Year 7 Curriculum – English

Year 7 Curriculum – English

Survival

Assessed for all assessment focuses

Spanning the end of the summer term and the first half term in year 7, Survival is all about extreme situations. Through a range of fiction and non-fiction texts, students explore extreme situations such as nuclear war, avalanches and hurricanes. The aim of the unit is to welcome students into year 7, consolidate prior learning and embed current skills.

Modern Play

Assessed for reading AFs 2, 3 and 6

Students experience the reading of a play (Two Weeks with the Queen by Mary Morris or White Poppies by Sue Saunders). Through a range of both dramatic and written tasks, students experience the play and develop their reading skills.

Animals in the Media

Assessed for writing AFs 2, 3 and 7

Throughout this unit, students examine and produce a range of non-fiction texts around the topic of animals. They analyse and produce adverts using animals; they discuss and produce information texts about caring for animals and they identify features and develop a persuasive text about animal charity. Focusing on writing, this unit encourages students to develop their written skills and technical accuracy.

Narrative Poetry

Assessed for reading AFs 4, 5 and 7

One of our ‘literary heritage’ units, this scheme focuses on poems written pre-1914, including The Highwayman by Alfred Noyes, The Lady of Shalott by Alfred Lord Tennyson, and Charlotte Dymond by Charles Causley. As part of our cultural background, this unit aims to engage students in older texts, as well as develop their skills in appreciating and analysing poetry.

Shakespeare

Assessed for reading AFs 3, 5 and 7

As an essential part of all English curriculums, year seven study the Shakespeare play A Midsummer Night’s Dream, focusing on aspects of character, language and stagecraft. This aims of the study are to introduce students to Shakespeare, and to develop their skills in analysis of the great playwright’s works, as he remains on the curriculum right the way until GCSE.

Novel

Assessed for all assessment focuses

Reading for pleasure is strongly encouraged throughout Freebrough and no more so than in the English department. It is important that students are given the opportunity to read a novel in its entirety and to share in this experience with others. Students may read any of a range of novels, selected by the class teacher for their suitability for the groups, including Skellig by David Almond, Room 13 by Robert Swindells, I am David by Ann Holm, Private Peaceful by Michael Morpurgo, Millions by Frank Cottrell Boyce. As the final unit in year 7, students complete two assessment tasks, which are assessed for all assessment focuses, ensuring that we have a clear indication of their progress throughout year seven, and their areas for improvement as they move into year 8.