The documents in each subsection ('Oracy', 'Phonics & Reading', and 'Writing') set out in detail the content of our English curriculum and how it is taught at Edale Rise. 

Intent

At Edale Rise, we develop fluent, confident readers and purposeful, skilled writers. Reading is at the heart of our curriculum, enabling pupils to build rich vocabulary, secure knowledge and deep understanding through exposure to a carefully chosen range of high-quality and diverse texts.

We prioritise the development of reading fluency, comprehension and a genuine love of reading, ensuring pupils can access the full curriculum. Writing is built on this strong foundation, with pupils taught to write for clear purposes and authentic audiences, drawing on the language, knowledge and structures encountered through reading.

Phonics underpins early reading and writing. Through a systematic and rigorous approach, pupils develop secure decoding and encoding skills, enabling them to become automatic, confident readers and writers from the earliest stages.

Implementation

Our English curriculum is highly structured, consistent and carefully sequenced, ensuring all pupils build knowledge and skills progressively over time.

Phonics is taught daily through a systematic programme, with a strong emphasis on blending, segmenting and phoneme manipulation. Pupils read fully decodable texts matched to their phonics knowledge, and targeted support ensures all pupils keep up and make strong progress.

Reading teaching is rooted in high-quality texts and prioritises:

• Teacher modelling and read aloud to develop fluency and comprehension
• Explicit vocabulary teaching to deepen understanding
• Structured questioning and discussion to develop thinking and engagement

Pupils experience a range of carefully planned reading lessons, supporting them to develop fluency, understanding and wider knowledge. A well-sequenced reading spine ensures pupils build cultural capital and increasingly complex understanding over time.

Writing is closely linked to reading and follows a consistent, structured process:

• Engage → Discover → Compose → Evaluate → Publish

Pupils are immersed in high-quality model texts, develop ideas through talk and oral rehearsal, and practise key skills through explicit teaching and modelling. Writing is carefully scaffolded, enabling pupils to move from supported practice to independent, high-quality outcomes.

Across English, teaching is underpinned by:

• Explicit instruction and modelling
• Careful sequencing and small steps learning
• Scaffolding and adaptive teaching
• Regular feedback and opportunities for practice

Impact

As a result, pupils at Edale Rise:

• Read with fluency, accuracy and confidence, and demonstrate strong understanding of what they read
• Develop a rich vocabulary and broad knowledge, enabling them to access learning across the curriculum
• Show a genuine enjoyment of reading and engage with a wide range of texts

In writing, pupils:

• Write with clarity, accuracy and purpose
• Use increasingly sophisticated vocabulary and sentence structures
• Demonstrate secure transcriptional skills alongside strong composition
• Can plan, draft, revise and edit their work independently

Outcomes are consistent across classes and year groups, and all pupils are supported to achieve well. Pupils leave Edale Rise as confident, fluent readers and capable writers, fully prepared for the next stage of their education.