English Literature curiculum Key Stage 3

stebiz

My daughter starts senior school in Sept. and I guess along with that will come English Literature. In my day it was Shakespeare. Are there any Teachers on here (or anyone else come to that) who know what books are on the curiculum for Year 7,8 and 9. I believe the curiculum has changed or is changing soon??

Really appreciate any input. I would like to get her a book to read over the Summer hols.

Regards
Stebiz

phlash

A decade ago I did Romeo and Juliet, Animal Farm, thats all I can remember.

I don't think the curriculum sets out the exact books that must be read or studied, and I think its open to intrepretation by the teachers. If that isn't the case then it depends which boards curriculum they have.

I think the best option is to just contact the school rather than posting on what is essentially a University Student's forum page (I accept there will be other college students aswell), I know you'll find educated people here, I'm just not sure anyone will answer your question as competently as the teachers at the school will.

I've just thought, are you posting because the teachers at her school have finished for the summer?

I thought typically summer holidays started in late July.

Voyager2002

Once she starts secondary school, there will be plenty of time to read the set books.

For now, get books that she will enjoy reading. That way, she will develop her skills and get a sense that the subject can be enjoyable as well as challenging.

Savvy_Sue

Voyager2002 wrote: »

Once she starts secondary school, there will be plenty of time to read the set books.

For now, get books that she will enjoy reading. That way, she will develop her skills and get a sense that the subject can be enjoyable as well as challenging.

Hear hear! Whether she loves or loathes reading, give her the choice of what to read! Encourage her to try different things, start browsing the adult section of the library, revisit Enid Blyton with her.

If I could remember what mine HAD to read that far back, I'd tell you, but they've probably changed everything in the last few years anyway.

jo132000

I agree get her reading books, she will enjoy as she will get many set texts that they will read in class together, which is what was done at my school. Also keep her upto date with spellings and such, but I never had english lit as a seperate class it was just 'English', but of course when you get in years 9, 10 and 11 that's when you start to seperate it for SATs and GCSE's.

If it's done like it was at my school, it was a mixture of modern and classics which I really enjoyed, from what I remember Shakespeare wasn't mentioned that much in year 7, but we did a little bit on him.

Savvy_Sue

Oh, and stebiz, if you're desperate to introduce her to Shakespeare, see if you can't take her to an open air production this summer, or something like that. It's a lot more fun to see at the theatre than to read!

surfsister

Why don't you visit the library the librarians are very helpful when it comes to choosing books. Also let your children browse the shelves they may come up with some suprises. Some libraries do reading schemes where the child picks a book a week and gets stickers when they take it back and chat to the librarian about the book. Also the internet is helpful. Literacy & numeracy are the governments latest initiaves so if you are interested your child is half way there already.

charitygirl

Sorry to be a geek, but here is the direct link to the new secondary currciulum, launched today. I know this because I work in education (Citizenship to be precise!)

http://www.qca.org.uk/qca_12195.aspx

It includes the following:

Texts appropriate for study at key stage 3 include some works by the
following authors: Douglas Adams, Richard Adams, David Almond,
Simon Armitage, Bernard Ashley, Jean M Auel, Malorie Blackman, Alan
Bennett, Henrietta Branford, Charles Causley, Brian Clark, Frank Cottrell
Boyce, Berlie Doherty, Carol Ann Duffy, Alan Garner, Alan Gibbons, Morris
Gleitzman, Willis Hall, Adrian Henri, Susan Hill, Anthony Horowitz, Janni
Howker, Jackie Kay, Elizabeth Laird, Joan Lingard, Roger McGough,
Michelle Magorian, Jan Mark, Adrian Mitchell, Michael Morpurgo, Brian
Patten, Peter Porter, Philip Pullman, Celia Rees, Philip Reeve, Michael
Rosen, Willy Russell, Louis Sachar, Marcus Sedgewick, Dodie Smith,

Robert Swindells and Robert Westall.

texts that enable pupils to understand the appeal and importance over
time of texts from the English literary heritage. This should include works
selected from the following pre-twentieth-century writers: Jane Austen,
Elizabeth Barrett Browning, William Blake, Charlotte Brontë, Robert Burns,
Geoffrey Chaucer, Kate Chopin, John Clare, Samuel Taylor Coleridge,
Charles Dickens, Arthur Conan Doyle, George Eliot, Thomas Gray,
Thomas Hardy, John Keats, John Masefield, Christina Rossetti, William
Shakespeare (sonnets), Mary Shelley, Robert Louis Stevenson, Jonathan
Swift, Alfred Lord Tennyson, HG Wells, Oscar Wilde, Dorothy Wordsworth

and William Wordsworth

at least one play by Shakespeare.

forms such as journalism, travel writing, essays, reportage, literary

non-fiction and multimodal texts including film

Texts appropriate for study at key stage 3 include some works by the
following authors: John Agard, Maya Angelou, Kwesi Brew, Anita Desai,
Deborah Ellis, Athol Fugard, Jamila Gavin, Nadine Gordimer, Gaye
Hicyilmaz, Beverly Naidoo, Grace Nichols, C Everard Palmer, Bali Rai,
John Steinbeck, Meera Syal, Mildred D Taylor, Mark Twain, Adeline Yen
Mah and Benjamin Zephaniah. The study of texts by these authors should

be based on whole texts and presented in ways that will engage pupils.

Hope that helps!

louidog

Stebiz, it's the holidays, why let your daughter read what she feels comfortable with. Year 7 is hard enough what with going from one school to the next so just let her enjoy the holidays before all the hard work begins!

Savvy_Sue

I'm worried now, I haven't heard of half those authors, never mind read them! :rotfl: