Unit | Content |
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Unit 1 Gothic | Students read a selection of gothic texts, developing the ability to analyse an extract for points and supporting evidence. Building on their KS2 learning, they enhance their understanding of how to create point-evidence paragraphs. Extracts include: Edward Scissorhands, The Highwayman, The Castle of Otranto, Dracula, The Graveyard Book, City of Ghosts, Frankenstein, Coraline, Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, The Raven. Key knowledge developed:
Key skills developed:
Assessment: Learning is assessed at the beginning of Term 2 at the first school-wide assessment point. The assessment focuses on the construction of point-evidence paragraphs, and includes single-mark questions that test students' knowledge of the literary devices included in the unit's toolkit. |
Unit 2 Creative Writing | Students learn to create careful, purposeful descriptive writing, drawing inspiration for their texts from written prompts and animated clips. Students are introduced to an advanced vocabulary which they can use in their writing, and are explicitly taught punctuation and sentence variation forms. They explore the process of developing individual characters which they then bring into their own creative writing. Key knowledge developed:
Key skills developed:
Assessment: Students are assessed at the end of the unit in a short creative writing task inspired by one of the animated texts they study. |
Unit 3 Romantic Poetry | Students learn to read and explore poems from the English Romantic movement. They develop the skills required to analyse and write about a given text, developing confidence in identifying a range of poetic devices that writers use when building meaning. Students also learn to use subject-specific terminology when analysing poems. Texts studied include poems by William Wordsworth, John Keats, Emily Brontë and John Clare. Key knowledge developed:
Key skills developed:
Assessment: Students complete a formal written assessment in response to a question on a given poem at the end of the unit. They write a sequence of point-evidence-explanation paragraphs drawing upon knowledge built throughout Unit 1. Knowledge of the poetic devices toolkit is tested as part of the second formal assessment in Term 5. |
Unit 4 Novel Study | Students read Killan Millwood Hargrave's novel The Island at the End of Everything, using the book as a context in which to learn how writers construct texts in ways that engage their readers. In this unit, students build on the learning of Unit 1, increasing their confidence in tracking key ideas, themes, characters and evidence across a whole text. Key knowledge developed:
Key skills developed:
Assessment: Students complete a formal written assessment at the end of the unit drawing on their understanding of how a character has changed throughout the course of the novel. |
Unit 5 Modern Drama Study | Students explore a piece of contemporary drama and develop their understanding of theatrical forms. They read a play in full, before choosing a key scene and identifying how they would direct it. Students learn and refine important skills related to live presentation while benefiting from in-depth discussions of compelling themes around inclusivity and diversity. Key knowledge developed:
Key skills developed:
Assessment: Students choose a key scene from the play and then produce a five-minute presentation and deliver it to their classmates. The presentation outlines the scene they have chosen and explains the key theatrical decisions they have made. |