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At Parkside, our English curriculum is inspiring, ambitious and gives all learners the knowledge, skills and cultural capital they need to be successful in the modern world and workplace. It is planned and sequenced in-line with the National Curriculum. We build on prior learning and instil a love of reading, an enthusiasm for literature and recognise the value of reading as a life skill.
Our curriculum marries with our school ethos: we aim to provide a creative, engaging curriculum that enables all pupils to excel academically, but also grow as emotionally aware members of the school community. We aim to balance appropriate reading challenge, reading practice and reading motivation to accelerate pupils’ reading progress and ensure a sound phonic awareness. As pupils move through the school, we develop their critical analysis and communication skills and provide opportunities for them to apply these in a range of situations.
We understand that every pupil is important. We aim to raise reading and writing attainment at every level of ability, in all subject areas to ensure that we maximise the potential of every pupil. We recognise that all teachers are facilitators of literacy through their subject. We create reading and writing opportunities across all areas of the curriculum, to make these skills more meaningful and relevant to pupils.
What is distinctive about English at Parkside Middle School:
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Year 5
Autumn
The first book we read when pupils start Parkside is "Malamander" by Thomas Taylor. Within this unit they will read and explore how the author writes vivid descriptions and creates suspense. They will use these skills to help their own writing as well as embedding their accurate use of punctuation, grammar and spelling strategies.
Spring
During the Spring Term, the pupils will read a variety of Ancient Greek myths. We will be examining the creatures featured in these myths as well as inventing our own beasts! We will be focusing on developing our figurative language techniques to enhance our descriptions.
All pupils will have Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling lessons to embed the principles of the skills which they will then be expected to apply during the writing focused lessons.
Writing techniques will be further developed in our next topic on ‘Superheroes’. We will be writing exciting, action-packed narratives with accurate punctuation.
Summer
In the Summer we will be reading ‘The Explorer’ by Katherine Rundell. Through this book, we will be looking at how the author uses language and sentence structure to build tension and create vivid descriptions. We also use evidence from the text to help justify our inferences and look at how we can use context to help us identify the meaning of unfamiliar words.
Throughout the Year
The whole curriculum is under-pinned with the ethos that all teachers are teachers of literacy, and that literacy is central to success within every subject. As a result, pupils continue to develop their love of reading and they are supported by staff to ensure that they read a wide breadth of literature, for a mixture of both reading for information and reading for pleasure. In addition to this, we aim to develop confident and adept writers, who can write at greater depth for a range of audiences and purpose. Pupils at Parkside have great pride in their writing ability, which is promoted in every lesson.
Children also partake in guided reading lessons every week with their class teacher. This helps us promote a love of reading and understanding books. In these lessons, we will be reading: ‘The Lion, the Witch and The Wardrobe’; ‘Who Let the Gods Out’ and a range of poetry from around the world.
Year 6
Autumn
During the Autumn Term, the pupils will be studying the topic ‘Adventurers’. They will be looking at a range of exciting explorers and pioneers through the study of a range of biographies and non-fiction. The children will discover the story of Ernest Shackleton and use his story as a stimulus for writing a range of texts.
Children will then go on to explore the theme of ‘Time Travel’. We will be using a range of texts and media to help develop their inference skills and their ability to draw evidence to support their views. We will use non-fiction skills to help gather information about different time periods and use this information to help a reader imagine what time travel may be like! During this term, there will be a stronger emphasis on reading to deduce information and explain the features of language the author has used.
Spring
In the Spring Term we look at Spy Fiction. We discuss how a writer can create atmosphere and tension through the novel ‘Stormbreaker’. We develop children's ability to select key information to answer questions about what they have read, as well as using evidence from the text to support our ideas.
We continue to consolidate grammar, punctuation and spelling rules to ensure children can apply them to their own writing.
Summer
The final topic of the year is a transition module designed to help pupils with the move from KS2 to KS3. During the topic, we will be studying the novel 'Holes' by Louis Sachar. We will be focusing on analysing the language and structure of the novel and using the story as inspiration for creative writing. This topic will help prepare children for the deeper analysis of writing expected in Year 7.
Throughout the Year
The whole curriculum is under-pinned with the ethos that all teachers are teachers of literacy, and that literacy is central to success within every subject. As a result, pupils continue to develop their love of reading and they are supported by staff to ensure that they read a wide breadth of literature, for a mixture of both reading for information and reading for pleasure. In addition to this, we aim to develop confident and adept writers, who are able to write at greater depth for a range of audiences and purpose. Pupils at Parkside have great pride in their writing ability, which is promoted in every lesson.
Children also partake in guided reading lessons every week with their class teacher. This helps us promote a love of reading and understanding of different texts. In these lessons, we will be reading: “African and Caribbean Myths and Legends”; “Letters from the Lighthouse” as well as a range of poetry, film studies and non-fiction text extracts.
