English at Culcheth Community Primary School
Writing
At Culcheth Community Primary School we believe that developing writing skills is one of the core purposes of primary education.
When pupils enjoy what they are writing about, they write more and they write with increased skill and enthusiasm to succeed. We link our text-based writing curriculum, as much as possible, to our topic curriculum to provide our children with language rich, relevant and focused writing opportunities. Writing is integral to our children’s whole language experience. When pupils have a clear sense of a real world audience that lies beyond the classroom, their writing is focused and they approach the task with a heightened sense of purpose. The audience might consist of parents, local government, visitors to the public library or perhaps visitors to the school website. At Culcheth Community Primary School we believe that writing should be both inspiring yet challenging and enable our pupils to become motivated and adept writers in a range of situations.
A whole school English overview is available to download below.
How is writing taught at Culcheth Community Primary School?
We use our topic themes, wherever possible, to provide meaningful writing experiences through contexts and to enhance learning. High quality texts are used to challenge, enthuse and engage children. There is planned progression in the teaching of writing, including exploring features, planning, drafting, assessing and editing through the familiarisation of the text type, the identification of structure and language features, modelled writing, shared writing, supported composition, guided writing and independent writing.
Handwriting
At Culcheth Community Primary School, we place a strong emphasis on developing fluent, legible and confident handwriting skills. We follow the BCEd Handwriting Scheme, which provides a structured, progressive approach from the early years through to Year 6.
Children begin by developing their fine and gross motor skills through play-based activities in EYFS, laying the foundations for good pencil control. They are then taught correct letter formation using clear modelling and guided practice. As pupils move through school, they are introduced to joining letters systematically, building speed and consistency while maintaining legibility.
Regular handwriting sessions are timetabled across all year groups, and high expectations for presentation are reinforced across the curriculum. We celebrate pupils’ progress and encourage pride in their work by sharing beautifully presented writing and awarding handwriting when appropriate.
Our aim is for every child to leave Culcheth Community Primary School with handwriting that is fluent, neat and confident, supporting their success in all areas of learning.
Talk for Writing
Talk for Writing is an approach which supports children to explore, through talk, the thinking and creative processes involved in being a writer. It is embedded at an early age at Culcheth Community Primary School, with our KS1 children successfully using it to improve their writing. Talk for Writing is an approach that goes beyond the development of children’s general spoken language skills – it allows children to explore the processes involved in being a writer, and extends oral rehearsal so that it becomes a draft for their written pieces. The approach supports the move from talk into writing and is hugely enjoyable for the children. All school staff have had Fiction and Non-Fiction Talk for Writing training and are using these strategies to support the teaching of writing across the school.
Spelling
At Culcheth Community Primary School, we believe that confident spelling is an essential skill for effective communication and writing. We teach spelling using the BC Education approach, which follows the National Curriculum objectives and provides a clear, progressive structure across all year groups.
Spelling is taught through multisensory and engaging activities designed to help pupils understand patterns, rules and exceptions. Lessons include interactive games, investigations, and opportunities for children to apply their learning in meaningful contexts. Regular review and practice sessions ensure that knowledge is revisited and embedded.
We encourage children to explore words, notice patterns and develop strategies to become independent, confident spellers. Progress is celebrated and pupils are supported to apply their spelling knowledge consistently across all areas of the curriculum.
Our aim is for every child to leave Culcheth Community Primary School as a capable and confident speller, with the skills they need to communicate clearly and effectively in their writing.
The word lists are available on the National Curriculum Overviews below.
Reading schemes
At Culcheth Community Primary School we have a well planned and resourced reading scheme starting with the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised books and moving onto Oxford University Press book banded books. All of the children in Reception and Year 1 are assessed using the Little Wandle assessments and then following completion of the phonics programme, they are assessed using the Benchmarking scheme and allocated reading books using the book banding system. In this way the children are able to access a rich range of reading material at the appropriate level.
Lexia, an online personalised reading program, is used to support the teaching of reading once the children are phonically secure.
In Key stage 2, children begin to access Reading Plus as an additional resource to support reading, develop comprehension and vocabulary.
The whole school also has access to 'Collins ebooks' which is an online programme that provides the children with access to hundreds of books.
Please see our reading page for further information on reading at our school.
Phonics
At Culcheth Community Primary School phonics is taught through the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised systematic synthetic phonics programme.
Please see our phonics page for a clear explanation of the different phases and how this programme is used in school.
World Book Day was a fantastic success this year, with the whole school celebrating under the inspiring theme Little People, Big Dreams. We began the day with a lively game of "Guess Who" in the hall, where children and staff tried to work out which inspirational figures everyone was dressed as. Back in our classrooms, each year group explored the lives of remarkable individuals—some linked to our current topics and others chosen simply because their stories amazed us. In the afternoon, we came back together to share our wonderful work, including artwork, stories, letters, songs, and even autobiographies written and read aloud by Year 6. The costumes were incredible, and the enthusiasm from both staff and pupils made the day one to remember!
