Writing

• producing clear and coherent text: writing effectively about literature for a range of purposes such as: to describe, explain, summarise, argue, analyse and evaluate; discussing and maintaining a point of view; selecting and emphasising key points; using relevant quotation and using detailed textual references
• writing with accurate Standard English: accurate spelling, punctuation and grammar.

Here is a detailed breakdown of the qualification:

Assessment in English

We use Comparative Judgement to summatively assess extended writing three times a year. Every time we complete a judging session, we compile a whole class feedback sheet that records strengths and weaknesses. These inform the next teaching steps as well as informing curricula amendments. We also use whole class feedback when marking: teachers go over excellent pieces of work and reteach or correct misconceptions and omissions. Most lessons involve low-stakes retrieval practice and restrictive practice activities that focus on the component parts of writing and responding to texts. These tasks allow teachers to give instant corrective feedback live in class.

Booklets

At Trinity, we teach English using mastery booklets. These contain everything that students need for an entire unit of study and complement the main literature texts that are taught. Booklets typically contain:

1. Vocabulary Tables

These tables are used to teach high-utility, academic vocabulary, providing students with example sentences and all relevant forms of the words that are taught. Students practise using these words, initially at a sentence level and then in wider writing

1. Short Stories

Here are some of the short stories that students will read and study at Trinity:

Year 7:

1. The Compass and Torch by Elizabeth Baines
2. Eleven by Sandra Cisneros
3. Charles by Shirley Jackson
4. All Summer in a Day by Ray Bradbury
5. The Street Sweep by Meron Handero

Year 8:

1. Games at Twilight by Anita Desai
2. The Darkness Out There  by Penelope Lively
3. The Test by Angela Gibson
4. I Used to Live Here Once by Jean Rhys
5. Dagon by H.P. Lovecraft

Year 9:

1. War by Jack London
2. The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin
3. An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce
4. Rain Horse by Ted Hughes
5. The Knowers by Helen Phillips

Year 10:

1. The Mask of the Red Death by Edgar Allen Poe
2. A Glowing Future by Ruth Rendell
3. Gift of Magi by O. Henry
4. Paper Menagerie by Ken Lui
5. The Birthmark by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Year 11:

1. A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
2. Birdsong by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
3. Sew my Mouth by Cherrie Kandie
4. Eveline by James Joyce
5. Kew gardens by Virginia Woolf

 

2. Non-Fiction Articles

Students read and respond to literary journalism, polemics, speeches and articles that cover relevant domain knowledge, helping them to build their understanding of the world and how language is used to represent it.

3. Knowledge Organisers

Each unit has an accompanying knowledge organiser which contains the most useful and important knowledge that is taught. Here is an example: