Students study a range of topics including Shakespeare, short stories, non-fiction and poetry. They undertake daily reading for pleasure with our whole school ‘Drop Everything and Read’ scheme. Every student in Year 7 is bought a brand-new book of their choice in those first two terms, as part of the Book Buzz scheme and they are also taught how to use our beautiful school library.
Discussion, debate and student presentations are an important part of our lessons. Students are encouraged to be creative – we have poetry and writing competitions both in-house and those held by outside organisations.
We celebrate many Literacy Days: World Poetry Day, World Book Day, Book Giving Day etc. And we also start to prepare KS3 students for GCSE by introducing themes, skills and knowledge that will put them in good stead for their final exams.
We don’t over-assess our KS3 students but do give them regular opportunities to revisit and revise their own work – editing and improving their work. We encourage perseverance and care over work, in line with our Trust values. And we select our resources and texts with Enjoyment in mind; ensuring our students have a relevant and rich range of reading material.