English
The English Curriculum Area is committed to providing engaging opportunities for students to make progress in their reading, writing, speaking and listening. Students are grouped by ability with all classes introduced to the rich diversity of English Literature from Year 7. Support is offered in a variety of ways to students including individual and groups interventions.
Year 7 English classes are timetabled for five fifty minute English lessons per week. All other Key Stage 3 classes are timetabled for four fifty minute English lessons a week. In addition, some groups in Years 8 and 9 will have an additional two lessons of literacy. For all classes, there is one library lesson timetabled each fortnight to encourage private reading choices and to practise research skills.
The scheme of work in Key Stage 3 is flexible to account for the individual requirements of students but all classes follow a selection of core units of study which provide opportunities for development of a range of skills and feedback through formative assessment. Able students may find that they are introduced to units from a higher year group than their present year group as they progress.
Year 7
| Non-Fiction: | A transisiton Project (may be started in Year 6) |
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| Prose Fiction: | Graphic Novel
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| Poetry: | The language of poetry: reviewing, making choices |
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| Drama: | A quality play written for young people |
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Year 8
| Non-Fiction: | Adverts and Magazines |
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| Prose Fiction: | Comic Book |
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| Poetry: | Reading and responding personally |
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| Drama: | 20th Century play |
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Year 9
| Non-Fiction: | Range of short units preparing for Functional Skills assessment in Summer Term |
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| Prose Fiction: | A more demanding text, preparatory for GCSE reading and writing tasks |
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| Poetry: |
Language and structure |
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| Drama: | Shakespeare; analysis and evaluation of character, theme and direction |
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Support for Parents
Parents are welcome to contact class teachers if they have any concerns or to contact either the Head of Curriculum Area (David Carter) or the Second in English (Vicki Willson) should they wish.
Online support for student study can be found at:
Support for your child's reading is vital for the acquisition of reading skills and we hope that parents will encourage their children to read. If your child is reluctant to read books, we suggest trying non-fiction (factual) books and encourage them to read magazines or comments. You may notice that the study of a graphic novel is included in our Year 7 scheme of work and we find that this is an engaging experience for our students.
