At Sunnyside, we aim to develop a broad, inclusive and inspiring curriculum. We value the importance of English as being more than a technical skill. English lessons at Sunnyside are a powerful tool for communication and self – expression with oracy at the forefront of teaching. Children receive support, challenge and adaptive teaching to ensure that we instil our belief that ‘Every child has the right to achieve their full potential’, irrespective of background, ability or complexity.

“Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.” – Joseph Addison

Writing

Our vision for writing is grounded in the latest educational research. We aim to inspire every child to see themselves as a confident, creative communicator who can express ideas with clarity, imagination and purpose. Writing is at the heart of our curriculum. We believe that writing is a gateway to thinking, learning and sharing stories that shape both identity and understanding of the world. Our adaptive and immersive ways of teaching ensure that learning is purposeful and meaningful for all. Being a Royal Shakespeare school, rehearsal room techniques and active approaches ensure immersive experiences bring the teaching and learning to life. Writing lessons look at vocabulary choices, sentence structures, using correct grammar and applying phonics and spelling conventions.

Reading

At our school, we take an evidence-based approach to the teaching of reading through strategies such as Readers Theatre, Reciprocal Reading and Guided Reading, all of which support the development of fluency, comprehension and oracy. As part of our progressive reading curriculum, children are explicitly taught key reading skills including skimming, scanning, predicting, clarifying, questioning and summarising, enabling them to become confident, strategic and independent readers. We also place a strong emphasis on reading with expression, helping pupils to develop prosody and deepen their understanding of texts.

We believe that speaking and listening are fundamental to success and that confident communicators make confident readers and writers. Our carefully selected, high-quality texts are linked to British Values and our Trust STARS values, ensuring that every child can aspire, see themselves reflected in the books they read and develop respect and understanding for others. We are committed to creating and sustaining reading-rich environments both in and beyond the classroom, nurturing a lifelong love of reading and continually developing our practice so that all children can thrive as enthusiastic, skilled and thoughtful readers.

Writing Genre Mapping Whole School Progression