ENGLISH AT KS3 Overview
Here at Hartland, we pride ourselves on providing a varied and stimulating English curriculum, packed with a range of engaging and exciting texts. We aim to not only instil a love of literature and enthusiasm for approaching new challenges but we also encourage our students to discover the creative writers within. This year, students have developed a range of skills that are integral to their success not only in their academic career, but also in the wider world.
Year 7
Our Year 7 students started the year with the study of a text that has previously been celebrated at the Emirates Festival of Literature – either ‘Our Castle By The Sea’ by Lucy Strange or ‘The Island At The End Of Everything’ by Kiran Millwood Hargrave. Together, we explored the historical context of these texts, and how this can shape a novel and allow us to empathise with the characters. This also provided the inspiration for some of our descriptive writing. The start of the new year signalled a move towards a new text, this time one of the Shakespearean classics: ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ or ‘The Tempest’. The study of this British literary heritage text allowed us to explore theatre in 1500s England and the techniques that playwrights could use to maintain the interest of the live audience. We then moved onto writing newspaper articles, first by studying the difference between tabloids and broadsheets, and then applying this knowledge to our own writing. We then completed the year by examining poetry – not only analysing techniques that poets use but also writing our own!
Year 8
Our English journey in Year 8 began by exploring Detective Fiction. Not only did we cover classic texts including Sherlock Holmes, but we also studied more modern murder mysteries, allowing our students to become the detectives themselves! This then led seamlessly onto students using these to inspire their own creative writing, including the description of their own quirky detective and sidekick. In the New Year, students were then able to apply these analytical skills to the famous Shakespeare play, ‘Macbeth’. This allowed for considerable debate on the supernatural and motivations for power which led to some lively discussions. 58
YEARBOOK 2019-20
Year 8s then continued with the study of Travel Writing, covering travel guides, travel article and travel narratives. Not only did this allow for some escapism into the faraway land of the student’s choice, but also ensured we brushed up on our persuasive writing skills. Finally, we ended the year with the study of Conflict Poetry, allowing students to delve into the experience of soldiers fighting in World War One and uncovering the vast range of emotions they must have experienced.
Year 9 In Year 9, the year began with the study of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ by Shakespeare and a trip to Dubai Opera to watch it being performed helped to bring the tale to life. Students got some insight into what to expect in their IGCSE exams as they developed their analytical responses in order to be more perceptive and sophisticated. Following this, we used the themes that we covered to inspire our own narrative writing revolving around the notion of ‘deceit’. We then moved onto the in-depth study of poetry on the theme of ‘Relationships’. This allowed students to consider the inspiration behind poetry, and how language and structure can be used effectively for meaning. Year 9 then covered the important skill of rhetoric and persuasive writing techniques used in speeches. At a time when world leaders were frequently addressing their nations, students were able to analyse the speeches of Donald Trump, Boris Johnson and the Queen – and were able to offer handy tips on how they could improve their speeches! Finally, Year 9 ended the year by studying the modern drama, ‘An Inspector Calls’ by J. B. Priestley. This journey began with the exploration of life in 1910s Britain and the ‘Capitalism vs Socialism’ debate. Whilst reading the text, students considered who we should be socially responsible for and whether capitalism really does have a positive impact on our society.
