English

12 Blueprint I St Aidan’s Anglican Girls’ School

The goal of our Junior English program is to provide a strategic development of literacy skills and learner dispositions, but more importantly to instil a love of English in these important early years of senior school. This year we have increased our focus on identity and culture in literary texts, in particular engaging with diverse voices. The Year 7s analysed poetry written by a range of poets from around the world. The focus for the Year 8 short story unit was the way diverse poets represent place, home and belonging in their poetry which, in turn, was used as a springboard to short stories written in our student’s voice.

The Year 7s again welcomed author, Tristan Bancks, to speak about his novel Detention, a story of empathy, resilience and courage. The annual Poetry Graffiti competition complemented our work in both the Year 7 narrative and Year 7 poetry units with diversity as its focus. Our Year 8 curriculum was re-written with the inclusion of a monologue task based on Oscar Wilde’s play The Importance of Being Earnest. The Year 8 girls enthusiastically engaged with this unit which provides a firm foundation for the study of monologue in the senior years. The Year 9s completed their first block analytical exam on George Orwell’s Animal Farm and demonstrated their creativity once again in the Poetry Film Festival – a showcase of their insights into some big questions they face in their lives today. The wide-reading program continues to expand the girls’ reading experiences and foster that love of reading so crucial for enjoyment and success in English.

The senior English and Literature curriculum, once again, provided students with the opportunity to engage in a range of texts and genres to strengthen their critical thinking skills and capacity to articulate their perspectives with precision, logic and creativity. The senior English students presented persuasive speeches on social issues that have been part of the collective dialogue in Australia over the last twelve months, such as Covid vaccinations; the impact of mandated lockdowns and the negative consequences of the dominance of social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook in our society. They have also studied a range of texts from Romeo and Juliet and To Kill A Mockingbird in Year 10 to Jasper Jones and Persepolis in Year 11, culminating with Never Let Me Go and 1984 in Year 12.

In Literature, students had many in-depth and complex conversations resulting from their analysis of texts such as Persuasion, Twelfth Night, Frankenstein, Black Medea, The White Tiger, King Lear and The Poisonwood Bible. The curriculum also gives them the opportunity to write their own independent narrative, on any topic of their choosing, in Year 12. It was a real pleasure to read the writing of our most senior Literature students, who critically and emotionally engaged with themes such as guilt, greed, human folly, courage, resistance and hope.

Finally, our Essential English students explored both written and visual representations of social media for their Common Internal Assessment task, studied the novel What I Like About Me by Jenna Guillaume, reflecting on representations of adolescents in popular culture, and viewed the Australian film Ladies In Black, using this as a springboard for their own narrative based on an Australian woman who they believe has had a significant impact on society.

In closing, we would also like to take this opportunity to congratulate Amelia Perry, in Year 9, who achieved a highly commended award for her short story The Arrival, that she entered into the Independent Education Union Literary Competition.

Mrs Samantha Doig Head of Faculty

BEd, BArts

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