Please note: we are undergoing a transition to the new syllabus in 2024 and 2025.
Stage 4 students engage critically with diverse texts, composing clear and coherent pieces. They utilise English proficiently across various contexts, understanding language structures and audience needs. Making connections between texts, they discern main ideas and viewpoints, evaluating appropriateness for purpose and audience.
Through speaking, writing, and representing, they craft meaningful content, expressing personal views and logical arguments. They experiment with language and form across different mediums, planning and editing polished texts. They apply textual conventions, analysing their own and others' work, reflecting on learning processes and preferences. Stage 4 achievers enjoy and analyse literary and visual texts, expanding perspectives and appreciating cultural expressions.
Course aim
The aim of English in Years 7–10 is to enable students to understand and use language effectively, appreciate, reflect on and enjoy the English language and to make meaning in ways that are imaginative, creative, interpretive, critical and powerful.
Outcomes
- Outcome 1 - responds to and composes texts for understanding, interpretation, critical analysis, imaginative expression and pleasure.
- Outcome 2 - effectively uses a widening range of processes, skills, strategies and knowledge for responding to and composing texts in different media and technologies.
- Outcome 3 - uses and describes language forms, features and structures of texts appropriate to a range of purposes, audiences and contexts.
- Outcome 4 - makes effective language choices to creatively shape meaning with accuracy, clarity and coherence.
- Outcome 5 - thinks imaginatively, creatively, interpretively and critically about information, ideas and arguments to respond to and compose texts.
- Outcome 6 - identifies and explains connections between and among texts.
- Outcome 7 - demonstrates understanding of how texts can express aspects of their broadening world and their relationships within it.
- Outcome 8 - identifies, considers and appreciates cultural expression in texts.
- Outcome 9 - uses, reflects on and assesses their individual and collaborative skills for learning.
How students learn
- engage personally with texts
- develop and apply contextual knowledge
- understand and apply knowledge of language forms and features
- respond to and compose texts.
What students learn
Year 7
Term 1
- Poetry: Introduction to English
- Thematic: Painless Poetry
- Focus text/s: Various
Term 2
- Close study: Drama
- Focus text/s: Peter Pan
Term 3
- Close study: Novel
- Focus text/s: Coraline / A Series of Unfortunate Events
Term 4
- Picture Books
Year 8
Term 1
- Comparative: Shakespearean Transformation
- Focus text/s: Twelfth Night vs She’s the Man
Term 2
- Gender study: Science Fiction
- Focus text/s: The Iron Giant
Term 3
- Close study: Novel
- Focus text/s: Road to Winter / 300 Minutes
Term 4
- Poetry: Aboriginal Voices