ENGLISH CURRICULUM

Over the past few years, like all national schools in Ireland, we have been implementing the new Primary Language Curriculum, which covers both English and Irish. The strands of the English curriculum are:

• Oral Language: This strand focuses on the development of speaking and listening skills.
• Reading: This strand focuses on learning and developing reading skills, including comprehension strategies and reading across a variety of genres.
• Writing: We have our own writing policy. Pupils will learn and develop 6 different writing genres during their 8 years of primary education:

– Narrative (telling a story)
– Recount (telling what happened)
– Persuasive (convincing the reader)
– Explanation (explaining how or why something happens/works)
– Report (describes what something was like and gives information on it)
– Procedural (guides the reader how to do something, in steps)

Other key areas of learning include spelling, phonics, grammar, free writing, dictionary work, vocabulary and much more, under these strands.