Objectives

The objectives indicate how the aims of the department are delivered.

Reading is an integral part of every lesson and needs to take many varied forms.
Reading tasks should be meaningful and where possible relevant to the interests of the students.

Spelling is taught according to the needs of the student. Key words from the National Literacy Strategy and cross curricular words are used in conjunction with a phonic approach which can be differentiated using THRASS, Units of Sound and certain aspects of the Hickey system. Phonemes and their grapheme choices remain a mainstay of the teaching of spelling.
We encourage the use of dictionaries and spell check.
Work should be varied and age appropriate.

Oral communication is a crucial life skill.
Each pupil should have the opportunity to gain experience of class, group, and paired discussion, open ended questioning and aural comprehension work.
GCSE English and Entry Llevel Certificate speaking and listening assessments including role play should be an integral part of the course.
ESB Speech exams are planned and taken in years 9 and 11.

Assist creative work by use of novels, poetry, pictures, short stories, non fiction texts, extracts and discussion on a theme.
When writing creatively, marking should be modified to take into account the task. Drafting and re-drafting are important skills in this area and copies should be kept to show progression.
Computers can be used for best copy.
Make sure there is evidence of understanding of the expression of sustained ideas, effective description, imagination, plot and characters.

A range of practical skills necessary in later life must be developed. These include letter/postcard writing (formal and informal), form filling, reports, directions, order forms and other forms of writing for different purposes as outlined in the national curriculum.
Discursive writing and reviews.
Planning, paragraphing, logical thought and effective beginnings and endings should be included.

Include regular practice of reasoning skills, via either written or spoken media.
Employ discussion methods and open ended questioning to improve logical thought and structure in answers.
Carefully select passages, poems, articles etc., which are age appropriate, reading age appropriate and interesting, taking into consideration the interests of the students.
Expand vocabulary by use of dictionaries, thesaurus, spell check and computer programmes.

Basic grammar should be taught and related to the student’s own work.
Use of capital letters, full stops, sentences and paragraphs are most important.
Adjectives and adverbs should be used to build more complex sentence structures.
For GCSE and Entry Level Certificate coursework a basic level of grammar should be expected.

Presentation of work is important. Neatness should be expected and should be developed using a cursive hand.
If a student has a neat non-cursive style, there is no need to change.
Work can be word-processed and touch typing should be encouraged if a student has the ability.

Frewen College