Revision

This week, Mrs Bell is running the postponed session on language in Romeo and Juliet. Thursday, 3:15-4:00, A15. This will be a really useful session as Y11 begin their revision of this core text.

The sessions for the rest of the month are shown below. 3:10-4:00 – in A12. Please note the changes to TUESDAY for some sessions.

Talk the Talk

On Tuesday, Year 9 have participated in an amazing 2.5 hour workshop with the renowned Talk the Talk company. They’ve been developing oracy skills, both in terms of content and presentation skills. Teachers and trainers were amazed by the improvements in confidence, which will serve students well as we prepare for their first attempts at their Spoken Language Endorsements (a formal presentation that forms part of their GCSE English Language). Well done to Year 9, who met this challenge head on. By the end of the session, almost everyone was able to get up and speak in front of the whole class with clarity and poise, and the English Department are very proud of you all.

Year 10 have their turn on Thursday – of which more next week!

Work of the Week

This week’s work was nominated by the Talk the Talk trainers. They’d like to draw attention to LOADS of students, particularly the following who were singled out for praise either because they joined in with enthusiasm and gusto, or because they faced the challenge head on and showed great resilience. Amazing work, Year 9!

Abi M

Archie C

Chelsea B

Dylan H

Grace R

Hope R

Katarzyna T

Lauren H

Leo H

Lucas C

Megan B

Nikolas K

Oli W

Paige A

Paige S

World Book Day

World Book Day is rapidly approaching: we’ll join in at school on Friday (not Thursday, due to Talk the Talk). Remember, there are no physical tokens this year – check Talaxy for your digital download. 

Remember – take a photo of yourself doing some extreme reading (or unextreme reading in an unusual place) and be in with a chance of winning a coveted English Department prize. Here’s Mrs Hunt with a very unimpressed triceratops, as an example…

Bedrock Shoutouts

The half term holidays marked the half way point in our Y9 students’ Bedrock journeys. The English Department have a number of prizes to award:

Overall points: Esmee W, George B, Maria-Grace S

Overall progress: Rhys W, Leah K, Lewis M

Each of these students will receive a special Bedrock certificate and badge.

An English Department treat is also on the way to Dylan R and Delilah O, for impressive Bedrock work in February.

March words

It being World Book Day and Talk the Talk week, words are *prominent* and  in *abundant* supply up in English, and we’re exploring *innovative* ways to work with them…  and *intercept* them before they’re forgotten! Memory is a funny thing, and our ability to remember new words *fluctuates* regularly, leaving *vacant* spaces where the new word once was. It’s a good job we have strategies like Bedrock and our words of the month to *intercede* and build our *core* vocabulary!

Rotary club writing competition

Thankyou to everyone who participated in the Rotary writing competition on the theme of Peace. Altogether we submitted 20 entries – 11 from Y9, 7 from Y11, and 2 from Y13. Good luck to all the entrants. We will share outcomes as soon as possible.