Thurso High School

THURSO HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH
DEPARTMENT
• S Guthrie- Teacher of Advanced Higher, 55EN1 CFE Higher English and 4EN1
N5 English
• S Richardson-Teacher of 6EN Higher English and 4EN2 N5 English
• J Adams –Teacher of 55EN2 CFE Higher/N5 English and Advanced Higher
• H Perrie –Teacher of 51EN2 CFE Higher/N5 English and 4EN6 N4 English
• K Aitken-Teacher of 55EN3 N5 English and 4EN4 N5/4 English
• A Wallace-Teacher of Advanced Higher and 4EN1 N5 English
• K Mackay (Depute Rector) Teacher of 4EN5 N4 English

National 4
National 5
CFE Higher
Advanced Higher
SENIOR PHASE COURSES

COURSE CONTENT AND
STRUCTURE
• National 4,5 and CFE Higher English all include the following key units:
• Creation and Production
• Writing and Talking
• Analysis and Evaluation
• Reading and Listening

CREATION AND PRODUCTION
WRITING AND TALKING
• N4/N5/HIGHER
• Candidates will be required to show a secure level of literacy by writing a discursive style piece of writing.
• Candidates will also be required to take part in an assessed talk activity.

ANALYSIS AND EVALUATION
• N4/N5/HIGHER
• Candidates will take part in a reading activity which will assess their skill in analysing and evaluating an unseen pieces of prose, literature or poetry.
• Candidates will take part in a listening assessment activity in which they will have to listen and watch a documentary, trailer or clip to assess the language and content of the media.

COURSE ASSESSMENTS
• Pupils must pass all of the course assessments in order to achieve a pass or sit the final exam.
• National 4- In addition to the assessments National 4 pupils must also complete a secure Added Value Unit.
• National 5-In addition to the course assessments pupils must also complete a writing folio to sent to the SQA
• CFE Higher English-In addition to the course assessments pupils must also complete a writing folio to be sent to the SQA.

WRITING FOLIO
• National 5 and Higher pupils complete a writing folio.
• The folio must include:
• One Creative/Personal piece of writing
• One broadly discursive piece of writing
• 30% of Final Grade

WRITING FOLIO ADVICE
• Your class teacher will mark your folio pieces and offer you advice and feedback.
• Your teacher will mark your piece closely twice
• It is then up to the pupil to continue to re-draft and improve their writing folio to ensure that it is the best example of their work.

WRITING FOLIO
• Pupils should be completing and perfecting their writing folio at the moment.
• It is the single most important piece of English course work.
• It should be a true reflection of their skills as a writer.
• Their final drafts should be complete by
Christmas.

N5/HIGHER FINAL EXAMINATION
• Reading for Understanding, Analysis and Evaluation
• This section of the exam is similar to the Close Reading element of the old style Higher course.
• It requires pupils to read passages and answer questions on the language, tone and imagery in the text.
• 30% of Final Grade

READING FOR ANALYSIS, EVALUATION
AND UNDERSTANDING
• National 5 1 hour
• The national 5 exam requires pupils to read one passage and answer questions on the language, content, imagery and style of the passage.
• CFE Higher -1 hour 30 minutes
• The Higher exam requires pupils to read two passages and answer questions on the first passage. Pupils then have to compare both passages and write an extended comparison of the two pieces of text.

*NEW EXAM ELEMENT*
THE SCOTTISH TEXT
• All National 5 and Higher candidates will study a ‘Scottish Text’.
• This text is chosen from a prescribed list of options written by the SQA.
• They will study this text in an in-depth manner in order to analyse it closely on the day of the exam.

CRITICAL READING

NATIONAL 5 SCOTTISH TEXTS STUDIED
IN THURSO HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH
DEPARTMENT

HIGHER SCOTTISH TEXTS STUDIED IN
THURSO HIGH SCHOOL
• ‘Sunset Song’-Lewis Grassic Gibbon
• Don Paterson-Collected Poems
• Norman MacCaig-Collected Poems
• Carol Anne Duffy- Collected Poems
• ‘The Cone Gatherers’ Robin Jenkins

CRITICAL ESSAY
• Pupils have 45 minutes to write one essay on their chosen genre.
• Drama
OR
• Prose
OR
• Poetry

CRITICAL ESSAY SECTION
• This section is very similar to the original Higher exam.
• Candidates are required to write an essay on one of their chosen texts. This text must be from a different genre than their Scottish text.
• Pupils will study their Scottish text in addition to at least two other texts from different genres.

CFE HIGHER/NATIONAL 5 TEXTS
NATIONAL 5 CFE HIGHER
‘A Man for All Seasons’- Robert Bolt Drama
‘The Great Gatsby’-F.Scott Fitzgerald Prose
‘Kestrel for a Knave’- Barry Hines
‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ Harper Lee
‘Smeddum’ Short Story Lewis Grassic Gibbon
‘A view from a bridge’-Arthur Miller Drama
‘Lord of the Flies’ William Goudling
‘Of Mice and Men’ John Steinbeck
Seamus Heaney-’Digging’ and ‘Follower’ Poetry ‘Macbeth’ William Shakespeare
‘Othello’- William Shakespeare Edwin Morgan ‘Glasgow 5 th of March

WHAT SHOULD MY CHILD BE DOING FOR
ENGLISH HOMEWORK?

HOMEWORK 1

HOMEWORK 2
•

HOMEWORK 3
•

HOMEWORK 3
•

HOMEWORK 4
•

HOMEWORK 5

HOMEWORK 6

HOW CAN I HELP THEM WITH THEIR
ENGLISH HOMEWORK?
• There are lots of ways to support your child through
Senior Phase English.
• Miss Perrie and Mrs Aitken are going to talk you through some of the simple ways you can encourage your child to study and succeed in
Senior Phase English. We will also hear from former students who will talk about how they approached their studies.

COMMUNICATING WITH THE
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
• We will communicate your child’s progress in English throughout the year in a variety of formats.
• School Target letters and Senior Reviews
• Parents’ Evening(s)
• Report Cards
• English Department progress letter(s)
• Suggested change of level letter(s)

TRACKING IN THE ENGLISH
DEPARTMENT
• The Engish Department has a rigorous tracking system to ensure that all pupils are making the best possible progress in their chosen level in Senior Phase English.
• If a class teacher feels that a pupil is not making adequate progress in class they will be ‘flagged’ up to the Principal Teacher of English, Guidance and in more serious cases the year head or Head Teacher.
• A red flag will be given if pupils:
• Consistently fail to hand in homework or course work
• Display a negative attitude towards the course work and class work
• Disrupt other students from their course work
• Are struggling with the challenging level of presentation at National 5 or Higher

COMMUNICATING WITH THE
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
• If you are keen to communicate with the Thurso High School
English Department please do so through our link Senior
Manager Mr C Omand or through your child’s guidance teacher. Mr Omand will then communicate to the Head of
Department (Miss K Shanks)
• We still have our English Department website on the THS site but it is currently under construction.
• We are considering starting our e-mail updates again for
Senior Phase classes but are looking for your feedback on this idea.

THANK YOU FOR LISTENING