Notre Dame High School
English
Department
Handbook
2013-14
“I have come so that they may have life and have
it to the full” (John 10:10)
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Contents
Page Number
The Team
Planning
Summative Assessment
Assessment, Recording and Target Setting
Homework
Marking
Skills Lessons & Reading
Written Work
Classroom Expectations & Learning Environment
Rewards and Sanctions
Department Gifted &Talented Policy
Department Prayer
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3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12-13
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Welcome to the English Team
Here is your Department Handbook. It should provide you with all the information you require
about the English Team and the English Department at Notre Dame High School.
The English team are:
Ms C Bromley – Head of English
Mrs G Cooper – Second in English and KS4 Co-ordinator (currently on maternity leave until Jan
2014)
Miss Sarann Dye – Teacher of English and Temporary KS4 Co-ordinator
Mrs Kelly Aldred – KS3 Co-ordinator
Mrs Rosemarie Gilbert – Teacher of English
Mrs Anna Hall - Teacher of English
Mr Stephen Bishop - Teacher of English & Renaissance
Mrs Angela Brook – Teacher of English
Mrs Harriet Griffiths – Teacher of English
Ms Sam Orciel – NQT
Mr Gerry Archer - NQT
In addition, the following staff (who are not English specialists) also teach within the
department: Mrs Sue Paton – Drama
Mrs Hillary Bedder – SENCO
Mr Tom Pritchard – History & EAL
Mr Paul Short - Line Manager
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Planning
Long Term Plan
KS3 and KS4 Long Term Programmes of study can be found in the English area and specify AF
for KS3 and CA and exams for KS4. There are also KS3 Teaching Schedules as texts are on a rota.
Medium Term Plan (Schemes of Work)
There are electronic SOW for each KS3 unit. Each one contains a full set of electronic resources
that are filed in weekly folders.
Short Term Planning (Weekly lesson plans)
The short term plans for KS3 are stored electronically in the English Area and consist of weekly
plans. Each week consists of 3, 4-part lesson plans with homework suggestions. Most schemes
are 6 weeks long. You may of course wish to adapt them to suit the needs of different classes
and individuals. All teachers are encouraged to add their own resources to existing schemes
and are expected to differentiate the schemes according to the ability of their class. Each of the
objectives identified in the Medium Term Plan (first page of SOW) must be explicitly taught
during the scheme. Lessons are planned using the four part structure: starter; whole class main
teaching of objective; development; and plenary. Your planning should allow for this, however
there will be some occasions when you will not want to follow this structure, for example in a
follow-on lesson and particularly when developing extended writing. In these cases make this
explicit in your own lesson plans. The half termly assessments are written into the schemes and
pupil friendly assessment sheets as well as differentiated level ladders can be found there too.
KS4 schemes are being developed in line with the new GCSE spec – WJEC. There are some
weekly plans but mainly teaching suggestions and resources. These are all saved in the English
Area. Please file any resources you make in the relevant folder and give each resource an
explicit title.
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Summative Assessment
Students’ Key Stage 3 Folder of Best Work
Throughout Key Stage 3 the students collect evidence in their folders, which corresponds with
the assessment requirements in the Medium Term Plans. This should be their best work after
redrafting and provides evidence of students’ achievement as they progress through Years 7 to
9, as well as giving us opportunities for moderation.
First drafts can be marked by the pupil or a partner and the APP level ladders or APP bookmarks
can be used for this purpose. They are kept in the best work folders.
The assessment levels for each half-termly unit of work must be recorded on the front sheets
for each pupil: (one front sheet per assessment) with space for a summative TA level and space
for pupils to reflect on their literacy and overall achievement. These marks must then be stored
in your own planner and/or the formal department electronic tracker which can be found in the
English area. The marks for each student will be accumulated to give a profile of the student’s
progress and forwarded at the end of each year as prior data for the next teacher.
This year, Year 9 pupils will complete SATS style reading and writing exams in June in order to
provide a summative, end of KS3 grade.
KS4
There are separate top sheets for each Controlled Assessment and all marked Controlled
Assessments are kept in a folder and must not go home.
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Assessment, Recording and Target-Setting
Assessment
Do familiarise yourself thoroughly with the National Curriculum Levels, if you have not already
done so. However, please do not agonise over them. When awarding a level, you are looking
for the ‘best fit’ category for the students. Do use 0.0, 0.4 or 0.7 to show finer level distinctions.
As mentioned above, the level assessments for each half-term’s unit of work are recorded using
the department’s electronic tracker and form a vital part of the department’s data about the
progress of each one of our students. It is therefore vital that assessments are carried out in
accord with the scheme of work and recorded promptly. Some assessments are marked for up
to 3 AFs. These must all be recorded separately.
