English

In 'Myths and Legends Re-Told', pupils explore how they can alter traditional stories to convey modern ideas and morals. In 'Animal Farm: the Pigs and Power', pupils learn about Orwell's allegory and understand how he uses an apparently simple fairy story to convey a political message. 

In 'Step Into the Unknown', pupils look at the ways in which famous children's writers create convincing settings, particularly through descriptions of windows and doors. In 'Myths and Legends Re-Told', pupils take inspiration from the ways in which writers and poets use powerful imagery and symbolism, to inspire their own writing. 

Myths, legends and stories that inspire

In 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', pupils learn about marriage conventions within Shakespeare's patriarchal society. In 'Macbeth: Lady Macbeth as a Machiavellian Villain', pupils explore the ways in which this female character subverts the expectations of women in her day and question whether modern and contemporary audiences are likely to sympathise with her. 

In 'The Tempest', pupils explore the ways in which Ariel and Caliban, as 'outsiders', might be perceived by modern and contemporary audiences. In 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', pupils use context to develop their understanding of marriage rituals and attitudes to magic in the play. 

'A Midsummer Night's Dream'

In 'Writing with passion', students use protest poetry and speeches as inspiration for their own protest writing. In 'Single Poet Study: Maya Angelou', students look in depth at the writing of a poet who is synonymous with writing as protest; in particular at the ways in which she used her poetry to voice support for the Civil Rights Movement. 

In 'Myths and Legends Re-Told', students consider how writers have modernised ancient stories in order to make them more reflective of modern values. In 'Writing with passion', students look at the ways in which they can use their own writing, inspired by key poets and speech writers, to take a political or moral stand.

Taking a stand

In 'Participating in effective debates', pupils begin to confidently deliver complex ideas and arguments through spoken language. In 'The language of change' pupils will analyse, create and develop a presentation for delivery in a formal setting.

In 'The fundamentals of effective discussion', pupils begin to develop their spoken language skills through discussion, understanding how to develop and challenge other speakers using evidence. In 'Participating in effective debates' pupils will use their developing spoken language skills in a formal debate setting, creating effective arguments and rebuttals to ensure confident participation.

Participating in effective debates

In 'Single Poet Study: Maya Angelou', pupils study a body of work by a single poet, in order to explore what makes her style and voice unique, giving Angelou her identity as a writer. In the second  Power and Conflict Poetry unit, pupils study the identity cluster of poems, including works by Agard, Dharker and Rumens, all of which use poetic voice to explore questions about personal identity.

In 'Poetry about Place and Home', pupils use spoken word poetry to explore their relationship to the city that they live in. In 'Single Poet Study: Maya Angelou', pupils explore how spoken word poetry can be used to express personal and political views. 

Single poet study: Maya Angelou

In 'Victorian childhood', pupils develop their spoken language skills through delivering a speech. In 'Perspectives on Gender', pupils build on these skills by writing persuasive speeches and taking part in debates.

In 'Sherlock Holmes', pupils were introduced to the Victorian context. In 'Victorian Childhood', pupils use non-fiction texts to develop their understanding of the era in more detail.

Victorian childhood: non-fiction reading and writing

In 'A Monster Within', pupils explore extracts from Gothic fiction. In 'Gothic Poetry', pupils apply this learning to the poetry of Edgar Allan Poe.

In 'The Twisted Tree', pupils are introduced to the Gothic genre. In 'A Monster Within', pupils explore Gothic motifs in a range of more challenging texts.

A monster within: reading and writing Gothic fiction

In 'Gothic Poetry', pupils take inspiration from Edgar Allen Poe to write their own gothic poems, developing their understanding of genre and poetic devices. In 'A World at War: Poetry', pupils need to write their own poems in the style of different poets throughout the unit, deepening their understanding of poetic voice and style. 

In 'A Monster Within', pupils explore the role of gothic monsters in several prose extracts. In 'Gothic Poetry', pupils focus on the work of Edgar Allen Poe to explore how gothic conventions can be used in poetry. 

Gothic poetry

In 'A History of Language' students gain an understanding of the way in which English has evolved over time. In 'Perspectives on Gender', students also consider how language has been shaped by historical and social factors.

In 'Sherlock Holmes: Short Stories', students practise argumentative speaking as part of role-playing a court case. In 'A History of Language',  students also argue to justify the addition of their new word to the dictionary.   

A history of language

Introduction to Tragedy

Julius Caesar, Shakespeare, Act 1

Julius Caesar, Shakespeare, Act 2

Julius Caesar, Shakespeare, Act 3

Julius Caesar, Shakespeare, Act 4 and 5

Romantic poetry and paired texts: Introduction to the Romantics

Romantic poetry and paired texts: Romanticism and Nature

Romantic poetry and paired texts: Nature poetry

Romantic poetry and paired texts: Romanticism and Revolution

Romantic poetry and paired texts: Revolutionary and Protest poetry

Oliver Twist: Oliver and the Workhouse

Oliver Twist: Oliver Heads to London

Oliver Twist: Oliver is Caught

Oliver Twist: Oliver, Bill & The Maylies

Oliver Twist: Oliver and the Consequences

Creative writing: memoir

Rhetoric: Introduction to rhetoric

Rhetoric: Injustice: Pankhurst & Sojourner Truth

Rhetoric: Change: Michelle Obama & Lennie James

Rhetoric: Motivate: Churchill & Gandhi

Rhetoric: Writing rhetoric

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

English

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