DepartmentsEnglishENGLISH TEAM
Welcome to English at St Augustine’s.
Our aim is to provide a lively and stimulating experience exploring a wide range of Reading, Writing and Speaking and Listening opportunities. Our schemes of work help to develop the skills which enable our students to meet the challenges of SATs and GCSEs in English, English Literature, Media and Drama, as well as encouraging self-reflective study skills which aid the meeting of targets and improvement in grades.
KEY STAGE 3
So, what happens in English in Key Stage 3?
In Years 7 and 8 we work in half term units with a formal assessment each term in either Reading, Writing or Speaking and Listening.
From September, our new intake of students will begin to collect a range of work which will be put into a Student Portfolio. This folder of key pieces of work will follow them throughout their school life and will bear witness to each student’s attainment as their skills in English blossom and grow.
In Year 8 we are introducing Skills Builder Units to develop students’ higher level skills in Reading, Writing and Speaking and Listening.
Year 9 is, of course, a key year as it leads up to SATs exams in May. It is also, though, an important foundation year as it is vital preparation for GCSE in Years 10 and 11.
YEAR 7
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Term 1
A
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New Beginnings: Learning to Learn Unit; developing a village
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Term 1
B
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Text Study: eg ‘Skellig’ by David Almond
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Term 2
A
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Poetry Unit: Year 7 Anthology incl. pre-20th Century poetry. Exploring poetry techniques and devices, theme and imagery
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Term 2
B
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Non-fiction/ language unit
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Term 3
A
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Media: ‘Shrek’ and the genre of the fairytale
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Term 3
B
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Speaking and Listening Assessment: ‘Stand Up Speak Up’ issue-based topic of students’ choice.
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YEAR 8
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Term 1
A
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Text Study: ‘Whispers in the Graveyard’/ ‘Holes’
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Term 1
B
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Skills Builder: Writing 1 and Assessment
Writing 2 and Guided Group Work
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Term 2
A
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Poetry Unit: including pre-20th Century
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Term 2
B
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Skills Builder: Reading 1 and Assessment
Reading 2 and Guided Group Work
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Term 3
A
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Wise Up to Shakespeare: ‘Romeo and Juliet’
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Term 3
B
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Skills Builder: Speaking and Listening ‘Stand Up Speak Up’
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YEAR 9
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Term 1
A
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Text Study: ‘Stone Cold’; issue based on homelessness
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Term 1
B
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Fiction and Non-fiction writing and materials: preparation for response in exam expectations
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Term 2
A
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SATs Shakespeare: ‘Much Ado About Nothing’; scene analysis and preparation for exam expectations
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Term 2
B
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Approaches to exam; past papers and booster skills
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Term 3
A
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Final preparation and SATs exams
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Term 3
B
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Step Up to GCSE: Media Coursework Unit; ‘The Genre of James Bond’
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KEY STAGE 4
And so, Key Stage 4, GCSE!!!! What’s required? Take a deep breath, here we go…
At St Augustine’s we have two GCSE courses, English Language and English Literature. For each exam students will be required to complete 5 pieces of coursework.
These cover:
Language
Media
Original Writing
Shakespeare
Pre-1914 Prose
Literature
Shakespeare
Pre-1914 Prose
20th Century Drama
In addition to this, there is Speaking and Listening coursework covering
1. Explain, describe, narrate
2. Explain, analyse, explore
3. Argue, persuade, instruct.
This Speaking and Listening coursework amounts to 20% of the overall English grade; written coursework contributes 20% to the English and 30% to the Literature grade.
So far, so good…but what about the exams?
Well, altogether there are 3 exams. Two are for English and one is for Literature.
All exams are in two sections and cover:
Paper 1 (English)
A. read and respond to non-fiction/media text such as a newspaper article, magazine article or advertisement
B. write your own persuasive article/letter/leaflet
Paper 2 (English)
A. Write an essay on ‘Poems from Other Cultures’ from the AQA Anthology
B. Write your own work to inform, explain, describe
Literature Exam
A. Write an essay based on the short stories taken from the AQA Anthology
B. Write an essay, comparing poems from the AQA Anthology (either Seamus Heaney and Gillian Clarke plus pre-1914 poems OR Carol Ann Duffy and Simon Armitage plus pre-1914 poems).
And that’s it – all done!
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