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Literature and Language

In a world filled with distractions and ever-evolving technology, the importance of nurturing a child’s imagination and intellect cannot be overstated. Great literature has a profound impact on young minds, offering more than just entertainment. It is a gateway to empathy, creativity, and critical thinking.

Here’s why children in our school study the world of classical literature:

To Develop Emotional Intelligence: Literature allows children to step into different characters’ shoes, helping them understand diverse emotions and perspectives, building empathy along the way.
To Foster Critical Thinking: Classic books often present complex themes and moral dilemmas. As children engage with these narratives, they sharpen their ability to think critically and analyse situations from multiple angles.
To Develop Cultural Awareness: Through literature, children explore different time periods, cultures, and societies. This exposure broadens their worldview, making them more aware of global histories and social dynamics.
To Spark Creativity: The richly woven worlds in great literature ignite the imagination. Stories of adventure, mystery, and human triumph inspire children to think creatively and dream beyond their current realities.
To Build Language Skills: Reading high-quality literature strengthens vocabulary, comprehension, and communication skills, laying a strong foundation for future academic success.

By encouraging children to explore the depths of timeless stories, we equip them with tools that go beyond the classroom—tools for life. We foster a love for reading early, because the benefits are truly lifelong!

Reading
Alongside reading great works in the English canon and Classics, we make use of the VIPERS approach to develop reading skills, which include:

V

Vocabulary

I

Infer

P

Predict

E

Explain

R

Retrieve

S

Sequence or summarise

These are considered the core skills of reading and link specifically to the National Curriculum reading domains. Teachers will ensure children have a balance of skills across the week and over each term so that they have opportunities to develop their complete reading skills.

We encourage reading for pleasure through children having a choice of challenging and enriching texts as well as building in time for children to read independently and as part of a whole class. All children have daily opportunities to read a variety of material in school, including regularly with an adult.

During our Read Aloud breaks, our children list to a text being read to them for pleasure. This happens everyday as another opportunity to hear expert reading.

Our intended impact is that children will leave Key Stage 2 as competent readers with a shared love of stories and a secure understanding of what they have read. Pupils will be able to engage in discussions about plots and characters, recommend a book to a peer and evaluate an author’s use of language and the impact this has on the reader. Pupils will read in all subjects in the curriculum and will read different genres to develop their understanding about a topic.

Writing

We believe that all children are capable of producing a high-quality written outcome that reflects the very best they can achieve

We aim to inspire all children to do this by delivering an engaging curriculum with enthusiastic teachers providing all children with the knowledge and tools needed to succeed in all genres of writing as well as developing a genuine love of writing. We aim to promote the use of standard written and spoken English, provide pupils with a range of strategies to develop accurate spelling skills, develop confident, independent writers who value their own and others writing and develop creativity through writing across the curriculum. Through the use of shared writing and teacher modelling we demonstrate the writing process so pupils learn the journey from gathering ideas, planning, drafting, editing and publishing. We strive to make sure English is a well-loved subject and that all members of The Light Christian School speak highly of it.

We implement the following to develop great writers:

  • An explicit focus on good handwriting
  • Analysis and Imitation – summarising and rewriting to learn from quality writers
  • Non-negotiables used in each year group as expectations for all pieces of writing
  • Weekly spelling tests
  • Opportunities for writing across the curriculum
  • Daily feedback given to pupils so they know next steps

Please find useful links below

Reading Progression of Knowledge and Skills
Reading Progression of Knowledge and Skills
Writing Progression
Writing Progression

Should you have any questions about the curriculum, please contact Mr Joseph via info@thelight-school.org