Return to Curriculum

English

Subject Lead: Ms C Curtis

Useful Resources

National Poetry Day – Thursday 1st October 2026

Reception

The focus poem was Woodlice by Simon Mole. The children completed many activities linked to the poem. The activities included: illustrating the poem, using junk modelling to create a woodlouse or mini-beast, using fruit to paint print to create mini-beasts, hunting for real woodlice outside and, building and creating habitats for mini-beasts.

The children became woodlice experts and now know lots of facts about them!

“They like it to be dark and damp”.

“They eat rotten things”.

“The poo is good to make things grow”.

“They drink water through their bottoms”.

Year 1

Year 1 joined the National Poetry Day celebration and thoroughly enjoyed taking part in the interactive activities. The children eagerly joined in, throwing their hands in the air, sharing ideas and responding enthusiastically to the performers. The energetic nature of the session created a great deal of excitement. It was wonderful to see their enthusiasm and engagement throughout the live lesson.

Year 3

Year 3 joined in a live lesson with poet Simon Mole. He shared some of his poems about bugs and then taught us how to write a kenning poem about an animal of our choice. Take a look at some of our excellent poems!

Year 6

Year 6 had a brilliant time taking part in the National Poetry Day workshop with Simon Mole and Alim Kamara. They loved joining in with Alim’s rap performance and brought lots of enthusiasm to the session. Inspired by the theme of Wonder, the children explored how everyday objects, such as a spoon, can be special and meaningful, before creating their own imaginative poems. It was a fun and inspiring experience that encouraged creativity, confidence and a love of poetry.

World Book Day at The Ryde – March 2024

Children at The Ryde School love to read and we spent the week celebrating books!  As it states in the Reading Framework:

“Through the books and poems they encounter, through the characters and situations that they meet, and the discussion that surrounds the text, pupils have a chance to experience the excitement, wonder and fascination that can come from reading, to feel what it is like to lose themselves in a story.”   (Reading Framework July 2023)

We had a travelling book fair set up in our school hall for the week which promoted and enticed children to explore new books and authors.  We invited all children and staff to bring in their favourite book to share with their class.  During the day the children had the opportunity to promote their favourite book and encourage other children to read it as well.  To highlight the importance of reading, especially at bedtime, all children were invited to wear pyjamas or a onesie to school.

We finished our celebration of books on Friday with a Book Swap day.  Children were invited to bring in a book  in good condition but they no longer needed and chose a different book.  It was a perfect opportunity for children to trade in books they have already read for a new book that interests them.

We had a super week celebrating our love of books!

Exploring English at The Ryde School

At The Ryde School, we are passionate about making writing fun and engaging for every student. Each year group is exploring exciting texts to inspire their creativity and build essential writing skills.

Year 1 have been learning the basics, for example identifying nouns and using adjectives. These skills help them describe things in more detail and start to get creative with their writing.

Year 4 have been working on using punctuation marks correctly, for example commas, speech marks and exclamation marks this has made their writing clearer and easier to read.

Year 6 students are perfecting how to structure their writing. They have been learning how to organise their ideas into paragraphs and use linking words to make their writing flow smoothly.