Exploring Sustainability, Memoirs and Verse
Year 7
It has been a pleasure reconnecting with the students and being their full time English teacher again. We began this term by defining sustainable and delving into the world of associated vocabulary. We read a non-fiction article about the effects e.g. erosion, the 2010 unprecedented statistics that were based on the amount of rainfall in Australia and the corresponding seas levels, and the water cycle.
This term, students have a dedicated lesson based on writing with particular emphasis on gaining strategies to be able to write freely in assessments.
Year 8
The students have been finding out information about Malala Yousafzai in preparation for reading the memoir “I Am Malala; How one girl stood up for education and changed the world.” The students had the task of understanding specific vocabulary that related to the context.
This week they have learnt about the structure of a memoir, and are delving into the prologue to have the required background information to fully submerge themselves into the memoir.
This term, students have a dedicated lesson based on writing with particular emphasis on gaining strategies to be able to write freely in assessments.
Year 9
The students will be reading “Brown Girl Dreaming” this term. They are learning how a narrative can be written in verse and that the poet’s choices determine how the reader connects to the text. Poetic devices such as repetition, alliteration, personification, metaphors and similes are located and explained in terms of effectiveness.
This term, students have a dedicated lesson based on writing with particular emphasis on gaining strategies to be able to write freely in assessments.
Cambridge English Begins for Years 9 and 10
Year 9s are building annotation and active reading skills. Year 10s are exploring the difference between Language and Literature in the Cambridge two-year programme.
Close Reading in Years 7 and 8 English
Year 7s are making inferences from their setwork novel Wonder. Year 8s are analysing voice and style in texts including Richard Branson’s autobiography and I Am Malala.
English Update PATs, Summarising, and Shakespeare Study
Students sat PATs and explored summarising, essay skills, and Shakespeare texts across Years 7 to 9.
Finding the Main Idea with Turtles
Students used an information text about turtles to find main ideas and write clear summary sentences.
Recounts, Shakespeare, and Stagecraft
Excerpt: Year 7 explored Shackleton and NZ forestry. Year 8 and 9 studied Shakespeare’s comedies, tragedies, and stagecraft.
Persuasion and Performance in English
Year 7 mastered persuasive ads, while Years 8 and 9 explored Shakespeare’s worlds—A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Othello.
Designing Logos and Finding Voice
Year 7 built reading skills then designed logos using font, colour and layout. Year 8 and 9 studied I Am Malala, brown girl dreaming to prep essays.
Strengthening Writing Skills Across Years 7–9
From targeted writing pathways to poetry and novel studies, students are developing their skills in structure, vocabulary, and literary analysis.
Writing Revision and Science Fiction
Post e-asTTle, students revised clauses, punctuation and speech. Year 9 analysed Bradbury’s “There Will Come Soft Rains,” tracking time and oddities.
Exploring Poetic Technique and Close Reading
Students explored poetic structure and literary devices in depth this fortnight, with a special nod to Joseph’s imaginative and skilful writing under assessment conditions.
