English at Dawn House School:

The English Department aims to engage pupils in active learning that is creative and adapted to meet all students’ needs. Our Department develops students’ imagination, independence and lifelong learning skills like problem-solving, critical thinking, perseverance and empathy.

It is our ambition for our students to communicate confidently in social and professional circumstances. We support our students in developing their language acquisition by raising their phonological awareness, providing vocabulary and developing their syntax structure skills.

The English Department aims to enable our pupils to make a positive contribution to wider society and to inspire them to meet their full potential in all aspects of life at Dawn House School and beyond.

Reading and writing are the key skills that students take great pride in when learning at Dawn House School. All students have access to four Literacy sessions each week when they follow identified programmes dependent on their needs. Namely, Read Write Inc, Precision Teaching, Touch Type Read and Spell and Reciprocal Reading. These programs are designed to help students develop their phonological awareness and improve reading communication, as well as peer to peer communication. All students also enjoy a weekly session of Reading for Pleasure where they can either choose texts from our school library or bring their own. These are very popular among students as they enjoy sharing each other’s reading interests.