English Update -Spring 2
KS3 Update
Year 7 students have continued studying A Monster Calls (a superb book by Patrick Ness). Last term they used the novel to write analytically about Conor’s emotions and how we as a reader interpret these and, in Spring 2, they have worked on their own creative and descriptive writing. Students will complete their main assessment in this after the Easter break and viewed a screening of the film version on Thursday 30th March. Beginning in Summer 1, students will be looking at the theme of Identity and Culture through the lenses of literature and non-fiction.
Year 8 have continued studying their first Shakespeare play here with The Tempest. This created a beautiful segue (well done, Mrs Wilson) into Spring 2’s study of Dystopian fiction, which has involved students recreating their own Dystopian worlds. In the summer term, Year 8 students will be studying a scheme of learning on Minority Voices through the base text of Long Way Down, a novel written entirely in verse, where they will look at writers’ creation of a voice and recreate their own ‘voices’. An excellence transitionary module that will see our students prepared for the next step of their learning journey into Year 9.
KS4 Update
This half-term, Year 9 students, continued their study of one of Shakespeare’s most famous plays Romeo and Juliet, but turned their hands to writing creatively.
Year 10, pupils have studied Macbeth, Shakespeare’s famous ‘Scottish play’. This is one of the most challenging of the GCSE English Literature set texts but students have thoroughly enjoyed engaging with the their exploration of character, Shakespeare’s use of symbolism and the contextual relevance of the play. Students will continue to study this after Easter in order to prepare for writing about the play in their end of year exams.
Year 11 this half-term have been preparing for their upcoming GCSE examinations in English Language and English Literature (see exam timetables for dates of exams). They have been undertaking bespoke in-class intervention based on the mocks they have taken this year in both language and literature and the department have used data to analyse students’ performance on each of the questions to target the interventions in each class.
English revision for Year 11 students takes place every Tuesday in H015 and H016 and its been great to see a third of the year group are turning up regularly to take advantage of the knowledge of our team of experienced practitioners. As well as the two sessions in H015 and H016, Mr Hoskin, an experienced senior examiner for the exam board, also runs a Masterclass session which is delivered in the lecture theatre and focuses those students on what they need in order to achieve a grade 7 or above. Students should be attending as many sessions of these as they can in order to prepare fully for their final GCSE English exams in the summer. For further information, please contact cwilliams@northleamington.co.uk or swright@northleamington.co.uk
Year 11 students should be using the KS4 Revision Hub when revising as there are a plethora of resources available for them including videos from Mr Hoskin’s YouTube channel, his masterclass lectures and much, much more…
KS5 Update
Year 13 students have also been undertaking bespoke in-class intervention based on the mocks they have taken this year and the department have used data to analyse students’ performance on each of the questions to target the interventions in each class. Students will be looking to complete their NEAs in the coming weeks and have enjoyed the advisory sessions. The range of topics and texts that students have studied is wide and varied and many of our students have worked hard on ensuring they do all they can to help achieve the top grades possible with their entries.
If any parents or students wish to know more about our A Level options or require any further information, please email jbarrett@northleamington.co.uk.
Rewards in English
We LOVE recognising how amazing our students are in English and our young people may have noticed our Brag Board on the English corridor. Every half-term, the Class Act (class) with the most Reward Points will be awarded a prize (get your child to ask their teacher for more details).
