A HARMONIOUS HUMDINGER OF A SHOW – ‘HERCULES’

 

  

 

Our year kicked off with a fabulous trip organised by Ms Kinshuck to see the superlative ‘Hercules’ – a new London musical. For students studying Classics or English, this was a smashing event bringing the Disney version of the story of Hercules (Heracles to those of you who are more Greek minded) to life. It was a truly outstanding evening that brought this famous myth to life.

 

BOOK REVIEWS AND CLUB:

September saw the re-launch of the English Department’s book review competition. This year the competition will be inter-form. Just as last year, there will be exciting prizes for the most reviews submitted by each form in Years 7, 8 and 9 and a prize for the individual who submits the most impressive reviews. We are incredibly excited to see which form will come out as our first group of champion readers. Congratulations to 7AB for being the top form
so far!

If you are interested in reading or talking about books, there is a Tuesday Book Club after school in the library from 3.15pm for Key Stage 3 students.

CREATIVE WRITING CLUBS AND NEWSPAPER

If you are passionate about writing, we have two possible clubs that you can join.

On Tuesday lunchtimes in room 4, you can join our brilliant sixth form Editorial team and Miss Smith to help put together our new termly school newspaper. It is a great opportunity to experience what it might be like to be a journalist and to get your voice heard.

On Thursday lunchtime in room 9, you could also join Miss Mistry for our creative writing club. This is a great opportunity to expand your creative writing skills covering a range of different forms of writing including plays, film/television scripts as well as stories in a variety of genres.

VOCABULOUS:

We are also running our Vocabulous programme again this year with Year 7. Students are encouraged to watch a range of videos to help them learn root words based on their Latin and Greek origins. Inspired by the gods, students work their way through a variety of levels to develop their ability to recognise new vocabulary from their roots.

Congratulations to 7 TC our top performing Year 7 form so far.

Follow @QueensSch_Eng on X to see our weekly word of the week.

NATIONAL POETRY DAY – POETRY COMPETITION – COUNTING

This year National Poetry Day was October 2nd. We are running a school wide competition to find
the best poem. This year’s theme is PLAY. If you would like to enter, please submit your entries to either your English teacher or Mrs Greatrex in the library. There will be a lower and upper school prize.

 

THE SKY IS THE LIMIT – SKY UP TRIP

Ms Jacobs organised another brilliant trip for a group of year 9s to the Sky Studios. It was a magnificent opportunity for students to see how stories can be brought to life and the kind of jobs that studying English can lead to. It was thoroughly enjoyed by the students who had the chance to see the inner workings of the media world.

POEM OF THE MONTH

To promote a love for poetry, every month we explore the poem of the month with Key Stage 3 students. This not only gets students used to thinking about and interpreting poetry independently but prepares them for these elements of the GCSE exam. Here are the poems we have covered so far:

SEPTEMBER: ‘Block City’ by Robert Louis Stevenson
OCTOBER: ‘The Monsters in my Closet’ by Phil Bolsta
 

BRILLIANT ‘BACCHAE’

A group of Year 13 Classics students together with Miss Wood and Ms Watkins headed into London to see the new version of Euripides’ ‘Bacchae’ at the National Theatre – a play that never fails to ‘rip you apart’. It was a superb modern interpretation of the drama with scintillating choreography and a stunning set that captured both the supernatural elements of the drama as well as the devastatingly dark nature of the tragic events. As one our set texts, it was a unique opportunity for students to witness the drama in all its gory glory.

 

HOMEWORK CLUBS

If any students are struggling with home learning, they can join us at homework club in room 7 every week.

KS3: Wednesday 3pm-3.45pm

KS4: Thursday 3pm – 3.45pm

 

WHAT SHALL I READ?

Every month, the English department offer a KS3 and adult recommended read of the month. You
will find our recommendations for September and October below.

 

 

 

 

If you would like to find regular recommendations, then follow us on X: @QueensSch_Eng ’

 

REVISION STARTS HERE

From the start of September, we have also been offering regular revision sessions to all year 11s. Classics revision occurs every Tuesday in room 7 from 3pm-4pm run by either Miss Wood or Mr Hurst and is an opportunity to review all the key units in Year 10 from Heracles the hero to Festivals. Then between 4pm-5pm, we offer online English revision focusing on the key elements of the course that will be assessed in the upcoming mocks. For those students who are still in school, they can watch these sessions in room 7 and still participate fully. These are run by Miss Wood, Miss Bees and Miss Grimston. They are a great opportunity to consolidate learning, and we have been immensely
impressed by the huge turn out! Keep it up Year 11.

 

Artefact of the week

 

 

 

 

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