Literacy is fundamental to all areas of learning, as it unlocks access to the wider curriculum. Being literate increases opportunities for the individual in all aspects of life, lays the foundations for lifelong learning and work, and contributes strongly to the development of all four capacities of Curriculum for Excellence.

The Literacy and English curriculum promotes the development of critical and creative thinking as well as competence in listening and talking, reading, writing and the personal, interpersonal and team-working skills which are so important in life and in the world of work.

Our main aim is to develop within each child the skills of listening, talking, reading and writing in order that each child may be given every opportunity to become an effective, fluent and confident communicator.

At St James’ we use a wide range of resources to teach reading.  Our core school resource is Big Cat, these book will be sent home as part of your childs’ homework programme. The reading scheme provides a range of fiction and non-fiction texts.  Throughout the school, children are encouraged to read for pleasure. Each classroom has a wide selection of texts for pupils to choose from for personal reading and all classes have access to the school library to further access a wide range of texts.

Staff at St James’ use the Renfrewshire Reading Coaching Strategies and Dive Into Reading Approaches when teaching reading skills across P1-P7.

Jolly Phonics and Jolly Grammar are used to teach spelling and grammar throughout the school.

Throughout their time at St James’ your child will develop a range of writing skills, these skills are taught weekly with pupils writing imaginative stories, poetry, reports, recounts, letters and more.  These writing skills are then developed in a variety of real life situations.

More information about the principles and practices of Literacy and English can be found on the Education Scotland website.