English Update - Spring 1
KS3 Update
In Year 7 students have been studying ‘A Monster Calls’ a superb book by Patrick Ness. They have recently been using the novel to begin to write analytically about Conor’s emotions and how we as a reader interpret these. They will continue to study ‘A Monster Calls’ as we move into Spring 2 but will turn their attention to writing their own creative and descriptive writing.
Year 8 have been studying their first Shakespeare play here at NLS with ‘The Tempest’. To kick start this, students took part in a workshop which introduced them to the setting, characters and themes of the play. The students thoroughly enjoyed this and it ignited their enthusiasm for one of Shakespeare’s most magical and wondrous plays. As we move into Spring 2, our Year 8 students will be studying Dystopian fiction and recreating their own Dystopian worlds.
KS4 Update
Year 9 students breached the gap the between KS3 and Ks4 by looking at, what is normally a GCSE text, Shakespeare’s play, ‘Romeo and Juliet’. Students were tasked with writing analytically on this text, exploring how Shakespeare uses language to portray such ideas as power, violence and conflict. Year 9 students will next half-term be continuing their study of this most famous of plays, but turning their hands to writing creatively.
In Year 10, pupils have studied English Language paper 1. The paper is divided in to two sections with section A requiring students to analyse writers’ use of language and structure as well as using evaluative skills to explore how a writer conveys an idea to the reader. Section B is the writing component of paper 1 and requires students to write a description or narrative based on a picture as a stimulus.
Year 11 this half-term worked on their GCSE English Language paper 2 and sat a mock exam in this in the last week of term. The next half-term will see them having bespoke in class intervention based on the mocks they have taken this year in both language and literature. English revision for Year 11 students takes place EVERY TUESDAY in H015 and H016. Students should be attending as many sessions of these as they can in order to prepare fully for their final GCSE English exams in the summer. For further information, please contact cwilliams@northleamington.co.uk or swright@northleamington.co.uk
KS5 Update
Our A Level students have settled and have begun their respective courses wonderfully well and are already adapting to the demands and rigour of Level 3 study.
Our Year 13s this term year have undertaken more mock exams and have a real taste of what their final exams will be like in the summer. There were some fantastic responses and many lessons learned for where the EBIs are for the summer. Students will be looking to complete their NEAs in the coming weeks and there will be intervention sessions to help with these after the half-term break.
If any parents or students wish to know more about our A Level options or require any further information, please email jbarrett@northleamington.co.uk.
Rewards in English
We LOVE recognising how amazing our students are in English and our young people may have noticed our Brag Board on the English corridor. Every half-term, the Class Act (class) with the most Reward Points will be awarded a prize (get your child to ask their teacher for more details). See the image below for how things currently stand. With the last two weeks’ points still to be added it is all to play for – get earning those points!
