The texts chosen in year 7 are linked by the theme of ‘youth’. We begin the year with the play script of ‘Our Day out’ moving on to the classic novel of ‘Oliver Twist’. The spring term begins with the study of ‘Telling Tales’, a collection of short stories, this is followed by a selection of poetry from other cultures and traditions. We begin the Summer term with Shakespeare’s ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ before finishing a successful year with a language unit looking at different non-fiction texts and students developing their own original writing.

Continuing the learning journey into year 8, we build on skills introduced in year 7 with texts linked by the theme of ‘morality’. We begin with the modern play script of ‘Our Day out’*, followed by the classic literary text of ‘A Christmas Carol’. In the spring term, we move to studying the novel ‘Animal Farm’ followed by a collection of poems from other cultures and traditions, different to those studied in year 7. Students will then study Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’ before ending the year with a language unit looking at non-fiction texts , speaking and listening debates and further developing their own transactional writing.

*Both year 7 and year 8 are studying the same text this year. Next year, Year 8 students will be studying ‘The curious incident of the dog in the night-time’.

The final year of KS3 study, follows the same pattern as year 7 and 8. In year 9, we strengthen and secure the knowledge and skills students have been taught since year 7. This prepares students for their GCSE study next year. We start the year with the popular modern play ‘Blood Brothers’, before then moving on to the study of the 19th century text ‘The adventures of Sherlock Holmes’. We begin the Spring term with the study of the novel ‘Lord of the flies’ followed by half a term studying a collection of poetry from Duffy and Armitage. The chosen Shakespeare play is ‘Much ado about nothing’, ending the KS3 journey with studying a language unit with texts related to the same theme that links the texts they have studied all year. Students further develop their own writing, as well as speaking and listening tasks, building up their confidence with the subject before the demands of GCSE study begins.