Alcester Grammar School English Department

1. Alcester Grammar School English Department To know what the expectations of us are in English lessons To understand how we can produce work that is a clear reflection of the high level learners that we are To be able to equip ourselves to produce outstanding, creative and sophisticated work in English lessons and independently Expectations and Standards

2. Be “Lesson Ready” Seated at desk Bags on floor Equipment on desk (minimum blue/black pen, pencil, ruler, book) Uniform correct Facing the front Ready to Start Learning!

3. ENGLISH GROUND RULES • Listen quietly and carefully when you are spoken to • Work in a cooperative and supportive way with others • Get “lesson ready” as soon as you arrive in the classroom • Bring the correct equipment to lessons • Meet homework deadlines • Be punctual to lessons • Always try your best to produce your best possible work.

4. Respect Your Classrooms • Please keep the classroom clean and tidy • Place any rubbish in the bin • Tuck chairs under the desks at the end of the lesson • Please report any graffiti or broken furniture / resources to your teacher as soon as you notice it

5. Presentation of Work

6. Date and title not underlined Date Title underlined with a ruler Spot the Difference Messy handwriting Clearly defined paragraphs Not ruled off Setting out will not be helpful for revision Numbered questions / clearly spaced points Wasted space Ruled off at end of work (with a ruler)

7. HOW TO PRESENT YOUR WORK • Date and title every time you start work • CW for classwork HW for homework (in the margin) • Underline titles with a ruler • Use blue or black ink • All finished work should be ruled off (using a ruler) • Loose pieces of work must be attached to your book • Always work in the front of your book • Treat your exercise book with care and pride – no scribbles or graffiti, inside or out.

8. ARE YOU PROUD OF YOUR WORK? Consider the quality and presentation of your work. Would you be happy to show your book to: Your teacher? Your parents? Your peers? Mr Sentance? A visitor to the school? But most importantly, are YOU proud of your own work?

9. This AGS student clearly has pride in their work using organisation and colour coding to make their book a useful revision guide.

10. Technical Accuracy • The following information DOES NOT JUST APPLY TO WORK IN ENGLISH. Remember that you complete writing across ALL SUBJECTS; technical accuracy improves the clarity of your writing and is always important.

11. Technical Accuracy • SPaG e.g. spelling, punctuation and grammar is important • Accurate work is easier for a reader to understand as universally applied rules are being followed • Accurate work presents a good impression of yourself and demonstrates that you have pride in your work • SPaG is worth 16 out of 40 of the marks for writing at GCSE.

12. The Basics - Paragraphing All extended writing should be clearly organised into paragraphs. Paragraphs give your writing clarity and organisation. As a basic guide use TiPToP to help you paragraph but also consider the more subtle and sophisticated paragraphs that you will learn to craft in your English lessons. Paragraphing is a minimum expectation. You all learned to paragraph in Key Stage 2 so, if you don’t paragraph, expect your teacher to ask you to rewrite your work.

13. This is clearly the work of an intelligent AGS student. In the pressure of an exam, they forgot about paragraphing. • Get into good habits with paragraphing so that you don’t forget in the exam.

14. The Basics • Sentence Demarcation. E.g. full stops and capital letters. Look at how this child in Year 2 is able to correctly demarcate sentences with a full stop and capital letter (most of the time). Warning! Full stops and capital letters are the basics that you all knew in Key Stage 1. Using them in Key stage 3 is non-negotiable. If you fail to use them, it would be quite reasonable for your teacher to ask you to re-write your work correctly (at break or lunch time).

15. Capital Letters • Don’t forget to use these for proper nouns e.g. • Names, including your own name. e.g. George Bernard Shaw, Leonardo da Vinci (It really isn’t cool to use a lower case letter in your name.) • The given names of places e.g. Great Britain, Manchester, Stratford-upon-Avon, The White Hart Inn, Wembley Stadium. • The names given to specific events e.g. Ramadan, the Middle Ages, The Glastonbury Festival

16. The names of academic subjects e.g. Geography. • The names of foreign languages e.g. French • Words that express a connection with a particular place e.g. the Arctic Landscape, Mancunian, • But NOT danish pastry, french window . Why?

17. Titles • The most widely accepted practice when referring to the title or name of a book, a play, a poem, a film, a magazine, a newspaper or a piece of music, is that a capital letter is used for the first word and for every significant word (that is, a little word like the, of, and or in is not capitalized unless it is the first word). • E.g. The Charge of the Light Brigade, Song for the Weekend, Of Mice and Men • This is best practice for the titles at the top of work in your book too.

