English
English opens doors to imagination and understanding.
Students take part in research, creative, and spoken tasks that allow them to explore diverse voices, craft powerful writing, and express their ideas with confidence. Through reading, discussion, and writing projects, they develop critical thinking and storytelling skills.
English fosters creativity, communication, and a lifelong love of language.
KS2
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Research |
The dystopian genre and summarise what common features exist within these style of texts ready for The Hunger Games. |
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Using the above review, find the opening to the book ‘The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes’ and read it. Research other comments on the prequel and summarise. |
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Create |
Create Your Own Dystopian World (Creative Writing). Write about the setting, government ruling the world, the rules and how they affect the society. Draw a picture and annotate, as well as writing a detailed paragraph. |
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Write a short “Day in the Life” diary entry from a child living in your dystopia. |
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Oracy |
Create and perform a monologue (or short dramatic speech) in character as someone living in either a utopia or a dystopia. The focus is on voice, emotion, and imagination. They will answer the question: |
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To explore the concepts of utopia (a perfect world) and dystopia (a deeply flawed or frightening world) and write/perform a persuasive speech. Explore what life is like in each world and argue which world teaches us more about human nature and society. Perform this as a voiceover, over images created on iMovie. |
Year 7
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Research |
Read 'Oliver Twist' by Charles Dickens. |
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Find out about a local author. Research their books and then read one of their books. |
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Create |
Write an alternative ending to 'Oliver Twist' by Charles Dickens. |
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Make a collage of the themes and issues in a text that you have studied this year. |
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Oracy |
Listen to a Podcast on the Industrial revolution BBC Radio 4 - In Our Time, The Industrial Revolution |
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Rap is Poetry - create a rap in the form of a Shakespearian sonnet. |
Year 8
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Research |
What is the ‘literary cannon’? Research this and find out about canonical writers and why they are considered canonical. |
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Why do we still study Shakespeare? Research William Shakespeare and find out: what he wrote about; his most recognised plays; why he is considered one of the most influential writers of all time. |
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Create |
Write a letter for the school newspaper or newsletter on a topic of your choice. |
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Write a short dystopian story set in St Albans. |
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Oracy |
Write a slam poem. Here is an example of an award-winning 12-year-old poet: Solli Raphael, 12, becomes youngest winner of Australian Poetry Slam (youtube.com) |
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Write a speech which could be delivered in an assembly to your peers about an important topic. This could be online safety, drugs, knife crime. |
Year 9
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Research |
What was life like for Shakespeare and how have his texts been inspired by the historical context: watch the BBC Rise of a Genius document: |
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Jane Austen’s novels and what makes them ‘literary classics’. Read an extract from 3 of her infamous novels. |
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Create |
A review of the Shakespeare Rise of a Genius documentary and how it has shaped your opinion on Shakespeare. Include quotes from the actors and other commentators from the documentary. |
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A fact file on famous war poets, reading poetry from different wars and consider their style. Can you find any modern war poets? |
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Oracy |
“The curriculum is still dominated by white, male authors. Diversity should be a priority for the government’s educational review.” Debate and research this statement and write a letter to parliament. |
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Deliver one of Shakespeare’s famous soliloquies. Try to find a soliloquy that explores ideas you may be interested in such as power, gender, class, race etc. For inspiration, start by looking here: 5 Soliloquies to Teach in This Month of Resolutions | Folger Shakespeare Library |
KS5
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Research |
Research how language is used to uphold power – visit the Royal Courts of Justice, download political speeches from the Gov.co.uk, etc. |
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Apply for a visitor’s day pass to a university Library so you can explore their Literary criticism section. |
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Create |
Write an article for school magazine on either a topic you have studied this year as part of your course or one you are interested in outside of the course. |
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Create a timeline of Shakespeare's life, his works and the contextual issues surrounding them. Can you identify links between his works and social political issues? |
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Oracy |
Listen to Word of Mouth podcast on BBC Radio 4 iPlayer / BBC Sounds. |
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Start up or join a book group. |
