Key Stage 3

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Year 7

Intent

Students will develop their descriptive and narrative writing skills and build on their year six knowledge through exposure to a range of texts. They will begin to consider the crafting of narrative structure and voice. Having established how narratives and characters are constructed, they will move on to explore themes of power and conflict in the modern novel ‘Refugee Boy’ and Shakespeare’s ‘The Tempest’, making connections between the past and contemporary life; for instance, race and colonialism. Finally, students begin their journey through literary heritage by exploring myths and legends and poetry which reflects our curriculum intent to discover unheard voices and prepare students to be active and ethical citizens who contribute society and demonstrate an awareness of biased views. Writing skills are integrated into all SOL and allow students to further explore diversity through their writing.

Our Year 7 students also have one timetabled literacy/library lesson each week when staff use guided and modelling reading strategies to further support students’ reading. We are committed to fostering a genuine love of reading throughout the Academy so also use this lesson as an opportunity to promote the use of the library and loaning of books.

Learning Journey

Skill Development

Understanding how and why writers make choices about language and structure and being able to comment on effects and writer’s purposes. Application of structural and language to support coherence and cohesion of texts. Exercise an assured and conscious control over levels of formality, particularly through manipulating grammar and vocabulary to achieve this

Year 8

Intent

Students will continue to build on their writing skills, developing a sense of passion and voice. They now focus on narratives that examine a variety of unheard voices. Initially students will explore themes such as racial prejudice, discrimination and otherness through their study of the novel Noughts and Crosses. They will be encouraged to think about the writer's choices in terms of language and structure and how these choices are linked to the writer's powerful message around inequality. Students will also study Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, identifying how societal norms might impact interpretations of the text - especially around the constructs of masculinity and femininity. Through the reading of Dracula, the play script, students will learn more about stagecraft and the construction of character as they grapple with the concepts of heroism and villainy and how this might have changed from the Victorian period to now. Finally, students will be exposed to a wide range of poetry focusing on culture, gender and Victorian ideals.

Learning Journey

Skill Development

Students will develop the following skills;

Critical thinking- Students will be able to apply social and historical contextual information to interpret texts in different ways. They should be able to consider authorial intention and how meaning may have developed over time given these influences.

Empathy – Understanding a variety of differing perspectives and life experiences. They should have the ability to show empathy towards all individuals and challenge traditional stereotypes.

Year 9

Intent

Students deepen their exploration of relationships between texts and their contexts. They begin by examining Shakespeare’s play Richard III, deepening their understanding of Shakespeare’s use of language and structure set against the historical and political backdrop of Elizabethan England. Students will then continue to explore contemporary societal issues through a non-fiction unit where they will study non-fiction texts around the theme of the individual vs society. Through this unit, students will have an opportunity to use their own voice in non-fiction writing and oracy as they explore and apply Aristotle’s principles of rhetoric. Later, students will examine political discourse, dystopia and the individual vs. society as they read a dystopian novel, which they will be able to connect to contemporary culture, through a topical exploration of modern politics. Finally students will study a wide range of poetry from traditionally unheard voices as they begin to deepen analysis skills and gain a stronger understanding of writer’s intention whilst also gaining confidence in responding to texts with their own interpretations.

Learning Journey

Skill Development

Students will develop the following skills:

• Critical thinking using critical literary theories in order to analyse texts.
• Exploration of literary works in context.
• Analysing the methods writers use in order to create meaning.
• Challenging the world around them.
• Developing a passionate and articulate voice.