Year 8 English
What students learn this year
In Year 8 English pupils build on the skills and knowledge learnt in Year 7 in examining the writers’ craft and how meaning is created in a wide range of texts and also in the pupils’ own writing. The whole of year 8 is themed around protest/revolution and change.
Term overview
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Term / Half-term |
Main topics / units |
Key knowledge & skills |
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Autumn 1 |
Protest Poetry |
Metaphorical Language, structure, writers’ choices, context,what? How? Why? Analysis writing.Linked fiction/non-fiction texts. Creative/descriptive writing. Transactional writing. SPAG/sentence structures. An anthology of poetry is studied including poetry by The Romantics and contemporary poets including Maya Angelo(‘Still I Rise’) and William Wordsworth (‘Upon Westminster Bridge’). |
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Autumn 2 |
Protest Poetry |
Metaphorical Language, structure, writers’ choices, context,what? How? Why? Analysis writing.Linked fiction/non-fiction texts. Creative/descriptive writing. Transactional writing. SPAG/sentence structures.
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Spring 1 |
Rhetoric/speech |
Metaphorical Language, structure, writers’ choices, context,what? How? Why? Analysis writing.Linked fiction/non-fiction texts. Creative/descriptive writing. Transactional writing. SPAG/sentence structures.
Themes covered: Aristotle’s theory of effective speeches: Logos, Ethos, Pathos. Other elements/ingredients of successful speeches including: direct address, emotive language, tricolon,anaphora(repetition), rhetorical questions, emotive language etc Speeches studied include those by Martin Luther King, Greta Thunberg, Abraham Lincoln and famous speeches from Shakespeare plays. |
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Spring 2 |
Rhetoric/speech |
Metaphorical Language, structure, writers’ choices, context,what? How? Why? Analysis writing.Linked fiction/non-fiction texts. Creative/descriptive writing. Transactional writing. SPAG/sentence structures.
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Summer 1 |
The Woman In Black |
Metaphorical Language, structure, writers’ choices, context,what? How? Why? Analysis writing.Linked fiction/non-fiction texts. Creative/descriptive writing. Transactional writing. SPAG/sentence structures. Plot/Theme/Character. Themes in Woman in Black: pathetic fallacy, unreliable narrator, revenge, the Gothic, ghost stories, the supernatural, Early 20th Century Britain(Edwardian links to An Inspector Calls in Year 10). |
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Summer 2 |
The Woman In Black |
Metaphorical Language, structure, writers’ choices, context,what? How? Why? Analysis writing.Linked fiction/non-fiction texts. Creative/descriptive writing. Transactional writing. SPAG/sentence structures.Plot/Theme/Character.
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How learning and progress are checked
Teaching approach:
Lessons combine short teacher explanations with discussion , regular retrieval practice, extended writing and the reading of a wide range of texts culturally as well as in content. We aim to keep students thinking hard but supported, so that key English skills and knowledge are embedded over time.
Assessment in this year group
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Type of assessment |
Approx. frequency / when |
What it is used for (e.g. reports, targets) |
|
Classwork / quizzes |
Short retrieval quizzes most lessons. Do Now Tasks |
To check recall of key facts and address misconceptions quickly |
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Homework tasks |
Once per week |
To develop independent study skills. |
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End-of-topic assessments |
Approximately once per-term-at the end of a unit |
To judge understanding of each unit and inform progress data |
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End-of-year assessment |
Summer term |
To give an overall picture of progress across the year |
Homework and Independent study
How often is homework set? Once per week (Educake quiz)
Typical length per task: Around 30 minutes
Suggested independent study:
The following websites are useful for revising topics we have covered:
Massolit for the more ambitious/able pupil.
How parents and carers can support
- Ask your child to explain one thing they learned in English today in their own words.
- Check that homework is completed on time.
- Encourage a quiet, distraction-free space for homework and revision.
- Help your child to revise little and often rather than leaving everything to the night before a test.
- Read to your child at least twice per week.
- Choose a word of the week to discuss with your son.
- Discuss what you are reading with your child.
- Discuss topical and cultural events/ideas.
- Put the subtitles on the TV(this helps with fluency of reading)
Support, stretch and enrichment
Support for students who need extra help:
We use writing frames, scaffolding and 1:1 support, where needed.
Stretch & challenge:
More confident students are given extension questions and opportunities to make better any work they think they have completed. You have never really finished in English!
Clubs / trips / extra opportunities:
Theatre trips , and author visits. Creative writing and Debate Clubs(subject to staff availability).
The term so far