Target Sheets and Target Setting for Students’ Formative Assessments
All pupils should be aware of their end of year target grade. It is recommended that pupils write
this on the inside cover of their exercise books alongside the literacy marking guide.
Students should be provided with an opportunity to reflect on and improve their final
assessments. Correcting SPG errors and/or re-writing a paragraph is considered good practice.
Pupils should all be aware of their levels of achievement and what they have to do to reach the
next level. They should also be aware of areas of weakness in their literacy that need to be
addressed in future assessments.
Personal Recording and Assessment
In addition to the half-termly assessments you will no doubt wish to keep a record of additional
assessments and homework on a week-to-week basis in your preferred format. This is not
recorded formally in the department. Many teachers prefer to keep their assessments in their
planners but you may wish to record them electronically – the choice is yours.
Please keep a record of pupils who forget equipment on CMIS. If they forget it three times they
need to be entered for a department detention on the following Tuesday lunchtime. Use the
electronic detention booking system to do this. If it persists a referral needs to be emailed to
HOD. This also applies to lateness to lessons.
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Homework
Homework
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In Key ‘Stage 3 students have one homework slot of 30-60 minutes every fortnight. This
must be recorded in their planners and must provide challenge, not just to finish off
work from the lesson.
In KS4 there are 2 slots per fortnight (each 1 hour long).
At KS5, students are expected to complete a piece of homework for each of their
teachers (2 pieces per week) and this should stretch them and encourage independent
learning.
All homework should be marked by the teacher (within a week) and should include
positive comments for effort/attainment and a formative comment to help them
improve. Make homework tasks explicit by writing h/w in margin.
Setting homework: Wherever possible, set homework at the beginning or near the end of the
lesson. Ask the students to leave their planners open on the desk in front of them for you to
check during the course of the lesson or ask students to show you the recorded homework
before they are allowed to leave the room. Make a note of all homework on CMIS.
Remember that some students will need extra help and/or time to record homework
accurately. You may have to write it in for the more vulnerable or unreliable pupils.
Failure to complete any homework
This results in a department detention. Stamp the pupil’s planner and enter their details on the
Excel Detention Booking spreadsheet.
Tasks: It is important to balance all the demands on your time. Try to set a variety of tasks,
which do not demand that you go through each book in detail once a week (unless you want
to). Tasks may include regular reading homeworks, learning homeworks, e.g. poems, spelling
tests, research tasks and recounting the lesson to someone at home.
Feedback: This should be as near to the homework as possible, preferably the next lesson.
Homework can be ‘marked’ in a variety of ways; for example students should be encouraged to
learn to assess themselves and one another and can be guided to mark their own homework
after going through an example on the interactive whiteboard with the class.
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Marking
According to the English Department policy, students’ exercise books/files (at KS3, 4 and 5)
should be peer or self-assessed at least twice a half term.
For KS3 & 4, targets should be set on the green sheets in the back of their exercise books. Any
comments in their books should be formative and relate to relevant NC or skills based criteria
or praise. First drafts at KS3 should also be peer-assessed. Each half term there needs to be
evidence of formative and summative assessment for each student. For pupils at KS3 this
means that the student’s APP assessments require a level and at KS4, Controlled Assessment
tasks or preparatory work needs a GCSE grade.
At KS5 there should be evidence of work levelled in line with the relevant AS or A2 criteria or at
least aspects on a particular AO. All KS5 teachers are expected to set and mark 2 formal
assessments per half term.
All work needs to be marked for accuracy and the department use the same marking guidelines
which are stuck into the front of every exercise book. These symbols are to be put in the margin
and the relevant underlining/circling put where the mistake is. If a pupil has made a lot of
mistakes aim to highlight 5 per page.
GCSE
The dates for these assessments are in the calendar and teachers should ensure that CA tasks
are completed as near to on time as possible. This is of course entirely dependent on all pupils
attending all lessons so there is a degree of leniency. Single English and Nurture groups will also
work at a slower pace. CAs must be completed in class and pupils may not take home anything
they have written during this time. It is the class teacher’s responsibility to look after all CA
tasks. Moderation will be completed at suitable intervals that may be in or outside dept.
meetings. All staff are expected to attend.
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Reading and Skills Lessons
Lessons in the LRC
At KS3, all pupils are timetabled for a 1x fortnight library lesson. The main purpose of these
lessons is to reinforce their knowledge and experience of spelling, punctuation and grammar.
The timing of the session should be 50:50, with skills as the first part of the lesson and reading
as the second.
