Junior School English
Year 7 and 8 English
The English curriculum provides learning experiences which develop the student's ability to read, write and speak in a range of contexts. Students engage with written and multi-modal subject matter, and create texts to analyse, entertain, inform and persuade. Topics of Year 7 include report writing, persuasive speaking and poetry, as well as literature analysis. The Year 8 English course includes areas of study such as media representations, First Nations texts, teen literature analysis and the literature of the Victorian era.
Year 9 English
Year 9 English students interact with texts which support students as independent readers, writers and speakers. Literary and non-literary texts are drawn from a range of genres and may involve challenging and unpredictable sequences and structures. The Year 9 English course engages students in the explorations and construction of a series of texts, consisting of narratives, performances and analytical essays. The year 9 English course builds skill and confidence in students' capacity to perform under a range of conditions to ensure their success in future years.
Year 10 English
In Year 10 English, students study a course that delivers the Australian Curriculum for English and is aligned closely with the Curriculum to Classroom program. Year 10 students continue to develop the macro-skills (reading, writing, speaking, listening and viewing) which they have worked on in Years 7, 8 and 9. This is achieved through undertaking units of work related to literature and the media. The course includes the study of a novel, a media unit on contemporary Australian issues, a study of satire and an in-depth study of a full-length play. Students are assessed on their use of a variety of written genres and a single spoken task. This assessment program includes a written narrative intervention, a film review, two analytical exposition essays and a persuasive speech. These tasks are designed to prepare students for the demands of Senior English and are completed variously as assignments over time, as in-class supervised tasks and during designated exam blocks.
Senior School English
English – General senior subject
English is a challenging subject that involves students in the construction of a range of texts such as analytical essays, articles, persuasive spoken texts and imaginative written texts. Students engage in the analysis of poetry, Shakespearean drama, and adolescent and adult fiction and film. Units 1 and 2 of the course are formative and, as such, lay the foundation for Units 3 and 4, which are units in which summative assessment for exit achievement takes place. For each pair of units, students will complete four substantial assessment tasks, three of which are written and one of which is spoken. Tasks set in Units 1 and 2 mirror those of the summative units 3 and 4. All responses to assessment tasks are completed either partially or fully in class time. The course culminates in a Queensland-wide analytical essay written under test conditions in response to an unseen question about literature. General English can contribute to an Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR) calculation.
Literature – General senior subject
Literature focuses on the study of literary texts, developing students as independent, innovative and creative learners and thinkers who appreciate the aesthetic use of language, analyse perspectives and evidence, and challenge ideas and interpretations through the analysis and creation of varied literary texts. As with English, tasks set in Units 1 and 2 mirror those of the summative units 3 and 4. All responses to assessment tasks are completed either partially or fully in class time. The course culminates in a Queensland-wide analytical essay written under test conditions in response to an unseen question about literature. Literature can contribute to an Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR) calculation.
Essential English – Applied senior subject
Essential English is offered as an alternative to English. The subject Essential English develops and refines students' understanding of language, literature and literacy to enable them to interact confidently and effectively with others in everyday, community and social contexts. The subject encourages students to understand, accept or challenge the values and attitudes in these texts. It is an Applied subject. While Essential English can contribute to an Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR) calculation, no more than one applied subject can do so. The aim of the subject is to provide students with literacy skills necessary to negotiate life beyond school. The essential elements of language use are developed in each unit. The course encourages students to engage with a range of literary and non-literary texts and includes a variety of spoken, multi-modal and written assessments. Units 1 and 2 replicate the types of assessment students will undertake in the summative units 3 and 4, which allows skills to be developed over the two year course of study.