Structure of English Classes in Year 9

Dear Year 9 Parents/Guardians,

This is to inform you of how our English classes are structured in Year 9.

Your son/daughter will be in one of eight English classes.  Six of these classes will be mixed ability and the units studied and the pace of delivery in each class will be similar. Each class will be taught by an English specialist.

Two of our English classes – 09EN104 and 09EN108 – will be slightly smaller in order to support those students who find aspects of literacy particularly challenging.  Students have been placed in one of these smaller classes based on recommendations from their Year 8 English teacher and, for new STC students, based on their admissions test in English.  The smaller classes will follow the same curriculum as the other English classes but the pace will be slightly slower; there will be more one-to-one attention given to the students due to the class size; and a wider range of strategies will be employed to help students progress. One of these classes will be co-taught by an English specialist and a Learning Support teacher, the other class will be taught by an English specialist.

Although we do not envisage a lot of movement between classes, at times it will be possible for students to move into one of the mainstream classes if they make good progress.  Likewise, if a student in one of the mainstream classes is finding an aspect of the English curriculum challenging, there may be a possibility that he/she can move into one of the smaller classes for a particular unit.

We are confident that structuring our English classes in this way will be beneficial to all our learners, will support the wide range of abilities in our Year 9 cohort and start preparing them well in this important year before they start studying for their GCSEs. Our priority is to structure classes in a way that will enable and encourage students of all levels to develop, make good progress and fulfil their potential in English.

I have also included a link to our Recommended Reading List for Years 9-11 students:

The books on this list have been recommended for teens and young adults by the organisers of World Book Day. The best way to support your child’s English is to encourage him/her to read as wide a range of authors and genres as possible and to instil a love of reading in him/her which will, hopefully, continue through life.

I trust this is clear – however, if you have any questions regarding English at Sha Tin College please do not hesitate to contact me.

Many thanks and kind regards

Lindsay Tandy

Head of English Faculty