English concentrates on four main key areas of the programme of study - speaking, listening, reading and writing. They learn to listen to and discuss others' ideas, and present their own. They read for enjoyment and to find out facts, and start to say what they think about what they read. They put their thoughts into writing through discussion and drafting processes, leading to a well structure piece of work, showing characterization, settings, plots and themes.

Children are taught:

•speaking and listening: they speak to different audiences and use language for effect. They shape what they say with a clear beginning and ending. They listen carefully, picking out the main points of what people say, and ask questions or make comments. They work flexibly in groups, making different contributions. They write scripts or improvise plays and comment on how successful their performances are. They learn about how language changes in different situations, and between speech and writing

•reading: they read a broad range of materials and use their knowledge of words, sentences and texts to understand the meaning. They get better at reading challenging, lengthy texts on their own, and they discuss the meanings of fiction and non-fiction with others

•writing: they write in a range of ways to explore feelings, explain, persuade, review and comment. They plan and draft their work, checking it for spelling, punctuation and grammar. They write legibly in joined-up and printed styles.