Year 9 English

This term in Year 9 English, the classes are looking closely at different genres of texts in their ‘Ways of Reading’ unit. This study goes beyond simply categorising and identifying texts by their genres and encourages the girls to think critically about how particular genres connect to specific literary time periods. The students have been exploring a vast range of different literary periods and movements across history and have investigated one of these in great detail. They have completed research projects to provide a snapshot of literary periods and movements including The Renaissance, The Enlightenment, Romanticism, Victorian, Modernism, Existentialism and The Beat Generation. 

The classes will now undertake an in-depth study of several short texts that fit into a range of these different literary movements. Charlotte Perkins-Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper as Victorian Gothic and Oscar Wilde’s fable The Happy Prince as a part of the Aesthetic Movement are the common texts across all classes, while the teachers will also bring in additional texts from different literary periods.

The Year 9 cohort has approached this unit of study with a great deal of enthusiasm and interest. They have enjoyed the challenge of such academically rigorous content yet have still been able to articulate key concepts and ideas in their own words.

It was interesting to see how things changed so much over the years and how what was happening in the world impacted the writing so dramatically. 

Jemima P (9A)

As the students progress through the unit, they will gain an understanding of how and why particular genres are connected to different time periods, and that there are common features within these genres. This ought to provide a solid platform from which they can better engage with and understand a vast range of texts they will be studying in the years to come.

Glen Trevaskis

English Teacher