If you wish to have some insight into how we encourage our students to develop their key skills please follow this link:
Traning Day at Hayesbrook
Key Stage 3
Our integrated programme of speaking and listening, reading and writing skills allows pupils at The Hayesbrook School to develop their abilities in English at Key Stage 3. Your son will study a variety of modules - all of which are fun and exciting - hat cover a variety of areas and texts, ranging from fiction to non-fiction to poetry. He will be regularly assessed in order to monitor his progress. The objectives of these assessments will be made clear and your son will be given a National Curriculum Level along with targets for improvement. These targets can be found on his exercise book and in his planner. Homework will be set regularly, as per the Independent Study Timetable that your son will have been issued by the school.
Reading
Pupils are given the opportunity to read a wide variety of literature and to respond to the substance and style of text. This ranges from novels to poetry from different periods of time; a gothic play in Year 8 to a Shakespeare text in Year 9. As well as developing analytical skills and an appreciation of the author's craft, we aim to develop a love of reading for pleasure - sometimes a difficult task! Our programme of study consists of 'boy-friendly' topics to inspire interest in the subject. Pupils also study non-fiction based on a spy theme in Year 7, sport in Year 8 - linking with our Specialist Sports College Status, and in Year 9 pupils take a topical look at 'What's in the News?'.
Speaking & Listening
Pupils are given opportunities to talk for a range of purposes and in a wide variety of contexts. They are encouraged to listen attentively to others and have the chance to respond to what has been said. They participate in a range of drama activities and are encouraged to develop their communication skills and ability to evaluate language use. We promote a culture where pupils ask and answer questions in order to modify their ideas in light of what others say. They are taught to be fluent, accurate users of Standard English vocabulary.
Activities your son will participate in at The Hayesbrook School include the researching of a famous pirate in history in Year 7 and the delivery of an informative speech to the class. In Year 8, having studied a novels pupils present their acting skills in an entertaining group role play showing what they think would happen beyond the final chapter. Year 9 pupils practise their interactive speaking and listening skills in a group discussion and debate of a current news topic.
Writing
Pupils are encouraged to extend their confidence in writing for a variety of purposes and to develop their own distinctive and original style. They are taught to improve and sustain their writing, developing their competence in planning, drafting, re-drafting and proof-reading their work on paper and on screen. The development of writing skills is integrated into our programmes of study and linked to the topics studied. They practise their skills in the writing of narrative stories - during the study of the novel, poetry – particularly in the Year 8 unit 'Poetry Through Time', scripts, dialogues and non-fiction texts. Pupils broaden their understanding of sentence grammar, punctuation and spelling and are encouraged to use dictionaries and thesauruses to enhance their vocabulary and understanding of the English language.
We also offer boys various other stimulating opportunities to practice and air their writing skills in our annual school poetry competition and other national competitions, for example, the 'Booked Up' short story competition.
Key Stage 4
Coming soon.........
Key Stage 5
Coming soon.........
Extra Curricular
With internet access so widespread, we have decided to use a new website to help us encourage our pupils to love reading.
Lovereading4schools.co.uk (a website enthusiastically endorsed by Children's Laureate Jacqueline Wilson) has expertly created reading lists for school years 1-9. Uniquely, schools and parents can download free Opening Extracts of the books to find out which their children will most enjoy reading.
We think that having these lists on-line will prove very convenient for parents, who can view the books and buy them from the comfort of home.
This great new service is FREE for schools and parents. And all the books are available to buy with a 25% discount on the RRP. That's not all: for every £100 spent by parents we will be given a £5 book voucher to help build our school library, benefiting your child even further.
Click below / go to the web address below to go to our online reading lists.
http://www.lovereading4schools.co.uk/viewschool/3191/favourite
You will be asked to register as a parent and create your own account. It's free, and very important as it enables us to be sent our free book vouchers for the school library. All you need is an email address and a password that you can remember. Once you have registered you will need to LOGIN each time you visit the school reading lists. After registration you will be sent to the schools book page and there just click on any of the book lists to see the books in those lists.
Other Useful Links
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/english/
http://www.aqa.org.uk/
http://www.wjec.co.uk/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks3bitesize/