Year 7
Autumn
In the Autumn Term the pupils will be studying the classic story of the Odyssey. Pupils will be learning about the oral tradition of storytelling through listening to a re-telling of the myth performed by actors who model effective oracy. Pupils will be analysing how the author uses language and structure to create a powerful and engaging story, as well as taking part in writing activities inspired by the events of the myth.
In the second half of the term, pupils will study the works of Charles Dickens. Pupils will be analysing extracts from his novels and having a go at imitating his style in their own writing. They will then focus on his book 'A Christmas Carol' during the run-up to the festive period, examining how Dickens crafts the notorious character of Scrooge.
Spring
During the Spring term, the first topic that pupils will focus on will be poetry. They will study a range of protest poetry and songs which focus on writers taking a political stand against something which they feel strongly about. After studying some protest poetry, they will analyse argument writing and craft a poetic campaign for a topic that they feel passionately for.
The pupils will then begin to explore gothic literature, focussing on short stories such as The Monkey’s Paw by W.W Jacobs. This topic will aim to develop pupils' creative writing skills as well as their critical and analytical reading skills. Pupils will become authors, producing their own gothic stories and honing their craft as writers.
Summer
For the first half of the Summer Term, pupils will be travelling back in time aboard the Titanic. They will use the tragic story of the ship's maiden voyage to inspire their own historical fiction and non-fiction writing. Also, pupils will look at historical accounts of the tragedy and analyse the language and structures used.
In the final half term of the year, pupils study the modern novel ‘Trash’. A thriller set amongst the mountains of waste of a fictional city in the third world, pupils will hear the story of Raphael and his two friends as they solve a mystery that leads them from the dumpsite to the highest echelons of society.
Throughout the Year
Embedded within the lessons, pupils will also refine their grammar, punctuation and spelling skills.
In reading lessons, pupils will continue to use the Accelerated Reader reading program to support their enthusiasm for books and love of reading. They will continue to read books of increasing complexity and challenge, developing their comprehension, understanding and vocabulary in the process.
The whole curriculum is under-pinned with the ethos that all teachers are teachers of literacy, and that literacy is central to success within every subject. As a result, pupils continue to develop their love of reading and they are supported by staff to ensure that they read a wide breadth of literature, for a mixture of both reading for information and reading for pleasure. In addition to this, we aim to develop confident and adept writers, who are able to write at greater depth for a range of audiences and purpose. Pupils at Parkside have great pride in their writing ability, which is promoted in every lesson.
Year 8
Autumn
During the Autumn Term, pupils will channel their historical writing skills as they write about the events of the Holocaust. After studying the historical context, pupils study the novel ‘Once’ by Morris Gleitzman. The story presents a fictionalised interpretation of the harrowing events of World War Two and the Holocaust through the eyes of a young boy called Felix. Pupils will explore how Gleitzman creates such an emotionally engaging story through his use of language and structure, as well as writing their own non-fiction pieces on the Holocaust.
During the second half of the Autumn term, pupils will hone their public speaking skills through a specially designed Oracy unit called ‘Speeches that Change the World’. Pupils will analyse famous speeches throughout history and look for common threads and techniques that made them great. Pupils will have the opportunity to engage in regular debate, working on their speaking and listening skills as well as writing and performing their own speeches.
Spring
To begin the new year, pupils will begin a poetry module looking at poems around the theme of family, relationships and parenthood. Pupils will study poems by authors such as Kipling, Armitage and Hughes. Pupils will analyse the techniques the poets use, respond to the poems creatively and write their own poetic reactions to the poems studied.
In an exciting end to the Spring term, pupils will become journalists, charged with creating their very own magazine aimed at pupils in Year 7. Pupils will hone their non-fiction writing skills, producing a persuasive article as well as a product review. They will then come together in groups to create a magazine which will be sold to the pupils of Year 7 during the annual Market Morning.
Summer
In their final term at Parkside, Year 8 pupils will develop their study of Shakespeare in a way that excites, engages and inspires them. Shakespeare himself will be put on trial as pupils actively explore the play 'Macbeth' and ‘Romeo and Juliet’ focusing on characters and motivation, themes and ideas, author’s craft and performance. They will look at a variety of interpretations of the plays and consider why directors make the choices and decisions they do.
Throughout the Year
Pupils will work to improve their skills in writing accurately, fluently, effectively and at length for pleasure and information. They are provided with opportunities to cultivate creativity in writing imaginative and thoughtful texts. Furthermore, they will expand their knowledge of how language, including figurative language, vocabulary choice, grammar, text structure and organisational features present meaning. Grammar is embedded throughout the lessons.
Pupils are encouraged to read widely at home for pleasure and a weekly reading session allows the pupils to access our school library, complete Accelerated Reading activities and further develop specific reading skills.
