English

Reading

At GJA, we believe that reading is the cornerstone of learning and a gateway to unlocking the entire curriculum. We are committed to ensuring that every child becomes a confident, successful, and avid reader who discovers the joy and power of reading.

Our reading provision is built on a two-pronged approach:

Word Reading and Decoding – We equip children with the phonics and decoding skills needed to read fluently and accurately.
Comprehension – We develop their ability to understand, interpret, and engage critically with a wide range of texts.

Reading is a priority in our curriculum because it underpins success across all subjects. We foster a love of reading through exposure to rich, diverse texts and by nurturing an environment where every child feels inspired to explore books.

Our aim is for every child to see themselves as a confident reader, unlocking a world of opportunities and lifelong learning.

Our reading approach is rooted in Scarborough’s Reading Rope model, which highlights the interconnected strands of skilled reading. We use this framework to ensure a balanced and comprehensive strategy that supports all pupils on their reading journey.

Our reading lessons are carefully structured to ensure a rich and balanced approach that develops both fluency and comprehension skills while fostering a love of reading.

Class Text
These lessons focus on studying a carefully chosen class text in depth, using strategies from the CLPE’s Power of Reading. This allows pupils to engage meaningfully with high-quality literature, exploring themes, characters, and language in detail. Each lesson is designed to address the full range of reading domains (e.g., retrieval, inference, and prediction) through engaging and varied comprehension activities that build understanding and critical thinking skills.
Close Reading of Short Texts
This lesson introduces pupils to a new text or extract from a wide range of genres and styles. It hones vocabulary acquisition and exposes pupils to diverse language, enabling them to broaden their understanding and apply new words in context.

This approach ensures every pupil develops the skills, knowledge, and enthusiasm to become a confident and capable reader.

Whole School POR Overview

Reading for Pleasure and Progress

At GJA, we are proud to provide a wide range of carefully selected books and a fully resourced school library to ensure that every child has access to high-quality texts that inspire a love of reading. Pupils are encouraged to read for pleasure and are guided to choose books that capture their interest.

We use the Accelerated Reader programme to rigorously track and monitor every child’s reading progress. This tool provides detailed analytics, helping us identify strengths and areas for improvement. Weekly reviews of this data ensure that no child falls through the net, as we promptly address any gaps or lack of progress through targeted support.

By combining access to engaging texts with robust monitoring and personalised guidance, we ensure that every child is supported to develop a lifelong passion for reading and the skills they need to succeed.

Writing

At GJA, we believe that writing is an essential skill for self-expression, communication, and success in life. Our vision is to ensure that every child becomes a confident, independent writer who can craft texts for a wide range of genres, purposes, and audiences.

We inspire our pupils to develop their own unique style as writers, equipping them with the tools to express their ideas clearly, creatively, and effectively. Through carefully designed teaching and opportunities to explore rich, high-quality texts, we help pupils understand how reading and writing are intrinsically connected—“Reading is breathing in, and writing is breathing out.”

Our goal is for every child to write with fluency and purpose, creating work that reflects their understanding of the audience and genre. By fostering these skills, we empower pupils to use writing as a powerful tool to share their voice and engage meaningfully with the world around them.

We use the CLPE’s Power of Reading approach to enrich our reading curriculum and improve writing outcomes for all pupils. This strategy focuses on the in-depth study of high-quality children’s literature, combining creative teaching approaches with opportunities for meaningful discussion and exploration of texts.

Through the Power of Reading, pupils engage deeply with carefully chosen texts, immersing themselves in rich vocabulary, complex narratives, and diverse characters. Strategies such as drama, role-play, book talk, and visualisation are used to help pupils build a deeper understanding of the text and develop their ability to interpret and empathise.

This deep engagement with reading has a transformative effect on writing. Pupils use the language, structures, and ideas they encounter in their reading as a model for their own writing. They are empowered to write with greater creativity, purpose, and technical accuracy, producing work that is rich, expressive, and well-crafted.

Oracy

Oracy in the GJA Curriculum

The Power of Talk - We actively teach children how to articulate their views in a clear and coherent way by introducing them to speaking scaffolds. We also use these sentence stems to promote active listening.
R Time - Through our R Time lessons, we teach children how to be social, how to discuss a topic, how to listen and how to respectfully disagree. We also teach children how to work with everyone.
Votes For Schools - Our weekly debate lesson means children get to practise sharing their views and thoughts with their peers.
Think, Pair, Share - This speaking and listening strategy is used in every subject area to enable children to think, listen, discuss and share their thoughts and ideas.
Solo Taxonomy - Questions are pitched for progression across all subject areas to encourage children to think deeper and articulate their views and ideas with increasing complexity.
Discussion Guidelines - Discussion Guidelines provide a shared expectation of what high-quality discussion entails. This academic year, we have joined voice 21 and will be implementing Discussion Guidelines across all classrooms.
Public Speaking Opportunities - We provide opportunities for pupils to speak in front of an audience in class assemblies, concerts, special events and our annual 'Strictly Speaking' competition.

Phonics and Better Reading Partners

We deliver tailored interventions in phonics and BRP for pupils who require extra support to make accelerated progress.

The Better Readers Partners (BRP) intervention is a successful reading support program due to its targeted and individualised approach. Our reading specialist delivers structured, consistent sessions, typically three times a week for ten weeks, fostering a positive and encouraging environment.

BRP focuses on both reading fluency and comprehension, leading to significant improvements in children's reading age and skills. It boosts confidence and motivation, enhancing engagement with reading and helps to close the attainment gap.

We use Phonics Shed to deliver targeted intervention as the programme's resources, such as decodable texts and activities are effective for small groups or individual students who need extra support with specific phonics skills. While focusing on phonics, the program also supports the development of reading fluency and comprehension. Decodable texts help students to practice applying their phonics knowledge in the context of reading, while other activities can focus on comprehension skills.