Staff responsible for the delivery of these sessions (if they are different to the ordinary class
teacher) will have liaised with the KS3 Coordinator and staff they share the groups with. Only
classes that have a specific LRC teacher will have a separate LRC exercise book. It is suggested
that LRC work is completed in the back of exercise books but you may wish to keep it in the
front with the regular classwork.
Skills
All S.O.W. are stored in the English folder under KS3 – S.O.W update 2011 – Y7 / Y8 / Y9 – unit
for that half term – skills and these will consist of paragraphing, sentence structure,
punctuation or spelling. Pupils who have a S.O.W. that covers spelling rules etc. should have
regular testing either as a starter or as a set homework to learn.
Reading
At Notre Dame we aim to encourage a love of reading and it is the responsibility of the staff
taking the lesson, the LRC staff, main teachers and parents to support this ethos. With this in
mind, the reading part of the lesson should be a mixture of staff and pupil recommendation,
new reads, recommended lists for KS3 (provided by librarians), as well as guest authors and
opportunities to take out both fiction and non-fiction, particularly if a research task or
homework needs to be done.
At home, parents/carers should ensure that books are discussed and recommended to their
children and that appropriate reading material is brought into school, as we are keen to
monitor suitability of age and ability.
Independent Private Reading
It is English Department policy to encourage all students to read independently for pleasure.
There are a variety of book boxes in the English rooms to encourage this, as well as the library.
Pupils should be encouraged to read a wide variety of genres. There are lists of recommended
reads at the back of some classrooms for pupils to browse and it is advisable that pupils
recommend texts to each other.
The librarian also offers a range of activities to suit the particular needs of the students and the
library can be booked for reading lessons. Please liaise with the librarian as much as possible.
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Written Work
Students work in their exercise books and should be encouraged to work with a black pen,
which enables them to present their work neatly. Fountain pens and handwriting pens usually
give the best results. Some students may be able to work better, when drafting written work,
using a pencil so that they can correct more easily. This can be negotiated with the student.
Staff may choose to use the coloured pens (to signify peer, self and teacher assessment) but
this is not mandatory. It is, however, recommended that a different coloured pen or pencil is
used for re-drafting and self/ peer assessment.
At KS3 pupils have A4 orange exercise books and at KS4 they use the A4 yellow books. They
have best work/coursework folders of corresponding colours.
You should ensure that the marking guidelines is explained to the pupils and stuck into every
exercise book they receive. (It is part of the key vocab sheet and Key Stage colour co-ordinated)
Pupils should be encouraged to use this for peer and self assessment and for understanding
how you have assessed their work.
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Classroom Expectations
A set of Classroom Expectations can be found below and can be moderated and then explained
to pupils (and copied into their books if you choose) at the beginning of the year. Please discuss
these with all your students so that expectations are clearly consistent across the department.
The department operates a boy/girl seating policy wherever possible and it is good practice to
re-sit the class each term.
English Expectations
1. Line up quietly outside the classroom until you are invited in.
2. Come in, get out your books and your equipment and stand quietly behind your chair.
3. Sit down when you are invited to.
4. Listen politely while others are speaking.
5. Put your hand up if you want to contribute.
6. Stay seated unless asked to move.
7. Follow instructions without arguing.
8. Speak politely to everyone.
9. Do your best in every activity.
10. Pack up sensibly and stand behind your chairs to be dismissed.
You may wish to amend these to suit your teaching style.
Learning Environment
Displays
Classroom displays should reflect on the students’ achievement, whether this is attainment or
effort. It should also be a learning tool for pupils and offer them exemplar material at different
levels/grades. Marked work is preferable.
Displays should be changed each year in preparation for Open Evening.
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Rewards and Sanctions
Department Rewards
CMIS Credits are awarded for good/excellent work and for effort. Sometimes this might be for
improvement in a particular area, effort or spelling for example. It is also recommended that a
note is put into planners for any improvement shown or for good work.
Department Sanctions
A lunchtime detention should be set for the following offences:  Failure to complete a homework
 Forgotten equipment on 3 occasions or 3 pieces of equipment missing
 3 instances of lateness to your lesson
Pupils entered for detention must be registered on the Excel spreadsheet in the English Area
called Detention Booking 2011-12 and a note must be made on CMIS. There is a rota for staff
and each week, a member of the dept. will be responsible for supervising the detention. During
the detention pupils must copy out the expectations (all in English Area in Detentions folder) in
silence onto lined paper and sign the contract which is then collected in and kept.
If a pupil fails to attend a lunch detention, the HOY is contacted and the pupil receives an ASD.
Any student sent out to HOD needs a note on CMIS and a department detention. It is not
advisable to send pupils out to stand in the corridor, unless for a few minutes cooling off time
or if you intend to go out and speak to them immediately as per the school Behaviour for
Learning policy.
