Students have been challenged to find metaphors in songs they listen to at home and have enjoyed reporting back to the class.  This unit of work recently led to some very thoughtful, independent analysis of the poem ‘The Soldier’ in Miss Jarman’s class on Armistice Day (see below). 

The current Year 8 writing curriculum has been brought to life by reading non-fiction extracts from exciting survival stories.   Students are exploring challenging questions around the concept of identity:  Is Bear Grylls a hero or a fraud?  What drives people to risk their lives to climb Mount Everest?   Are we all born with an instinct to survive?  Could you cut your own arm off (like Araon Ralston)?

We were delighted to make links with the Looe Festival of Words this year and 30 of our students across years 9, 10 and 11 had poems displayed in Looe Library.  Miss Oldham also had the honour of taking two Year 10 students to confidently share their own poems at a poetry reading evening attended by local published poets. 

Each year, we encourage students to enter writing competitions as this reminds them that we are not just here to pass exams:  we are developing lifelong creative skills that can be used to express ourselves and to entertain others.  This Autumn, some of our talented Year 8 and 9 writers have been given the opportunity to have their poems published by the Young Writers organisation, in a book called ‘I Have A Dream’. 

Watch this space!   In 2026, the English Department will be asking all students to think BIG!  We will highlight and celebrate ideas and questions that look beyond the texts we read.