It’s a known fact that children like talking… However what many don’t realise is that English lessons involve a serious amount of talking! Learning how to express an idea and listening to the thoughts of others are very important and at CCJS, pupils have many opportunities to discuss as a class, in groups or in pairs. Discussion will often be based around the reading of a particular book or passage and teachers will encourage pupils to look at the characters, setting and themes. We have “class readers”, books that we read together as a class, but we also use a variety of other reading texts: travel writing, magazine articles, non-fiction reports, persuasive letters or adverts to name just a few. Of course, there is also a regular focus on poetry.

However, do not think that English stops at discussion and reading! Children learn the skills of writing and we instil confidence by modelling writing using the interactive whiteboard and then asking pupils to make improvements to our work. By this time, most pupils are itching to write independently and, with clear guidance and support about the essential aspects of spelling, punctuation, grammar, presentation, they work on their own ideas in books or on computers.

Throughout the year, we have particular “high points”: National Poetry Day – when we run our own competition for the different year groups, Book Day - when pupils and staff share their favourite books and we dress up as book characters and Cheltenham Literature Festival – when we organise visits to authors such as Anthony Horowitz, Philip Reeve and many others. We also host our own events so that pupils have the chance to meet people such as Michael Morpurgo, Michael Rosen and Charlie Higson in person. In fact, Michael Morpurgo has a rather special relationship with the Junior and you can see photographs scattered around the school of the many times he has visited and worked with small groups.

Finally, public speaking - could you speak about whether boiled eggs are better than scrambled for two minutes? Did you know that there are more than 20 types of bee? Throughout their time at The Junior, pupils are taught the skills of public speaking and have the chance to present and debate their opinions.

Victoria Beevers, Head of English