"Write to be understood, speak to be heard, read to grow..." - Lawrence Clark Powell.
At St. Matthew’s Primary School, we believe that English is a fundamental life skill, contributing to all aspects of academic, social and emotional development. Literacy develops children’s ability to listen, speak, read and write for a wide range of purposes and with varying effects and intentions. English enables children to express themselves creatively and imaginatively as they become enthusiastic and critical readers of stories, poetry drama, non-fiction and media texts.
Children gain an understanding of how language works by looking at its patterns, structures and origins; allied to this, children use their knowledge, skills and understanding in speaking and writing across a range of different situations. Cross curricular links are forged between Literacy and other areas of our curriculum utilising knowledge and skills gained in History, Geography, DT and Art. The positive impact to this type of learning is that our pupils develop stronger core skills giving purposeful meaning and intention to their efforts.
Reading, speaking and listening permeate through our curriculum and we feel strongly that successful literacy learners are competent readers and speakers, with an enhanced ability to listen. Opportunities to communicate verbally, through conversation, presentation and drama form a key feature of the literacy curriculum. We encourage all children to 'find their voice', develop a broad and appropriate vocabulary and have an ability to read and respond. Drama is used as a tool to explore and communicate ideas in a verbal and physical manner, promoting empathy, imagination and play.