18. I • …and don’t forget the pronoun I! e.g. Considering the importance of SPaG, I made a concerted effort to write accurately. Handwriting tip – ensure that I, just like all capital letters clearly ascends well above lower case letters. You may wish to “top and tail” it e.g. I to ensure that it is clearly defined.

19. Capital Letters Quiz • Which of the following should be capitalised? Days of the week? Seasons? Months of the year? 2. What is wrong with this sentence? As George approached the school gates he turned to mum and said, “you can leave me now.” • Which should be capitalised? We have asked for a meeting with the president. I would like to be the president of a big company.

20. Which of the following should be capitalised? Days of the week? Seasons? Months of the year? • What is wrong with this sentence? As George approached the school gates he turned to mum and said, “you can leave me now.” “Mum” is a proper noun here (if it is preceded by a pronoun or determiner it isn’t e.g. her mum, every mum) The first word of a direct quotation should be capitalised.

21. Which should be capitalised? We have asked for a meeting with the President. I would like to be the president of a big company. In the first example the President refers to a specific person where as in the second it does not.

22. The Comma Splice • occurs when a writer has connected two main clauses with a comma alone. A main clause makes a complete thought, so you should not find a wimpy comma struggling to join two such powerful clauses.

23. Examples of the Comma Splice in AGS Work • I stood by my father as death snatched his last final breath, I watched from afar when my house was shredded to tiny fragments taking with it my trapped family. • The water lapped at the shore, it seemed to know the secrets of the island. • John hurried to where the dogs were, he ran as fast as he could, through the tall grass, looking out for where the dogs could be. • He took a moment to think before he entered the tower, he had already made too many errors that could blow his cover. In pairs, discuss how each of these, otherwise good quality, sentences could be corrected.

24. How to Correct the Comma Splice • Full stop + Capital Letter • I stood by my father as death snatched his last final breath. I watched from afar when my house was shredded to tiny fragments taking with it my trapped family. • Coordinating conjunction • The water lapped at the shore and it seemed to know the secrets of the island. Does this have the intended dramatic effect here? Discuss in pairs other ways that the comma splice could be corrected whilst maintaining effect.

25. How to Correct the Comma Splice • Subordinating conjunction • He took a moment to think before he entered the tower, since he had already made too many errors that could blow his cover. • Semi-colon • John hurried to where the dogs were; he ran as fast as he could, through the tall grass, looking out for where the dogs could be. Remember that there may be times where it would be better to rephrase than use one of these 4 options.

26. The Apostrophe Lack of possessive apostrophe Incorrect use of the apostrophe Can you spot the error in this sixth former’s work?

27. The Apostrophe • For possessives e.g. Mr Sentance’s office, Mario’s bricks, James’ pen lid, the ladies’ footballs. • For contractions e.g. don’t, can’t, shouldn’t Tip: Avoid the use of contractions in formal writing.

28. It’s • Which is correct? • It’s rude to point. • She pointed at it’s blue collar.

29. Punctuation Challenge yourself to use the full range of punctuation in writing. If you make errors your English teacher will help you. The top band of the GCSE mark scheme states that a “wide range of punctuation is used with a high level of accuracy.” You should know each of the punctuation marks in the picture as you learned about them in Key Stage 2. Can you remember how each one is used?

30. Spelling • You are expected to spell common words correctly. • Your teacher well help you develop new vocabulary and key words for each unit of work. Make sure that you learn and use these. • When a teacher corrects or draws your attention to a spelling error, ensure that you learn the word and spell it correctly in the future.

31. Spelling • The top band criteria for GCSE writing states, “High level of accuracy in spelling, including ambitious vocabulary.” • Please challenge yourself to use high level vocabulary even if you worry about spelling it incorrectly. • Where possible, check spellings in a dictionary or Google. • We would rather that you take risks and we correct them if this means that your writing is engaging and meaningful. • You can always use the margin to communicate with your teacher when you are unsure of something.

32. Proof Reading Checklist – add your own common errors • Correct use of the apostrophe • The comma splice • Incorrect spellings of homophones • Lack of capitals for common nouns • Over-lengthy sentences • Unclosed quotations marks or parentheses • Do not use contractions in formal writing • Ellipsis (check for missed out words) • Check phrasing • Check coherence • Ensure that you consistently state the correct text type. E.g. do not refer to a novel as a play Aged 7-10 stuff!