AIBU to ask this question of any teachers on here?

[itswhereitsat]

Posting this on here for traffic really.

We currently live in an Arabic speaking country. My two children (DS 12 and DS 7) attend local language schools most subjects are in Arabic and English is taught as a second language. They are fluent in both languages and they speak English with a Southern Accent. In Arabic my eldest would be able to sit the GCSE Arabic exam. They visit the UK every year and I feel that they have a very good understanding of the life. I try to keep abreast of trends for children in the UK and when they return I don't feel their differences are very noticeable.
We are planning to return to the UK in Summer 2020 and live in the South Derbyshire area. My eldest would then be in Year 9 and the youngest, Year 4. I am most concerned about my eldest son as his written English is a little weak due to learning English as a second language abroad. I supplement what they both do at school with UK curriculum books and online resources like Literacy Planet, Spelling Zone and Reading Express. They also have a library of typical books that children would read in the UK eg Roald Dahl, David Walliams, Harry Potter etc. However, I don't think anything can match total immersion in English and spending all the school time learning only English.
I have a year to prepare him for the change and intend to ramp up the English supplementation. If there are any Teachers on here I would like to pose this question/scenario. My son appears in your classroom in a years time. What would you have liked me to have done to prepare him for life in a UK school and to improve his English writing further? Also, any advice on the move much appreciated.

As soon as he gets to school, encourage him to join lots of after school clubs. Chatting with his peers will be very helpful but also really help him fit in socially, so important at his age- he needs to enjoy school.

10 months have passed since I posted this. I never would have imagined that I'd be facing a pandemic as well as an overseas move. We now won't be moving until November as the house we are moving into won't be ready until then. We are now moving to NW Leicestershire instead of Derbyshire. All of your advice was so helpful so I wanted to give you an update. I purchased some KS3 Science, History and Geography. My son has enjoyed KS3 History and we have worked through from 1066 until the Industrial Revolution. We're now taking a break from History until September to focus on other things. Geography we've made good progress with. After recommendations from Mumsnetters, we've studied books such as Holes, Skellig, Private Peaceful, Lord of the Flies and various books by Michael Morpurgo and Elizabeth Laird which he loves. He's read about 30 books from KS3 book lists that I found online. We've looked at Shakespeares live and the Globe Theatre, PEEL paragraphs, persuasive writing, writing to inform, instruct and speeches etc. English is still a challenge but I feel that I have done my best without having the skills of a teacher.

As we now need to be here until November, due to Covid-19 I want to do some work on Gothic Novels. Can anybody recommend some resources or books to look at? Thanks for all your help with advice last year, I wouldn't have known where to start otherwise.