Wordslayers (English)

Welcome back!

Welcome back to all students to 2024. 

We’d like to welcome our new staff the to faculty:

• Mr Aaron Plumb
• Ms Ebony May
• Ms Laura Jesson

Ms Stephanie Bendeich has also taken on the role of relieving Head Teacher English for 2024.

11 Advanced – Creative Writing

Year 11 English Advanced have begun the year looking at a range of well known short stories. For homework, they read Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘The Tell Tale Heart’ and responded creatively in a range of forms. Below are examples of poetry, visual representations and a creative retelling of the plot from a different character’s persective.

‘I think I might be crazy. Paranoia gets the best of all of us sometimes…  It's nothing.. Nothing is in this room with me…..I’m alone…’ The old man thought to himself. The dim light creeped in from the creaking doorway startling the old man as the feeling of imminent death was inching closer to his body, holding him captive in a state of paralysis. The heartbeat pounding in his chest traveled like a marching band to his ears, so much so that it almost consumed his whole body. Jumping as if woken from death, the man sprung up in his bed. Tick.. Thud! ‘There it is again!’ his eyes darted around the darkened room searching for the source of the sound. “Who’s there?!”. ‘It's the eighth night that I’ve been woken up by this strange feeling..’ ‘I can’t shake the nagging feeling that someone's watching me.’ ‘even though I can’t hear it clearly, there is something…someone in this room who’s breathing patterns do not match my own.’  ‘Maybe the sound I heard was a creaking in the aged walls, or moths beating against the windows’  The old man thought, trying to dispute his gut feeling that death was paying him a visit, keeping him awake… keeping him on edge as if he were helpless prey about to be pounced upon. It was the sound of a human nail scoring against rusting metal, the sound of a person fumbling a dense but hollow object and regaining their grip.  The fear of the unidentified spectator lurking in the shadows of his room flooded adrenaline through his veins. This is the slowed moment in time before death where impending doom dawns upon a person. For the old man knew he was going to die, but it was only at this moment that he realised it.  

Evil Eye,  for a whole hour I did not move, refrained and kept still.  

Evil Eye,  if you think me mad, the hellish tattoo of the heart would fancy me cunning.  

Evil Eye,  wise of you to be wary, as my horror is nothing more of a fright.  

Louder and louder your sound grew,  haunting me day and night.  

The hour did come, to conceal the beating of your drum. Trouble me no more.  

Evil Eye, I approached your black shadow, with fury and vain, and smiled gaily at the silence before you grew back to haunt me once again.  

Year 8 – Change  

Year 8 have begun to explore the concept of change, in all its forms. Such a pivotal concept as they settle into their second year of high school. With a view to harness change in dramatic texts, students are first learning the foundations of change in texts: internal and external. In a creative writing-based lesson, students focused on demonstrating these two types of change and engaged in peer feedback to support and extend their writing skills. It was pleasing to see how constructive and thoughtful their ‘peer marking’ was to the creative process.  

Year 7 – A Story to Tell

Year 7 have begun their first year of high school in a safe and respectful manner, this has allowed them to learn a great deal already. Their first unit of work is on narratives, understanding important metalanguage, and engaging with a novel. Students have enjoyed reading the novel and responding analytically. The focus that each student has brought to their studies is a positive sign of learning to come. For parents of first-time high school students, their planners are an excellent communication tool and discussions around the novel they are reading will help solidify their learning.  

For all years

Parents and carers, remember to check your child’s assessment information booklet that was distributed at the start of the year to know when their assessments are due. Students should also be writing the due dates into their planners in order to reduce stress and frantic rushing towards the end of Term.

From all of us in the English faculty,

Thank you.