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Section 1
RATIONALE
Language and education
Language is at the heart of children's learning. Through language
they receive much of their knowledge and acquire many of their
skills. Language enables children both to communicate with others
effectively for a variety of purposes, and to examine their own
and others' experiences, feelings and ideas, giving them order
and meaning. Because language is central to children's intellectual,
emotional and social development it has an essential role across
the curriculum and helps pupils' learning to be coherent and progressive.
Children's earliest language is acquired in the home and in pre-school
groups, and schools will build on that foundation and on the children's
widening range of experience. This early language will be varied:
sometimes it will be dialect and occasionally it will not be English.
But it will mirror the diversity of the community the school serves
and will contribute to the learning that occurs in the classroom.
This language will be handled knowledgeably by teachers so as
to meet individual needs, encourage confidence and make learning
a pleasurable experience.
Schools attach a high priority to giving pupils a command of
the English language and the ability to use it appropriately and
concisely to convey meanings. This includes having a knowledge
about language; listening attentively; talking to the point; reading
with understanding; and writing fluently and legibly with accurate
spelling and punctuation.
Schools should provide structured and stimulating opportunities
to use language with increasing precision in contexts appropriate
to the needs of individuals and the world in which they live.
Providing such opportunities will involve the following:
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