Introduction to Shakespeare using A Midsummer Night’s Dream OR The Tempest and the novel King of Shadows by Susan Cooper.
Supported groups may read: Bill’s New Frock or Dream Master.
Typical assessment title: What do you learn about the characters of Shakespeare, Roper and Henry Condell in Chapter 6? How does Susan Cooper introduce these new characters to the reader?
Introduction to Pre-20th Century Literature
Typical assessment title: Lots of students have written reviews about this novel. One student wrote, “I like the way the writer shows that Miss Havisham is able to break with the pressure of society to get married.”
To what extent do you agree?
Skills for Writing: focus on non-fiction texts
Typical assessment title: Write a speech persuading the audience that your chosen endangered animal should be saved from extinction.
Study of either The Scary Play or Treasure Island
Typical assessment title: Become a playwright! Judith Johnson invites you to devise a new scene for The Scary Play. Plan and write this new scene.
Skills for Writing: exploring story-telling tradition.
Typical assessment title: Plan and write your own ‘twisted’ tale.
Study of an anthology of poems on the theme of space.
Skills for Writing: Dragon’s Den.
Typical assessment: write a pitch, to the 5 Dragons, informing them of one of the new products you have designed.
Students will study one of the following novels: The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas , Diary of Anne Frank, Holes, Refugee Boy, Face, Stone Cold or Whispers in the Graveyard
Typical assessment: Read to Chapter 18 and investigate how Stanley is adapting to life at the camp. How is his personality changing and developing as the novel progresses? What methods does Sachar use to demonstrate these changes?
Creative Reading and Writing – focus on exploring how stories are structured.
Typical assessment: Imagine a story which begins and ends with a woman locking her front door. The writer only reveals to the reader why she is doing this (and why it is significant) at the end of the story.
Create a story of your own which is structured in this way. You could use the idea of the woman locking her door, or you might use one of your own.
Study of key themes from Much Ado About Nothing or Hamlet
Typical assessment: Explore the way that Shakespeare presents Benedick’s attitude towards women and marriage in Much Ado About Nothing.
Gutsy Girl
Typical assessment: Choose your favourite section of Gutsy Girl. Using this as a model, create a new section for a book aimed specifically at a male audience.
Creative Reading and Writing – developing understanding of pre-20th century prose fiction.
Typical assessment: Having studied the description of Lockwood’s nightmare in Wuthering Heights, write your own description of a nightmare.
Creative Reading and Writing
Typical assessment: Compare how two of the poets you have studied present ideas about their culture in the poems you have read.
Creative Reading and Writing
Focus on language and structure
Typical assessment: Create your own dystopian story.
Viewpoints and Perspectives
Focus on comparing both fiction and non-fiction texts.
Typical assessment: Compare the language used to describe challenging events in Scott’s diary with the description of similar events in the novel, White Darkness – how and why do they differ?
Either: Of Mice and Men or A View From The Bridge.
Typical assessment: Does Steinbeck condemn Curley’s wife or does he sympathise with her? Present your viewpoint.
Creative Reading and Writing
Extending understanding of Pre 20th Century Literature
Typical assessment: Having studied the description of Dante’s escape from the Chateau d’If, write your own account of an escape from danger.
Creative Reading and Writing
Focus on building comparisons between poems.
Typical assessment: Choose two of the poems you have studied and compare how the poets have presented their attitudes towards relationships between parents and their children.
Othello
Typical assessment: Is Iago to blame for the tragic events in Othello? Carefully explain your point of view and consider how Shakespeare presents Iago to the audience.