English is given the highest status in our curriculum to help learners to improve their learning and performance in education, work and life. 

English Curriculum Statement

English is the heart of our curriculum. Through the early acquisition of language and the continual development of vocabulary, children begin to understand abstract and concrete concepts, connect ideas and gain articulacy to express themselves.  In its myriad of forms, literacy enables children to not only make sense of the world, but to situate themselves within it.

Along with developing skills of inference and deduction, vocabulary expansion is a key element in all reading and writing lessons.  At the end of their primary school career, the Stoke Poges child would have acquired a richly expanded vocabulary along with the knowledge of how to select words appropriately to fit the purpose and audience, thus eliciting the desired effect. They would also be able to understand more challenging texts which demand a strong command of the English language through their continued refinement of inference and deduction skills.

English is fun! 

We know that knowledge cannot be embedded if learners are not involved, and that involvement should be fun!  For this reason, we spend a lot of time planning exciting annual events to enthuse our pupils and encourage a love of reading and writing.  

Author visits 

Our pupils have enjoyed author visits from Dan Freedman, author of the Jamie Johnson series, CLPE Children’s Poetry Award winner Karl Nova, and author and illustrator of the popular Clive series, Jessica Spanyol. We have also had some special surprises from the bestselling author of the Inkheart series, Cornelia Funke. 

World Book Day 

The week encompassing World Book Day is a major event on the school calendar.  Our annual celebrations include a ‘Great Bookish Bake-Off’ competition, a class swap with special book-themed lessons, the essential dress-up day and the climax: The Mastermind challenge.