ENGLISH FACULTY UPDATE

This is what the students are currently studying in English and Literature: 

• Year 7s are about to complete the poetry unit which will be followed by a text study of Parvana.
• Year 8s will continue the Gothic literature unit for the next three weeks. Thereafter, they will complete a short unit called ‘This is how you do it’ that will require them to demonstrate and teach a simple skill to their classmates.
• Year 9s will complete their current unit of work based on Shakespeare’s Macbeth in two weeks’ time before beginning their study of Dear Evan Hansen.
• Year 10s are currently immersed in the world of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, about which they will write an analytical essay and create a podcast as their assessment tasks.
• Year 11s are currently undertaking a comparative study of Lion and Night after which they will prepare oral presentations.
• Year 12s have begun their comparative study of The Queen and Ransom, which will be the topic of their final coursework SAC at the end of this term.
• The VCE Literature students are about to complete their analysis of Emily Dickinson’s poetry before beginning a study of Shakespeare’s Othello.

VCE Exam Preparation

In addition to the full practice exam on Monday 26th September, VCE English students will be provided with three further opportunities next term to practise writing under exam conditions.

These sessions will take place on Tuesday 6th, Thursday 8th and Wednesday 12th October, beginning at 3:30 pm.

On each occasion, the students can elect to complete either one or two unseen exams tasks from Section A (text), Section B (comparative) and Section C (argument analysis). 

The students’ responses will be assessed using the VCE exam marking criteria and will be returned with feedback.

Writing under test conditions is vital exam practice, so all VCE English students are encouraged to attend at least one of these sessions.

Year 12 English Help

Assistance with VCE English is available for all Year 12 students each Tuesday and Thursday lunchtime in Room 12. 

These voluntary drop-in sessions will allow students to address specific concerns or skill deficits as they arise. Consequently, all students in the cohort are encouraged to make use of these additional lunchtime sessions to enhance their likelihood of success in their remaining SAC and in October’s exam. 

Year 7 & 8 Reading Challenges

During Semester One, classes in the junior year levels were collective and individual reading challenges:

• Collectively, the challenge was to read at least 14,000 pages (Year 7) or 3,000,000 words (Year 8), with everyone in the class contributing in some way.

7B are reading champions with a total of 54,981 pages, followed by 7E with 23,037 pages. Both groups will be rewarded for their endeavours.

While no class in Year 8 achieved the 3 million word target, 8C came closest with 2,701,931 words between them. A most commendable effort.

• Individually - To read 500 (bronze), 1,000 (silver) or 2,500 words (gold) in Year 7 and to read 50,000 (bronze), 100,000 (silver) or 250,000 words (gold) in Year 8. 

Congratulations to the following students, each of whom achieved the Gold Reading Level in their respective challenges:

Year 7: Hugh Adams, Calyssa Baber, Luke Cummins, Patrick Eade, Annabelle Fleming, Douglas Jones, Billy Kentish, Reesha Khosa, Scarlett Benham, Carly Shepherd & James Williamson.

Year 8: Mitchell Anderson, Avneet Barr & Jorja Croft.