Assignment 1

For Assignment 1 students will explore why we, as a society, are so interested in other worlds. The core focus of the unit is the study of poetry and students will begin exploring how to analyse an unseen poem as well as understanding how context affects a poet’s writing.

They will also explore how to write non-fiction texts such as ‘How to…’ guides, examining non-fiction texts which are successful and what makes them so.

During the first two weeks of this assignment students will complete a number of baseline tests in order to ascertain their starting points in terms of reading, writing, spelling and grammar. These assessments will also allow their class teachers to judge what level they are working at it order to set stretching targets.

Assignment 2

Assignment 2 focuses on the study of a novel. Students will either read “Private Peaceful” by Michael Morpurgo, or “Coraline” by Neil Gaiman.

Students will work on their creative writing skills in this unit, crafting alternative endings to stories and shaping characters for dramatic effect. They will also develop skills required for GCSE English Literature by examining how to analyse the presentation of character, place and themes in a text and have the opportunity to develop their speaking and listening skills through hot-seating activities in role as characters from the novel.

Students will also complete work linked to GCSE English Language in this unit, in particular the skills of retrieval and inference when reading extracts form 20th century literary texts.

Assignment 3

The key question underpinning Assignment 3 is, ‘Why do we still study Shakespeare?’ The focus for this unit is The Tempest and students will explore characters, settings, themes and ideas in the play and learn how to closely analyse Shakespeare’s language and ideas.

As part of this study, they will explore dramatic monologues and how they are used to convey ideas.

Speaking and Listening skills underpin this assignment, with students working towards creating speeches that they will deliver to their groups as part of an end of year competition. They will prepare for this assessment by exploring the features of successful persuasive speeches and examining speeches from history.

At the end of assignment 3 students will complete an end of year exam which will check their understanding of the content covered throughout the school year.