English

The Oral Tradition

Epic Poetry

The Canterbury Tales: 'General Prologue'

The Refugee Tales: 'Prologue', ed. Anna Pincus and David Herd

The Canterbury Tales: 'The Knight's Tale', Chaucer

Telling Tales, Patience Agbabi

A Midsummer Night's Dream, Shakespeare (Introduction and Act 1)

A Midsummer Night's Dream, Shakespeare (Act 2)

A Midsummer Night's Dream, Shakespeare (Act 3)

A Midsummer Night's Dream, Shakespeare (Act 4&5)

Contemporary Short Stories (1/2): The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin

Contemporary Short Stories (2/2): Sweetness by Toni Morrison

Introduction to poetry

The sonnet through time: Introduction to the sonnet

The sonnet through time: 'Sonnet 18', Shakespeare

The sonnet through time: 'Death, be not proud', Donne

The sonnet through time: 'If thou must love me', Barrett-Browning

The sonnet through time: 'If we must die', Claude McKay

The sonnet through time: 'The sonnet-ballad', Gwendolyn Brooks

Creative writing: short stories

Creative writing: poetry

Recapping the basics: simple sentences, statements, paragraphs, capital letters and past simple verbs

Complex sentences, avoiding fragments and run-ons, capital letters

Past simple tense, subordinate clauses, punctuating conjunctions and lists

Writing accurate, correctly punctuated and paragraphed dialogue, using personal pronouns

Avoiding fragments, fused sentences and comma splices. Using capital letters and writing in the past tense. Using multiple subordinate clauses, punctuating lists correctly when in a complex sentence.

Paragraphing narratives for clarity, using possessive pronouns, using apostrophes accurately, structuring, writing and editing genre-specific narratives

In 'Step into the Unknown', pupils learn how to use a variety of sentences for deliberate effect. In the 'Dystopian Settings' unit, pupils will continue to use a range of sentence structures, to create atmospheric descriptions.

In 'When the Sky Falls' pupils write narratives inspired by a text. In 'Step Into the Unknown', using extracts from texts from the literary canon, pupils write descriptions of settings.

In this unit, pupils develop their fiction reading and creative writing by reading extracts from famous fiction and then emulating key techniques in their own writing. They start by securing and extending their knowledge of key sentence grammar, before reading and emulating the extracts.

Step into the unknown: fiction reading and creative writing

In 'The fundamentals of discussion' pupils are encouraged to be confident speakers and active listeners, developing their ideas with evidence and posing questions. In 'Participating in effective debates' these skills are developed through the formal structure of debate.

In 'Talking transitions', pupils learn the basics of speaking with others in formal and informal settings. In 'The fundamentals of effective discussions' pupils develop these skills learning how to articulate and discuss complex ideas.

In this unit, pupils solidify and build thier spoken language skills. They start by learning what an effective discussion is and how they can use listening skills effectively. They then look at how questions and evidence can improve discussions before practising have conversations.

The fundamentals of effective discussion

In 'The Tempest', pupils explore how Shakespeare presents Caliban as an outcast. In 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', pupils analyse the role of Puck as an outsider and how this impacts on his behaviour.

In Shakespeare's 'Romeo and Juliet': Diary and Narrative Writing, pupils are introduced to the characters of William Shakespeare. In 'The Tempest' pupils explore worlds created by Shakespeare.

In this unit, pupils learn about the plot and characters of Shakespeare's 'The Tempest', and read sections of the play. They explore how Prospero treats Ariel, Caliban and Miranda, and write monlogues from their perspectives. Finally, they write and perform their own monologues inspired by the play.

'The Tempest'

In 'Poetry about Place and Home', pupils create their own poetry to explore their relationship with their home. In 'Single Poet Study: Maya Angelou', pupils analyse the poetry of Angelou, exploring how she uses her work to describe relationships between people and places.

In 'Poetry of Place', pupils explore the language, form and structure of poetry written about place. In 'Poetry of Place and Home', pupils apply these analytical skills to more complex poems and write their own poetry about home.

In this unit, pupils read and respond to poems that explore the links between place and identity. They start by exploring a selection of poems including Grace Nichol's 'Island Man' and Lemn Sissay's 'Anthem of the North'. They then write and perform their own poems about place and home.

Poetry about place and home

in 'Sherlock Holmes: Short Stories', pupils practise using analytical writing sentence structures, to formulate their arguments. In 'Myths and Legends Re-Told', pupils develop these skills further, applying them to a range of pre- 20th Century texts. 

in 'When the Sky Falls' pupils read fiction texts for fluency and comprehension. In 'Sherlock Holmes: Short Stories' pupils start to analyse the language choices of an author.

In this unit, pupils read and explore two famous Sherlock Holmes stories. They start by reading and analysing 'The Speckled Band' before using it as inspiration to write a newspaper article. They then read and analyse 'The Boscombe Valley Murder' before writing a comparison of the two stories.

Sherlock Holmes: short stories

In 'The Twisted Tree', pupils explore Gothic imagery in a contemporary text. In 'Dystopian Settings', pupils use their own dark imagery to write their own descriptive pieces.

In 'Sherlock Holmes: Short Stories', pupils begin to analyse the choices of an author. in 'The Twisted Tree', pupils develop their analytical writing skills. 

In this unit, pupils read, explore and respond to the modern fairytale novel 'The Twisted Tree'. They start by reading the novel before practising writing analytically about the novel's key characters and themes. They finally respond creatively to the novel by writing an article and short script.

'The Twisted Tree': fiction reading

In 'Dystopian Settings', pupils use figurative language to create their own dystopian settings. In 'A Monster Within', pupils explore how authors use Gothic settings to create mystery and atmosphere. 

In this unit, pupils learn to write atmospheric dystopian settings. They first review and deepen their understanding of sentence types, before looking at how to use figurative language and sophisticated punctuation to enhance their descriptions. They finally plan and write a dystopian setting.

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