The academic year is well underway. Year 7 English students are working on descriptive writing pieces in response to Blueback, while Year 12s have recently completed their first creative writing SAC. Our Year 8s are learning the conventions of formal text response writing, while their Year 9 counterparts enjoy a little more freedom as they experiment with different writing forms. The Year 10s are preparing for their assessment on The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time and VCE English Language students are busily studying metalanguage to help them write critical analyses. Year 11 Literature students have been concentrating on reading through different lenses as the Year 12s focus on close passage analysis of Northanger Abbey. As a teacher, it is satisfying to reach these assessment milestones in Term One.

As we approach these important assessments in English, we hope students are being organised in planning and preparing drafts. Parents and carers, please offer your assistance by asking about students’ learning in English and perhaps helping to proof-read and edit written responses. While students write drafts in class under the guidance of their teacher, good writers will always benefit from ongoing encouragement and positive reinforcement at home.

As we all know, reading is a vital life skill. We love when class discussion is informed by students’ independent reading and we ask guardians to continue to support their children in this endeavour. We encourage all English students to form the habit of reading for 15-20 minutes a night. The library staff in the St Martins Resource Centre have been testing students in Year 7 and 8 with the Renaissance Reading program to recommend reading-age-appropriate texts that pique students’ interests. And there is plenty on offer in our well-resourced library!