Literacy Focus
| Course ID | Course Name | Instructor | Room Number | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LFG | Literacy Focus | Miss J. Dunnage | Durrant Building |
Is this the right course for me?
Literacy Focus aims to actively engage students in order to ‘close the gap’ for those who enter The Sydney Russell School with lower than expected progress in Literacy. This is achieved through the cross curricular teaching of English, History and Geography, focusing on the development of literacy skills as well as social, emotional aspects of learning.
At Key Stage 3 we strengthen students’ reading, writing and speaking and listening acquisition to form a foundation on which we can build more advanced GCSE skills.
Students begin to study for their English Literature and English Language GCSEs from Year 9 onwards. Teaching is approached in an intensive, personal way, with lessons and tasks differentiated for the individual needs of each learner.
Year 7
Students will study a variety of topics with a heavy focus on developing the key Literacy skills of reading, writing and speaking and listening, closing the gap between Primary and Secondary school teaching.
Boy by Roald Dahl – Students will study autobiographical writing and will begin analysing writers’ language choices.
Medieval England – Students will engage with key events that changed the course of history as well as studying Arthurian Legends and the Canterbury Tales.
Introduction to Poetry – Students will be introduced to various poetry forms, experimenting with their own poetry writing, as well as beginning to explore poetic devices in famous poems.
Romeo and Juliet – Students will be introduced to the life and times and William Shakespeare then understand the story of Romeo and Juliet as well as beginning to understand and explore Shakespearean language.
19th Century texts – Students will begin their studies of the 19th Century by looking at Victorian Crime and Punishment, moving on to study the contexts of various 19th Century extracts including texts by Charles Dickens, Charlotte Bronte and Robert Louis Stephenson.
Skills that you will acquire:
Reading for meaning. Language analysis. Reading and understanding challenging texts. Reading and responding to poetry. Writing to describe. Writing to persuade. Writing poetry.Year 8
In Year 8, students develop their language analysis skills to prepare for the GCSE. The year has a heavy focus on building empathy in students, helping them to feel a part of the society in which they live.
Stone Cold by Robert Swindells – Students will take a look at the issue of homelessness in society through the narrative of a boy tackling becoming homeless in London.
Refugee Boy by Benjamin Zephaniah – In this Geography focussed module, students will studying immigration alongside a novel that deals with the issue.
Boy in the Striped Pyjamas – Students will take time to study the reasons for and consequences of WW2, paying particular attention to the Holocaust. This will be studied alongside the Boy in the Striped Pyjamas.
Macbeth – Students will be introduced to the story of Macbeth and will continue to engage with and respond to Shakespearean language and themes.
Black History and Poetry – Students will study the transatlantic slave trade and what life was like in America for people of colour both pre and post abolition. To accompany their studies, students will engage with a variety of poems by black poets.
19th Century texts – Continuing their studies of 19th Century texts students will engage with the issue of poverty in Victorian era London alongside both fiction and nonfiction texts from the period.
Skills that you will acquire:
Reading for meaning. Language analysis. Reading and understanding challenging texts. Reading and responding to poetry. Writing to describe. Writing to persuade. Empathy and understanding.Year 9
The introductory module of Year 9 is Of Mice and Men in which students are introduced to the format of one of the English Literature GCSEs and develop skills of analysis and evaluation alongside a famous text.
Following this, students will engage with the English Literature GCSE.
In Year 9, students study:
- Unseen poetry
- Love and Relationships Poetry
- Macbeth
Exam Board – AQA | VIEW HERE
Year 10
Students continue studying for the English Literature GCSE which will be sat in May.
During Year 10 students will study:
- DNA
- A Christmas Carol
Students will spend time revising all previously studied texts and building their analytical and evaluation skills in preparation for the GCSE.
Exam Board – AQA | VIEW HERE
Year 11
English Language GCSE
Exam Board: AQAPaper 1 – Explorations is Creative Reading and Writing
Paper 2 – Writers’ Viewpoints and Perspectives.
Students will engage with a large array of unseen fiction and non-fiction texts. Students will develop key reading and writing skills to enable them to approach the GCSE exams. These include, for reading, identifying, analysing, evaluating and comparing writer’s methods and viewpoints. For writing, communicating their own ideas in creative, well-structured formats.
English Specification – AQA | VIEW HERE
English Specification – AQA | VIEW HEREKey Stage 3
Year 7 Pantomime
Peace Poetry Workshop
Shakespeare Schools Play
World Book DayKey Stage 4
Shakespeare Schools Play
GCSE Literature Performance TBC
World Book Day
A Christmas Carol PerformanceHow to support your child
Students must engage with unseen texts throughout the year, particularly taking opportunities to read novels of increasing difficulty and broadsheet newspapers.
Students are allocated a one hour library lesson each week in which they are expected to read books that are appropriate for their current reading level. Students are allowed to take one book away from the library with them and should be reading a minimum of 45 minutes per week, supported or unsupported depending on your child’s current reading ability and confidence. You can also access your child’s accelerated reader results and progress from home, enabling you to support your child further in achieving their reading targets.
As students embark on their GCSEs, a wide variety of text types are studied. Students are encouraged to further their knowledge and understanding of these texts at home by beginning to read a variety of texts including; tabloid newspapers, broadsheet newspapers, blogs, biographies, travel journals, poetry and diaries.
Homework will be given to students at all stages of Literacy Focus teaching to consolidate their understanding of important topics taught in the classroom. At Sydney Russell, we encourage students to utilise the school’s learning facilities, including the after school homework clubs. Students should also be encouraged to begin working independently at home.
Additionally, the Literacy Focus Department aims to provide support if your child is struggling in a particular area of literacy, e.g. handwriting or phonics. We can provide appropriate resources for your child to take home and complete to ensure they are given the best chance at achieving their target GCSE grade.
Principal
