English

Our pupils are taught to read, but also read to learn.

At Caterham Prep, English is more than a subject—it’s a gateway to developing essential skills for life. Through a rich curriculum that integrates reading, writing, and oracy, pupils explore high-quality texts linked to their Global topic, allowing them to engage with ideas that shape the world around them. 

Reading is an essential part of a pupils’ Caterham Prep journey, and it is our aim to foster a love of this throughout. Pupils experience a range of initiatives from mystery readers to author visits and dedicated reading areas across the School. Pupils are also encouraged to engage with our carefully curated reading lists, which contain texts suited to all abilities, different genres, as well as linking to their Global topics to further facilitate knowledge and understanding. 

We believe that language is a tool for thinking and creating. Through our texts and thought-provoking questions, our English lessons encourage talk, debate and deep thinking. Pupils analyse, reflect and imitate outstanding writing, learning to apply sentence structures, imaginative devices and vocabulary to a variety of different writing outcomes, preparing them for life beyond school.