English - Key Learning Area in Focus

The school year has commenced with a distinct energy in the Chevalier College English classrooms. Our students are settling into the rhythm of 2026, and it has been a pleasure to see all of our cohorts returning with a renewed focus on their learning.

As a department, our core goal this year is two-fold: we are striving to broaden student engagement with quality literature, while simultaneously sharpening our focus on the traditional elements of grammar. By bridging the gap between technical mastery and literary appreciation, we aim to empower our students to not only read great writing but to aspire to produce it themselves.

Spotlight on Learning

While our goals are unified, the work on the ground is diverse and engaging:

• Year 7: Our newest students are finding their feet through an Introduction to Poetry. They are learning that poems are not just words on a page, but blueprints for rhythm, imagery, and emotion.
• Year 8: In a particularly exciting unit, Year 8 is studying the work of Kirli Saunders. As an acclaimed Indigenous poet who grew up right here in the Southern Highlands, her work provides our students with a powerful local connection to Country and contemporary First Nations voices.
• Year 9: Students are grappling with the ‘greats,’ diving into the foundational themes of the American Dream and human fragility through either Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men or Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby.
• Year 10: The focus has shifted inward as students work on developing their own creative voice, experimenting with stylistic devices and grammatical precision to craft original and compelling imaginative pieces.
• Year 11: Our Year 11 cohort is currently mastering the art of discursive writing. They are preparing for their first formal assessment task next week, where they will explore complex ideas with a personal and contemplative tone.
• Year 12: Our HSC students have already cleared their first major hurdle. They recently completed their first HSC Assessment Task: a formal speaking presentation and viva voce centred on the Texts and Human Experiences module. The journey towards the HSC is well and truly underway, and we are continuing to encourage all students to put the effort in now that will pay dividends in the future.

New Initiative: Wide Reading 2026

As a part of our commitment to broadening our students’ depth of engagement with quality literature, we are thrilled to officially launch our new Wide Reading Initiative. Wide reading is a crucial part of development for any English student, enhancing the ability to engage with complex language and diverse ideas.

To foster this and for the sheer pleasure of it, all students in Years 7-10 are now required to read a minimum of two novels or extended pieces of non-fiction across the year, in addition to the texts studied closely in class.

How it works:

• Students have been issued a Reading Log to be pasted into the back of their English books. This will be monitored and signed off by teachers throughout the year.
• For each book completed, teachers will provide a specific activity designed to deepen the student's appreciation of literature. Completion of these is a requirement of the English course.

• While two is the minimum, we anticipate many of our students will far exceed this as they rediscover the joy of reading for pleasure and improve their literacy skills.

   

Below are some beautiful poems written by two Year 7 students:

The Rainbow

Is it a bird or is it a plane?

Or is it the showcase of colours after rain?

Pink and purple fading lines

of perpetual glowing wrapped around like vines.

Fire desert droplets melt into sprinkles,

clouds of grey like unironed shirts, creased and crinkled.

A million different blues paint themselves across the sky,

as different birds with their wings, like open doors, fly on by

Then the sky begins to yawn, and the colours become one,

the bird’s turn to say goodbye and I smile at the setting sun.

Shelley R (Year 7)

The Fire

The siren blazes - my lungs fill with smoke,

this is life or death – you can be sure it is no joke.

The fire is as hot as the sun,

I need to escape the flames, so I run.

The flickering flames flood the room

There is no escape, I’m facing certain doom!

Then I feel a cold embrace,

Life giving water splashes my face.

Phoebe B (Year 7)