Embedded Files
Head of Department
Mrs S Wilson
Welcome to Key Stage 3
Throughout Key Stage 3 we seek to build on and extend the skills and knowledge that you have learned at primary school. We do this through teaching writing and reading, while extending your reading range and teaching you analysis and evaluation skills. Each year you will study a Shakespeare play, a 19th century text, a 20th century text and a selection of poetry. You will have a dedicated writing skills lesson each week.
Year 7 topics and assessments
Romeo and Juliet
Writing - changing the fight scene in a dramatic piece of prose writing.
Select and analyse skills assessment
Evaluation skills assessment
Writing - factual writing
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Writing - newspaper report
Writing - factual writing
Select and analyse skills assessment
Evaluation skills assessment
Context skills assessment
Blood Brothers
Select and analyse skills assessment
Evaluation skills assessment
Writing
Poetry
Select and analyse
End of Year Exam
Year 8 topics and assessments
Macbeth
Writing: Letter
Evaluation skills assessment
Select and analyse skills assessment
Oliver Twist
Context skills assessment
Writing: Letter
Evaluation skills assessment
Writing: Newspaper report
Select and analyse skills assessment
To Kill a Mockingbird
Select and analyse skills assessment
Writing: Courtroom closing argument
Evaluation skills assessment
Poetry
Select and analyse skills assessment
Context skills assessment
End of Year Exam
Year 9
Year 9 is a transition year in which you will start some of your GCSE units but continue to explore and develop your love of language, literature and even film. The weekly writing skills lessons continue so that you don't lose any of your expertise and issues can be worked on before the GCSE years.
Year 9 topics and assessments
All Quiet on Western Front
Select and analyse skills assessment
Poetry Anthology
Knowledge quiz
A Christmas Carol
Select and analyse skills assessment
Creative writing
Into Film (mini)
Script creative writing
Much Ado About Nothing
Writing: newspaper report
Select and analyse skills assessment
Love Poetry
Knowledge quiz
Lord of the Flies
Select and analyse skills assessment
Writing: formal letter
End of Year Exam
Independent Learning In Key Stage 3
Click here to read the FAQs about Bedrock, the system we use for homework in Years 7, 8 and 9.
Moving up to Key Stage 4
Everyone works towards GCSE English Language and GCSE English Literature at the end of Year 11. Our exam board is Eduqas for both qualifications, and the English Language qualification also includes a mandatory Spoken Language element in which you plan and deliver a presentation/speech.
The weekly writing skills lesson continue in Year 11, and you will also be set weekly revision tasks on Seneca, a research based platform which develops your recall and retention skills.
GCSE English Language
Paper One – 20th Century Fiction
Reading section: students are given a story or extract from a story to read and have to answer questions which demonstrate their skills in comprehension, analysis and evaluation.
Questions might include:
List five things we learn about the main character
What does the writer mean when they say…
How does the writer make this section tense and dramatic?
What impressions does the writer give of the main character?
To what extent do you agree that the ending of the story was predictable?
Writing section: Students are given a choice of creative writing titles to which they have to respond. Marks for this section are split into Communication and Organisation and Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar (SPAG). Technical accuracy on the writing section is important – students who cannot punctuate correctly, use paragraphs, use a wide range of vocabulary or vary sentence structures are limited to low grades.
How parents can help: Students who read regularly tend to have better developed sense of plot and vocabulary, and therefore do better on this paper. Encourage your child to read regularly and to discuss what they have read with you.
Paper Two – 19th and 21st Century Fiction
Reading section: students are given two non-fiction texts on a related theme (e.g. crime and punishment, recycling or exercise). One of the texts is modern and the other is from the 1800s. They will be asked a range of questions similar to those in paper one, but with additional questions which ask them to compare the views and techniques used in the texts.
How parents can help: Students sometimes find understanding the 19th century language hard – encouraging them to read authors such as Dickens, Austen, Stevenson etc. or newspapers, diaries, letters etc. from the 1800s online would help them get used to understanding unfamiliar language. Talk to them and ask questions about what they have read.
