Subject: English
What will students learn?
Year 7 is grounded in the exploration of character and the conventions of writing. This builds on students’ knowledge and understanding of the subject from primary school, and consolidates key concepts and skills needed for year 8 and beyond. We then build on characterisation in year 8 when students consider in greater detail the writer behind the texts and their authorial intention, as well as the writer's conscious use of language and structure to create meaning. Year 9 consolidates students’ prior learning from year 7 and year 8 and moves to focus on critiquing and interpreting texts; analysing them in detail and constructing written essays which explore and analyse layers of meaning within texts, across different genres and time periods.
In KS3 students will study
Year 7
Cycle 1: Story-telling: Shakespeare’s ‘The Tempest’
Cycle 2: Morality Tales: short story anthology
Cycle 3: Power and Control: Orwell’s ‘Animal Farm’ and non-fiction
Year 8
Cycle 1: Class and Society: Shaw’s ‘Pygmalion’
Cycle 2: Oppression and Rebellion: Dystopian fiction and poetry
Cycle 3: Love and relationships: Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’ and poetry
Year 9
Cycle 1: Voices for Change: non-fiction text anthology
Cycle 2: The Gothic: short story anthology
Cycle 3: War and Conflict: JC Sherriff’s ‘Journey’s End’ and war poetry
How will students receive feedback?
At Paddington, all students will receive regular feedback from formative assessment tasks. Within the curriculum, specific tasks are allocated for feedback. This ensures all students gain regular feedback. Teachers will mark student work and provide targeted feedback that enables students to improve their work and make progress. To support student understanding, teachers plan high-quality re-teach time to prepare students for their feedback. Across each term, students will receive feedback from multiple tasks.
What resources can be used to support learning?
- There are curriculum books for each cycle of learning. These books contain all the knowledge that will be covered in lessons.
- The 100% books contain the knowledge organisers with core knowledge for each cycle. Students can use this to revise key information through self-quizzing.
- The United Learning curriculum website has resources and lessons that can be used to support and extend the content covered in lessons.