Rochester Riverside Primary School

English

 Jesus said, "I have come in order that you might have life —life in all its fullness." (John 10:10)

This is the precept upon which Rochester Riverside is founded.

We are committed to enabling each member of our community to flourish.

With the role model of Christ as our cornerstone,

we are building together a new community - a bridge from our past to the future.

 

 

 

 

We are writers, we are readers,

       we are speakers and listeners        

….we are Riverside!

English at Rochester Riverside 

To find out more about each area of learning in more detail please click on the boxes below:

Reading Writing Speaking and Listening 

Spelling Punctuation and Grammar Phonics Handwriting  

Our INTENT for English at Rochester Riverside:


At Rochester Riverside we inspire and establish an excitement for English:

Forever aspiring and adventurous,

together, we build foundations of personalised essential English knowledge,

explore and develop a growing bank of powerful English knowledge, 

all applied using our procedural English knowledge.

 

At every stage, including key features of speaking, listening, reading and writing,  

we enable English learning through creative, relevant and purposeful application.


Expectations for each year group are underpinned through structured teaching,

using our own Pilgrim Progress, 

developed through our Riverside identity, vision and National Curriculum requirements.

 

Language provides the foundation of thinking and learning. 

Literacy is the ability to read, write, speak and listen in a way that lets us

communicate effectively and make sense of the world.

(National Literacy Trust 2020) 

 

We choose to invest time, to value, and to prioritise English learning, 

in order that this fundamental knowledge (along with our Riverside attributes) 

may be applied to enhance every other aspect of the curriculum, 

to build our identity and to equip us to flourish in our daily life.

 

Priorities for Riverside children include:

  • Reading easily, fluently and with good understanding

  • Developing the habit of reading widely, and often, for both pleasure and information

  • Acquiring a wide vocabulary, an understanding of grammar, a knowledge of linguistic conventions for reading, writing and speech

  • Appreciating our rich and varied literary heritage

  • Writing clearly, accurately and coherently, adapting language and style through a range of contexts, purposes and audiences

  • Using discussion in order to learn

  • Competency in the arts of speaking and listening

  

 

Our Implementation in English at Rochester Riverside:

 

At Riverside, we believe the best English practice comes through the inspiration and exploration of real-life experiences, current events, cross-curricular learning and writing with a purpose.  

Teachers are encouraged to use their professional judgement (structured using our Pilgrim Progress) as to how and when to maximise opportunities for English learning, through personalising, differentiating and applying the curriculum creatively, adapting it specifically to their particular cohort and linking it to real-life learning through relevant current affairs .

The subject of English provides great opportunity to reflect on our own identity at Riverside,  and to learn about and consider our diversity and heritage, both in literary terms and in the context of the wider world's development.  

Not only do we enjoy sharing a rich range of reading material, but we also consider how our language has grown, and we particularly enjoy debates and writing from the perspective of others from different places or times around our world. 

 

Black History Month at Rochester Riverside 

During Black History Month, we welcomed Alim Kamara, a fantastic guest Speaker from Storie Storie, to Rochester Riverside. Alim captured all of our imaginations by telling us a motivational story from the African culture. We all loved joining in with the words and the actions! His story inspired us to remember our ABCs...that we are all AWESOME, BEAUTIFUL and  CAPABLE! 

Black History Month

 James Jefferson the author visits Rochester Riverside

Rochester Riverside had great fun meeting the real-life author, James Jefferson. We loved listening to his story and learning amazing facts about Space. James even stayed behind to sign some copies of his book too! Through meeting James, many of us have now been inspired to become authors, scientists and even astronauts. 

James Jefferson author visit to Rochester Riverside

 Copies of James' books can be purchased on Amazon.