English

In 'Lord of the Flies', students explore central questions about what gives us authority within society and whether power inevitably corrupts those who hold it. In 'Animal Farm: The Pigs and Power', students also explore the corrupting influence of power and question whether those who hold power are bound to abuse it. 

In 'A Monster Within', students look at villains in gothic fiction and, through their study of context, explore whether they are in fact made monstrous due to social fears and prejudices. In 'Lord of the Flies', students explore the powerful influence of social hierarchy and, using very different context, unpick what Golding's central message about human civilization might be. 

In this unit, pupils read and explore 'The Lord of the Flies' by considering Golding's message about human nature. They first read the novel, before analysing the characters Ralph, Simon, Jack and Piggy. They then look at setting and symbolism before planning and writing an essay on human nature.

'Lord of the Flies'

In 'Women's rights across the ages', students look at the way language has evolved in the discussion of gender, from the 18th Century to today and to what extent this reflects changing social attitudes. In 'Macbeth: Lady Macbeth as Machiavellian Villain', students examine the play's unconventional female lead, considering how sympathetically she might be viewed by audiences across the ages. 

In 'Writing with passion', students complete the unit by writing an opinion article, protesting about something that they feel strongly about. In 'Women's rights across the ages', students practise voicing a strong personal viewpoint through a persuasive speech. 

In this unit, pupils read a wide range of non-fiction texts from across history that are centered around the topic of women's rights. They first read a range of texts and identify key themes and techniques within them, before then planning, writing, re-drafting and delivering their own speech.

Women's rights across the ages: non-fiction reading and writing

In 'Malevolent Characters', pupils focus on a range of writing skills including how to describe the setting through action, create shifts in tone, paragraph effectively and use punctuation purposefully. In 'Science Fiction Writing', pupils further develop these writing skills, with a particular focus on the science fiction genre and how to write in this style. 

In 'Myths and Legends Re-Told', pupils explore the importance of narrative structure, looking at ways in which they can manipulate the traditional five-act structure. In 'Malevolent Characters', pupils delve deeper into the differences between narrative and descriptive writing, honing in on the skills needed to describe characters inspired by famous villains. 

In this unit, pupils create and write malevolent characters. They first look at the conventions of malevolent characters, before learning about the techniques they can use to present their malevolent characters. They finally plan and write their fiction with a malevolent character in it.

Malevolent characters: fiction writing

In 'A World at War: Short Stories', pupils explore the reasons for writing war literature and how it seeks to convey the suffering of soldiers and civilians, in times of conflict. In 'Power and Conflict Poetry', students explore the many types of conflict that arise through war, with themes including patriotism, propaganda, fear, guilt and duty.

In 'The Tempest', pupils are encouraged to write from the viewpoint of Caliban and Ariel, adopting character voices in creative writing. In 'A World at War', pupils emulate the writing styles of the authors that they encounter, to create an authentic voice in their writing. 

In this unit, pupils explore and compare texts written about the First World War. They first read Beck's 'Propping up the line', Mansfield's 'The Fly' and Wilfred Owen's 1917 letter home to his mum. They finally read Brittain's 'Testament of Youth', and then plan and write a comparative response.

Literary perspectives from the First World War

In 'Unseen Poetry', pupils need to consider the choices made by a poet, to explain how they convey meaning without having context or prior knowledge of the poem to draw on. In 'A World at War: Poetry, pupils have several opportunities to write their own poems in the style of the war poems studied, which pushes them to consider the craft of writing poetry more closely. 

In 'Myths and Legends Re-Told', pupils explore the way that poets use imagery and structural features, to inspire their own choices in narrative writing. In 'A World at War: Poetry', pupils practise adopting Wilfred Owen's style in their own poetry and also use a range of literary techniques encountered through the different poems, to produce a piece of descriptive writing.

In this unit, pupils explore how poets responded to the horrors of the First World War. They first explore Brooke's 'The Soldier', before looking at McCrae's 'In Flanders Fields' and Naidu's 'The Gift of India'. They finally write a comparative response on perspectives of war and sacrifice.

Comparing poetry from the First World War

In 'Creating and performing slam poetry' pupils hone their performance skills becoming more confident in the process of speaking in front of an audience. In 'Spoken language masters' pupils will refine their public speaking skills and challenge themselves to present in a developed and confident manner.

In 'Participating in effective debates', pupils continue to develop their spoken language skills by creating their own content for debates and confidently challenging other arguments. In 'Creating and performing slam poetry' pupils will continue to develop  confidence in their spoken language skills by creatively creating original slam poems and performing them.

In this unit, pupils learn about slam poetry and practise performing it. They first learn what slam poetry is, before analysing and emulating the sounds used in slam poetry. They then plan and create a slam poem, before then developing their performance of it.

Creating and performing slam poetry

In 'Small Island', pupils explore the ways in which transferring Levy's novel onto the stage enables both the playwright and the director to powerfully evoke its ideas about race, identity and belonging. In 'Leave Taking', pupils build on their learning about the Windrush Generation to explore the cultural and generational conflicts, that can arise as a result of migration. 

In 'The Tempest', pupils examine the roles of Caliban and Ariel and how they are treated as outsiders, questioning who has a rightful claim to the island. In 'Small Island', pupils look at the play in the context of the Windrush generation and through the lens of key themes, including identity and belonging.  

In this unit, pupils explore the playtext adaptation of Andrea Levy's novel 'Small Island'. They first explore the transition from novel to stage, before reading the playtext in full and exploring key scenes in detail. They then plan and write an essay on the theme of 'hope' in the text.

'Small Island'

In 'Othello', pupils learn about the conventions of a tragic hero, which allows them to judge whether the protagonist is more a victim of his own hamartia or rather of external pressures and a racist society. In 'Macbeth: A Tragic  Hero', pupils evaluate whether Macbeth's downfall is caused by his own hubris or whether Lady Macbeth and wider society can be blamed. 

In 'The Language of Protest', pupils take inspiration from protest poetry and speeches, to write an opinion article. In 'Othello', pupils use their argumentative writing skills to compose letters in defense of Othello and to write speeches campaigning for racial equality. 

In this unit, pupils explore Shakespeare's 'Othello'. They start by learning about Aristotelian tragedy and how Shakespeare adapted it. They read long extracts from across the play, and consider the presentation of Othello, Iago and Desdemona. Finally, they look at key themes, such as jealousy.

'Othello'

Shakespearean Comedy - The Tempest

Language Skills - Fiction - Reading

Language Skills - Fiction - Writing

Language Skills - Non-Fiction - Reading

Language Skills - Non-Fiction - Writing

Grammar for Writing

The Short Story

Gothic Literature

Fiction: Reading and descriptive writing

Non-Fiction texts and view point writing

Jane Eyre

Animal Farm

Paragraphing non-fiction writing, including presenting a balanced argument

Paragraphing narratives for clarity, using possessive pronouns, using apostrophes accurately, structuring, writing and editing genre-specific narratives

English

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