightly focused. By limiting the number of new skills each unit covers, children have repeated opportunities to rehearse their skills enabling them to become fluent readers, writers and speakers. 

We aim for children to develop a love of reading and writing that will remain with them into their secondary education. By the time children leave Helsby Hillside, they will be able to write clearly and accurately for various audiences and purposes whilst confidently communicating their knowledge, ideas and emotions. Children will be fluent readers who read confidently, widely, and often.

Writing Implementation

We implement the Pathways to Write programme across our school to ensure a consistent, high-quality approach to teaching writing. The scheme provides a clear and progressive structure that equips pupils with the skills, vocabulary, and grammatical knowledge needed to become effective and confident writers.

Pathways to Write is rooted in high-quality, engaging texts and carefully aligned with the National Curriculum. It is designed to ensure children develop strong foundations in composition, grammar, punctuation, and spelling, while also fostering creativity and purpose in their writing.

Our implementation includes:

• A text-based mastery approach where each unit is driven by a high-quality core text, providing rich contexts for writing and meaningful opportunities to develop reading and writing skills in tandem.

• Each unit focuses on key skills (referred to as "Mastery Keys") that are explicitly taught, modelled, and practised throughout the writing process.

• The sequence of learning follows a three-phase structure:

  • Gateway – introduces the text and key vocabulary through engaging activities and drama, setting the context and stimulating ideas.

  • Pathway – focuses on skill acquisition, grammar teaching, sentence construction, and short writing opportunities.

  • Writeway – culminates in an extended piece of writing where pupils apply their learning with increasing independence.

• High emphasis is placed on oracy and vocabulary development, enabling pupils to rehearse ideas, explore language, and speak confidently about their work.

• Opportunities for editing and improving are embedded throughout, encouraging pupils to reflect on their writing and refine it to meet the audience and purpose.

• Writing outcomes are purposeful and varied across genres, including narrative, poetry, non-fiction, and cross-curricular writing links.

• Regular formative assessment and teacher feedback ensure that learning is adapted to meet the needs of all pupils, including those requiring additional support or challenge.

Through Pathways to Write, we aim to nurture articulate, creative, and technically proficient writers who take pride in their written work and understand its power to communicate ideas effectively.

Writing Implementation

At Hillside, we use the Pathways to Read programme to deliver high-quality, structured reading lessons from Year 3 onwards, ensuring progression in reading skills and comprehension. Pathways to Read is a sequenced and cohesive scheme that aligns with the National Curriculum and supports children in becoming confident, fluent, and thoughtful readers.

Our implementation of Pathways to Read involves:

• Whole-class reading sessions taught three times per week, focused on carefully chosen, high-quality texts that expose pupils to a broad range of genres, authors, and vocabulary.

• Each unit is underpinned by clear reading objectives (linked to the content domains of the National Curriculum) and designed to develop key reading strategies such as retrieval, inference, prediction, summarising, and understanding vocabulary in context.

• Lessons are structured around the "I do – We do – You do" approach, where teachers explicitly model reading skills, support guided practice, and then allow for independent application.

• Targeted questioning and vocabulary-rich discussions are central to each lesson, ensuring all pupils engage with and understand increasingly complex texts.

• Reading sessions are enhanced by a focus on tiered vocabulary, enabling pupils to develop language skills critical for reading comprehension and wider curriculum learning.

• Regular formative assessments (through discussion, questioning, and written responses) and termly summative NTS assessments ensure progress is tracked, and targeted support is provided where needed.

This consistent and progressive approach ensures that pupils develop strong decoding and comprehension skills, a love of reading, and the ability to confidently access the wider curriculum.

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