Dear parents and carers of year seven and eight students, We are aware that many of you would like greater clarity about the staffing and grouping structures in year seven and eight English lessons. We have tried to address this below and to be as comprehensive as possible. Year Seven Year seven is currently mixed ability throughout, with some students being provided with additional support via our Learning Enrichment Centre. In all groups the curriculum for English is divided into three sections, with, in most cases, a different teacher for each. One lesson per week is a drama lesson and is taught by a drama specialist. In these lessons students are able to experience drama as a distinct subject but assessment and curriculum planning is directed by the English National Curriculum Speaking and Listening criteria. We have also built some National Curriculum Reading and Writing skills into the programmes of study so that this lesson contributes to students English development at the same time as allowing them to experience drama specific skills and approaches. One lesson per week is dedicated to reading skills. Students work in groups with a teacher to explore novels in a systematic way. The aim of this aspect of the curriculum is to work alongside the library’s Reading programme to foster a more independent approach to reading and introduce students to a range of novels and novelists over the year to continue to develop their love of reading and good reading habits. The remaining two lessons are core English lessons. In these lessons students are taught by an English specialist and the focus is on developing the writing and reading skills with which students have joined us from primary, helping students to transfer the skills and knowledge they already have into their learning in secondary school and build on it. Students are exploring aspects of grammar and writing and using their analytical reading skills to learn from the craft of other writers to improve their ability to control and direct these aspects in their own work. In the main, teaching of these groups has not been subject to change this year. However, groups who were taught by Ms Cotterell will have had some disruption. Ms Cotterell was a first year teacher and, despite support, decided at the end of November that, due to personal circumstances, she was not able to continue in teaching this year. We have tried in every way we can to minimise the impact of this on her classes and are pleased to say that we now have Mr Money, who will remain with us until the summer (barring unforeseen events of course) to take over the teaching of these groups. Mr Money is an experienced practitioner and we will be supporting him in every way we can to ensure that his groups are getting the best possible provision. Year eight Year eight are mixed groups, however we have created a nurture group in each population for students who need some specific support to progress to the next level in their literacy. They are following a literacy programme, known as Arrow, alongside specific tasks designed to improve the speed and fluency of handwriting, proof reading, spelling and tracking skills which can hold students back. These groups will remain together until the end of the year, but will begin to pick up more aspects of the main curriculum in the second half of this term. I aim is to ensure students don’t become stuck in a particular level due to literacy gaps, and instead to help them to fill these now in order to make faster progress in the future. We have decided to keep these groups in place after they complete the Arrow programme so that there is no further disruption for them, or the other groups, and so that they can continue to benefit from the smaller group size and consistent teaching offered. In groups 1-3 teaching is divided as it is in year seven, outlined above. Where possible the core curriculum is taught by one teacher. There has, inevitably, been some disruption to this caused by Ms Cotterell leaving at the end of November and there are two groups were we have not been able to timetable as we’d prefer. These groups are taught by two excellent and experienced teachers, Mr Money and Mrs Bee, both of whom will remain with us until the summer and will continue to be supported by the rest of the English team. As I’m sure you understand, there are occasions when a teacher is absent due to illness and this causes a cover teacher to be required, so we also have Mrs Eagles, who filled the gap between Mrs Cottrell’s departure and the Christmas holiday for us, on standby in case of illness to try to ensure that this group has as much consistency as possible. We acknowledge absolutely that this is not ideal, and this will be considered carefully when making decisions about the grouping and teaching of these students as they move into year nine. The future Hopefully you will have received an email with a link to a survey about grouping. This has been sent to all parents at the college. We would really appreciate all responses to this – the more we have the better informed we are as we make decisions for next year. Please do let us know if you are unable to access this for any reason. We want to know the perceptions and experiences of as many of the community as possible, we will be considering these responses carefully. Staff have also been consulted and students will also have the opportunity to complete a similar survey in school. We hope that this letter has provided clarity. Kind regards, Emma Osborn, Subject Leader English Hugh Bellamy, Principal