Writing section: students are given two mandatory non-fiction writing tasks. They have to show that they know the correct format to use and the correct tone, and provide a sufficient level of detail in their writing. They could be asked to write a letter, a speech or an article, for example. Marks for this section are split into Communication and Organisation and Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar (SPAG). As before, students who cannot punctuate correctly, use paragraphs, use a wide range of vocabulary or vary sentence structures are limited to low grades.
How parents can help: Students who take an interest in the world around them (read quality news sites online, watch the news or documentaries etc.) do better in this section because they have more to say and more views to call upon. Encourage them to do this and talk to them about what they have read or watched. Get them to form an opinion on it – ‘don’t know’ is not allowed!
GCSE English Literature
Students start English Literature with a first study of Much Ado About Nothing and A Christmas Carol in year 9. We then begin the poetry anthology and follow this with revision of key texts and Lord of The Flies in year 10, leaving us with year 11 to focus on revision and improving skills.
Paper One
Shakespeare: Much Ado About Nothing.
There are two questions on this paper. In the first, students are provided with an extract from the play. They have to show knowledge of the play and characters in order correctly write about what is happening. They also have to demonstrate analysis skills to be able to focus on the Shakespeare’s choice of language or structure to evidence what they say about how the characters are behaving or how the mood of the extract changes. In the second question, students are given a question about how a theme or character is presented during the play, and they have to show whole text knowledge in their response. The essay question carries marks for correct use of spelling, punctuation and grammar.
Anthology poetry.
We study 18 poems, starting in year 9. Students have to write about one poem which is provided on the exam paper and then compare this poem to another they have studied. In addition to being able to write critically about the language and structure of the poem, they have to know something about the context of the poem – the writer, the era or the political context – and link this to meaning. Students start this work with War Poetry in year 9 and learn the rest of the poems in year 10.
Paper Two
A Christmas Carol: students are provided with an extract from the novel and a theme or character based question. They have to not only make reference to the extract, but write about the wider novel as well, using quotations and their analysis skills to make interesting and thoughtful points. In addition this question requires context – you can help you child by taking any opportunities to learn about or discuss their knowledge of the Victorian era and Charles Dickens.
Lord of The Flies: The structure of this question is the same as A Christmas Carol but students only have to focus on the text. They are not required to write about the era in which the novel was set or Golding’s political views. This question carries marks for correct use of spelling, punctuation and grammar.
Unseen poetry: this follows the same structure as the poetry anthology question but it relates to two poems provided which the students will not have seen before. They need to be able to identify what the poem seems to be about, the tone, the effect of language and devices and give their personal response, all backed up by closely analysed quotations.
How parents can help: Students who do well at English Literature have read the texts several times in their own time, not just in class, and also read around the topics, so that they bring something new to the answers that the examiner might not have seen in all the other responses they have marked. Provide time and quiet space for them to do this, and ask them about what they have read. Students need to know a bank of quotations about characters and themes so that they can use these as starting points for their discussions. Help them to make flash cards – question and answer style ones might work best – or mind maps to help them learn the information they will need to recall.
Useful Revision Sites
GCSE English Literature
Much Ado About Nothing (play) by William Shakespeare * Amazon or Oxford University Press
Much Ado About Nothing revision guide Amazon or CGP Books
Much Ado About Nothing revision workbook Amazon or CGP Books
A Christmas Carol (novella) by Charles Dickens * Amazon
A Christmas Carol revision guide CGP or Amazon
A Christmas Carol revision workbook CGP or Amazon
Lord of the Flies (novel) by William Golding * Amazon
Lord of the Flies revision guide CGP Books or Amazon
Lord of the Flies revision workbook CGP Books or Amazon
Eduqas Poetry Anthology revision guide CGP Books or Amazon
Eduqas Unseen Poetry revision guide CGP Books or Amazon
GCSE English Language
GCSE WJEC Eduqas English Language revision workbook CGP Books or Amazon
GCSE WJEC Eduqas English Language revision guide CGP Books or Amazon
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