We want our Year 7 students to experience a love of reading from the very first lesson of the very first term, so we begin with the exciting and timeless adventure theme, through the texts of Treasure Island and The Wolves of Willoughby Chase. Both texts are classics, which celebrate the power of English and carefully build upon knowledge from KS2, such as studying typical heroes and villains and how they are portrayed by writers. In the Spring term, we move on to consider the human experience and empower students to confidently discuss their opinions. We begin with a topical unit around War and Conflict with extracts from a diverse range of writers from across different time periods, including Anne Frank. We immerse our students in the knowledge that they need using a variety of texts from non-fiction, that explore real life situations and poetry that complements this. Alongside these exciting texts, our students will be able to use their imagination and creativity to develop their creative writing skills. The Summer term draws to a close with our first Shakespeare text, A Midsummer Night’s Dream. This is a really accessible text and, as a Shakespearean comedy, is light-hearted and a great introduction to the Bard. The conclusion of our inspiring first year is a brilliant modern adventure story, The Girl of Ink and Stars. The novel is written by a popular writer, Kiran Milward Hargrave, who currently pens beautiful prose for both children/teens and adults. This allows us to bring our journey in Year 7 full circle and consider how the theme of adventure has developed over time.
Our Year 8 curriculum continues to foster a love for English and text choices have been carefully made by the English department to show a passion for our subject. We continue to build on the themes explored in Year 7, but with more depth, detail and challenge. Our dynamic term begins with the classic, spine chilling, gothic text of Dracula, which returns to the theme of heroes and villains from Year 7. This not only allows our students to consider their place in society but also consider the world around them. We then further develop our appreciation of the Bard with our second Shakespearean text, Richard III. We are very passionate about studying a text that has contextual roots within the local vicinity of Leicester and Leicestershire. We can powerfully bring the text to life using examples, such as Bosworth, that students know is just 10 minutes down the road. In the Spring term, we move on to study autobiographies and dystopian (negative future world) short stories. Both units further allow students to experience diverse texts and celebrate the power of English through the writer’s messages. Students can link the texts to the themes of identity and resilience; this allows teachers to help students to explore the school values of kindness and respect. The conclusion of the Summer term is Social Justice and our final novel Long Way Down. Again, the theme of identity allows us to provide a mirror and a window for students to view the human experiences of the world they live in. We are also very passionate as a department about Long Way Down. As a novel written through the medium of poetry, it is unique in our curriculum. This is a great way to end our second year of KS3 and students find the novel both exhilarating and intoxicating. Our students love this text!
We continue to be passionate about the classic texts that students can study in our Year 9 curriculum, mixed with some intriguing modern short stories and non-fiction texts. Year 9 continues to build again on the themes and skills from Year 7 and 8 with growing depth, detail, and challenge to reflect the build towards starting to study at GCSE. Year 9 begins with the topic of Relationships and Identity; this is an overarching theme that weaves through all the texts across the year. These themes allow us to view the world through a more complex part of the human condition. Our students begin in Autumn Term with a selection of diverse short stories, these texts allow students to confidently express their opinions about the world around them. This is complemented by a non-fiction unit of topical issues to empower students to participate in the conversations that shape their community and wider society and become self-sufficient citizens. In the Spring term, we begin to study our first modern play The Crucible. This allegorical play is knowledge rich and draws on the history of witchcraft and McCarthyism to allow our students to understand the world around them. In the second Spring Term, we begin by considering the detective genre with a focus on Sherlock Holmes. Our department feel passionate about these texts, both as classics of literature and the subtly clever style of writing. Our Summer Term concludes our KS3 curriculum and the Relationships and Identity theme with poetry by diverse writers dealing with complex human issues. Our final text at KS3 is a return to the Bard for the third time using the transformative power of knowledge to study King Lear by Shakespeare. This text draws together a variety of topics covered in KS3 and begins to draw on knowledge and skills for the transition to GCSE.