In the autumn term, English was about reading comprehension and the crafting of writing, be that fiction or nonfiction. Whilst this is perhaps not as fun as studying a play, it is a rich opportunity for developing HPL skills, and as all roads ultimately lead to GCSEs in year 11, we are teaching you how to manage these exams on your own.
Reading requires analysing: critical and logical thinking to deconstruct the text, and also requires precision: working effectively within the rules of a domain, as you must answer the questions efficiently and effectively. Furthermore, many of the skills use linking, as what is asked of you in a fiction comprehension will be very similar in non-fiction. Writing itself is of course creating, and whether that is a fiction narrative, descriptive scene or letter to the editor, it requires evolutionary and fluent thinking, playfulness and originality (and revolutionary thinking, when you get your work marked and some feedback on how to improve from your teacher!). Of course, this written feedback is so important, as it is part of your meta-thinking: understanding where you have done well or need further work (self-regulation) and strategy planning of how to enact that next time.
As you progress from year 7 to 11, the work we do spirals round, becoming more challenging but also developing your skills, so that by the time you reach year 11 and the big bad sports hall calls your name for GCSE, you will be able to bring into realisation all these skills with automaticity, speed and accuracy. Simples!