At Race Leys Junior School, we realise that a quality English curriculum should develop a child’s love of reading, writing and discussion.

One of our imperative aims is to help children to read and develop their essential comprehension skills. We also recognise the importance of taking pride in their writing and be able to adapt their language, to write for a range of purposes. Importantly, we also want children to be able to express their views and develop confidence and eloquence during discussion. Being able to communicate with others is a lifelong skill needed in all aspects of life.

Children need a secure knowledge and skill-base in English which will enable them to progress and make the crucial advancement needed to participate on their own education path.

In English, children are given many opportunities for reading, writing and discussion. We use a range of quality texts to inspire our pupils and linked to our cross-curricular topics these are interwoven into our planning. We use a quality topic scheme which ensures a range of writing for purpose and audience. We aim to ensure that all pupils can:

• Read fluently with good comprehension
• Develop the love of reading, for pleasure and information
• Acquire a wide vocabulary, understanding of grammar and conventions for reading
• Write accurately, adapting their language and style in a range of contexts
• Elaborate and explain ideas in an eloquent way
• Are able to make formal presentations and demonstrate competency in the art of speaking and listening

We are proud to be part of the Accelerated Reader scheme and actively promote a culture of daily reading both at home and in school. Reading comprehension is embedded across our English curriculum, with lessons structured around the VIPERS framework to explicitly develop key reading skills. Dedicated, high-quality reading lessons are delivered three times a week, with each session focusing on the explicit teaching of a specific comprehension skill. These lessons are clear, concise and progressive, ensuring pupils build confidence and fluency as readers. Pupils’ enjoyment of reading is further enriched through a wide range of reading-focused events, including World Book Day and National Storytelling Week, where children engage enthusiastically by dressing as book characters and participating in author visits and drama workshops. Our school environment actively celebrates literature and provides an inspiring backdrop to reading, with themed areas based on classic and contemporary texts such as Neverland, Harry Potter and Oz, helping to immerse pupils in the world of books and nurture a lifelong love of reading.

Race Leys Junior School follows the GST Writing Strategy, through which pupils are guided on a structured writing journey that culminates in the creation of a high-quality final piece. By embedding this writing strategy across our English curriculum, pupils systematically develop their skills across a wide range of writing elements, including textual analysis, vocabulary development, sentence construction, planning, drafting, evaluating and publishing. This cohesive approach ensures that pupils build confidence, creativity and technical accuracy as writers, while gaining a clear understanding of the writing process from initial exploration to final presentation.

At Race Leys, the impact on our children shows progress, transferrable skills and continuous learning. With our lower school embedding the foundation of a variety of writing genres, upper school can really push the development of creativity. Most genres are familiar to them and they are ready to, including the focus on a sustained piece of writing.

As English is an essential part of the curriculum, we ensure that our foundation topic books also show a range of high quality of writing. This shows evidence of the transferrable skills across all subjects and will encourage their interest into different subjects as they develop their all-round English skills.

Curriculum Documents

Race Leys Book Camp

Year 3 – Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Year 5 – Harry Potter

English Ambassadors

Student Voice