Wordslayers (English)

We welcome students and their parents back to our learning community for 2025. This will be a year where we are ‘Ready 2 Learn’, grateful, empathetic, and mindful in all that we do here at Camden High. 

It is important that students bringing their required equipment to each and every lesson but also engaging in healthy habits that will see them flourish into wonderful young adults; capable of succeeding in all that they do in life.  

Year 7 

Year 7 have settled into their first few weeks if high school well. They are following routine closely and in English are engaging in a novel study. Such quality novels like Tim Winton's Blueback are filling students with wonder and appreciation for literature. They will undertake a formal assessment task towards the end of Term requiring them to write reflectively about their chosen novel.  

Parents can support their child by discussing what they read in class and encourage regular home reading.  

Year 8 

Students in Year 8 have also begun a  novel study with a view to connect reading to real life; an understanding of theme and universality of ideas. Through the critical study of novels such as ‘The Silver Donkey’ by Sonya Hartnett a newfound appreciation for the world around them will be found. Students will submit a formal assessment task where they can demonstrate their analytical skills.  

Year 9 

Students in Year 9 may feel as though high school is simply a matter of survival and are learning to empathise with others around them and through their study of survival stories they will grateful, empathetic, and mindful young people. Students have come face-to-face with the raw emotions and feelings people like Anh Do and Turia Pitt have experienced in their own survival stories. 

Year 10 

Students in Year 10 are learning about conflict; both internal and external. Through their study of multimodal texts they will understand how conflict shapes the world around us and encourages us to be active in the decisions we make. 

Senior English 

For our new Year 11 students we wish them well in their Preliminary studies. This is a challenging time of self-realisation and a crucial point where they must hold themselves accountable for their learning. Within English there are three class options: Advanced, Standard, and Studies. It is important to be in the correct course for one’s ability, future study, and employment. All three courses are academically challenging and offer unique pathways into the future. 

For Year 12, there is not much time left until the start of the HSC, roughly 225 days! It is self-discipline that will see our Year 12s achieve great things.  

From all of us in English, 

Keep reading!