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English Department
The English Department is an outstandingly successful part of teaching
and learning at Southmoor Community School. As well as delivering
English to KS3 and KS4, members of the Department are also heavily
involved in the creation and running of a progressive and imaginative
Media course. There are plans for the teaching of A- level to form
part of the Department’s repertoire in the near future.
Staffing
The Department is staffed by eleven well-qualified, enthusiastic
and committed teachers who have a wide variety of backgrounds both
in and out of the profession. The experience of our staff ranges
from the newly qualified to those with a lifetime of teaching behind
them. Everyone within the Department is ICT literate, some to a very
high degree. We also benefit from two members of the Learning Support
Department being permanently assigned to us for twenty eight hours
a week.
Facilities
As a result of deliberate reorganisation to aid the spreading of
good ideas and practice, the Department has been situated on the
same corridor. Each classroom is designed to accommodate all teaching
and learning styles with portable digital projectors available for
use as well as normal video and TV equipment.
The "Green Room" is available for use by all members of
the Department and is designed for any activities which require groups
to work separately from the rest of the class whether it be independently
or with staff guidance.
ICT is accessible directly below the Department corridor in the form
of a state of the art computer suite. The "Sir Tom Cowie" computer
suit comes as part of our new status as a Mathematics and Computing
College and consists of one hundred networked and internet connected
computers. Should more extensive facilities be required, Sunderland
City learning Centre is attached to the school and offers a variety
of multimedia services such as video recording, editing facilities
and local, national and international video conferencing opportunities.
Such resources are obviously a great asset to the Department, especially
in the area of oral assessment.
Key Stage 3 Curriculum
English is taught in setted groups throughout KS3; each class has
three hours of English per week. The curriculum is designed to follow
the KS3
National strategy for English and assessment procedures are
based on the objectives laid out in this document. The
National Literacy Strategy has been embraced by the Department and two of its members
are responsible for its implementation in English and its reinforcement
throughout the rest of the curriculum. A wide variety of subject
matter is covered throughout Years 7, 8 and 9 with a view
to incorporating cross-curricular issues such as: Maths, ICT, Citizenship,
Drama, History and just about any area you care to name.
Within the study of English we embrace any opportunity to focus on
aspects of real life such as racism, war, sexism, bullying, love,
the press and morality. The list is endless and is demonstrative
of the wonderful variety that is English and English Literature.
These wide areas of study encourage freshness of ideas, great enthusiasm
within the staff and promote the development of wide ranging awareness
and interest among young people.
Key Stage 4 Curriculum
At KS4 all pupils follow the AQA
GCSE syllabus for English and English
Literature. Pupils have four or five hours of English/English Literature
per week depending on their needs; lower ability pupils have a one-hour
basic skills lesson to enhance performance throughout all subjects.
The GCSE qualification is a combination of exams and written coursework,
a formula which has been very successful for us in the past and makes
the best use of the talents and enthusiasm of the Department.
Coursework usually consists of five pieces of written work which
are completed in Year Ten. These assignments are as follows: Pre-
Twentieth Century Prose, Twentieth Century Drama, Shakespeare, Media
and Original Writing. In most cases teachers have constructed their
own assignments to fit their styles of teaching and the needs of
individual pupils and classes. Every year fresh ideas are used to
avoid "plodding" through the same old thing; something
which is very much against the spirit and ethos of the Department.
Extra-Curricular Activities
The English Department runs a variety of clubs and activities designed
to support the subject and interest pupils. Poetry, homework and
spelling are all featured in lunchtime clubs which are organised
by various English teachers. We are also very proud that English
staff, with the help of pupils, produce the award winning school
magazine "The Southmoor Bugle".
Throughout the year enthusiastic staff encourage Southmoor pupils
to take part in local, national and international competitions and
events. Last year we were involved in the following activities:
• The Evening Chronicle Workshop
• The Carnegie Award Reader Group
• Readathon
• National Poetry Day
•
That’s Write!
•
Ottaker’s Writing Competition
We are always looking for opportunities for our pupils to participate
and hopefully shine; they usually do!
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