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 part of the Accelerated reader scheme and encourage our pupils to read daily at home, as well as in school. We also include comprehension-based reading activities during our English lessons and use reading domain stickers to show this in our lessons. Pupils enjoy events such as World Book Day and National Story telling week when they dress up as book characters and revel in events such as author visits and drama workshops. Our school environment is a rich backdrop for several famous authors where we have areas decorated with themes such as: Neverland, Harry Potter and Oz.

Race Leys also takes part in the National Shakespeare festival where Year 5 pupils perform a Shakespeare play at a theatre to a paying audience. It is an opportunity for children to excel in drama and work with professional actors and directors in the workshops they provide.

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, Griffin Promise (topic) books have also shown an improvement and higher 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.

English Ambassadors

Student Voice

Curriculum Documents