The English curriculum focusses on three key areas of knowledge and skill: reading, writing and spoken language. The interdependence of these skills throughout the curriculum journey ensures pupils become effective and confident communicators. An enthusiasm for reading, both as a means of acquiring knowledge and as a source of enjoyment, is central to English at Saint Edmund Arrowsmith and with reading at the heart of the English curriculum and by weaving this around powerful themes, concepts and ideas including identity, tolerance and social responsibility, pupils become critical and creative thinkers: acquiring the technical and creative abilities to apply their knowledge in their own writing and spoken language. Our pupils are empowered as they develop the skills needed to thrive in the modern world: providing the confidence and ability to seek a range of aspirational choices when they leave school; choices which are made achievable by their study of English. The study of English at St Edmund Arrowsmith engages pupils in local, national and global contexts through their use of written and spoken language, as well as through offering the opportunity to read widely and experience the diverse multi-cultural literary heritage of Britain and other cultures around the world. Ultimately, pupils will love the study of English from which they will derive a sense of joy, inspiring them to use communication as a means of empowerment.