Please be sure to write English Department detention into the student’s planner. A phonecall
home is also recommended if a pupil’s organisation or behaviour is persistently problematic.
Persistent poor behaviour or lack of effort may necessitate a student being put on English
report. HOD will provide individualised report cards on request. Please set clear targets for the
report. Send the student on report to HOD at the end of the lesson, once you have written
your comment, so that the report can be monitored. HOD will organise standard letters home
informing parents of the report and again to feed back once the report has come to an end.
At KS5 a letter needs to be sent home if there are problems. If pupils arrive to your lesson
without the relevant work then you should send them away to complete the work instead of
teaching them that lesson. They should come to you at the end of the lesson to hand over their
work and find out what they have missed. Please let HOD and HOY know of any problems or
concerns at the first opportunity.
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Where students present persistent behaviour problems, teachers should discuss the matter
first with HOD and then with HOY to agree on the next strategy.
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English Department Policy for
Gifted and Talented Students
Principles
At Notre Dame High School we aim to provide an environment in which all students can achieve
their full potential. This policy provides a range of strategies that will enable our Gifted and
Talented students to thrive in a climate of opportunity without pressure.
Our provision for Gifted and Talented students is in the context of a school that intends to be
truly inclusive. We therefore aim to:
 Create an environment that inspires all to achieve and celebrate their success.
 Set high expectations and provide opportunities and challenge for all students to achieve
their full potential.
 Provide a range of opportunities both in and out of the classroom to help all students
develop their personalities, skills and abilities intellectually and socially.
 Enjoy learning together.
 Create a vibrant and inclusive extended English curriculum programme, with opportunities
for enrichment.
Definitions
In defining what is meant by the term ‘gifted and talented’, the English department, in line with
the School’s policy, adopts the following definitions:
 Gifted and Talented is the terminology adopted by the Department for Education and
Skills (DfES) to describe a range of 5% to 10% of students in each year group.
 The Gifted and Talented are students who achieve, or have the ability to achieve, at a level
significantly in advance of the average for their year group.
Identification
Identification of students is an ongoing process throughout all key stages, and we are aware of
the fact that different abilities emerge at different ages and in different circumstances.
A wide range of identification strategies, using both quantitative and qualitative data, are used,
including the following:
 Quantitative data that includes the results of National Curriculum assessments, public
examinations and Cognitive Ability Tests (CATS).
 Qualitative information that includes teacher assessment and nomination, student
observation and the scrutiny of students’ work.
 We look for consistent, high achievement, rapid grasp of new concepts, recognised
characteristics of ability and occasional glimmers of high potential.
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 We are alert to evidence from a range of people including students, parents/carers,
teachers and other school staff, other students, specialist external staff who work with the
school, adults involved in out-of-school activities and other professionals.
Provision
The school will provide all Gifted and Talented students with their full entitlement of the
National Curriculum. In addition, we provide support, challenge and opportunities to excel
through considering initiatives such as:
 Curriculum Extension – making appropriate use of extension resources and materials
indicated in Schemes of Work.
 Curriculum Enrichment – adding enrichment activities to Schemes of Work, giving
opportunities to broaden knowledge and understanding.
 Curriculum Enrichment – adding enrichment activities on school premises at lunchtime or
after school, such as Gifted and Talented Book Clubs. G&T pupils meet weekly with an
English teacher in their Year Group Book Club. The department also organises author
visits and workshops for these pupils.
 Curriculum Enrichment through Gifted and Talented days outside the classroom,
organised by the English department and specialist providers both locally and nationally.
Monitoring and Evaluation
Subject teachers continuously evaluate the effectiveness of their lesson plans, to ensure that
activities are appropriately differentiated to meet the needs of Gifted and Talented students.
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Subject teachers feed back to department meetings regarding the effectiveness of Gifted
and Talented resources.
Subject teachers will consistently monitor the progress and performance of students on
the Gifted and Talented register, liaising with the Gifted and Talented Coordinator Assistant Head Merry John, Heads of Department and Heads of Year if students are in
danger of under achieving.
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English Department Prayer
Dear Lord,
Thank you for the precious gift of language.
When you made the earth, you gave us dominion over all the creatures and the power to name
all that you had made.
Help us to remember that our language defines not only the world we live in but the way we
live in it.
Allow us to enrich the lives of the students we teach by showing them the power of language;
how it can be used to influence the minds and emotions of others.
Help us to use it advisedly, considerately and purposefully.
Let us encourage rather than disparage, praise rather than condemn and thereby enrich the
lives of others every day.
Amen
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