GNSA | Secondary Phase

What's coming up this year?

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

The GNSA English Department has gotten its hands on 30 tickets to see Harry Potter and the Cursed Child at the Palace Theatre in Leicester Square. Resident Potterheads Mrs Ashcroft and Mr Higgins are beside themselves with excitement!

Students across all years will write a letter explaining why they should win a ticket, which should help us to sort the muggles and the squibs from the magical folk!

Jack Petchey SpeakOut Challenge

This term thirty Year 10 students will take part in the prestigious SpeakOut National Competition. Students will take part in oracy workshops, led by an expert, where they will develop their presentation skills, confidence and express their passion on a chosen topic. One lucky winner will then compete in the regionals.

Student novel writing

Some people dream of writing a novel. At GNSA, some lucky students write one in the space of a week. They are off-timetable and dedicate a week to thinking, planning, drafting, and writing a novel which is then published for students to keep and for the public to buy.

This is an initiative by White Water Writers and is aimed at helping students improve their creative writing. As well as helping students to learn about the art of novel writing - namely, plotting, character arc, and turning a phrase - they also hone invaluable skills such as working as a team, and taking and giving feedback.

Writing Club

Our KS3 Writing Club is back every Thursday at lunchtime with lots of new members. Keen wordsmiths can drop in and write together, share inspiration and ideas, and get feedback. It's wonderful to see students grow in confidence and share their passion for writing.

Students who turn up to Writing Club get noticeably better at writing, and therefore do better in English.

Visit to Shakespeare's birthplace

A group of 6th formers are looking forward to the provisional trip to Stratford-upon-Avon in March 2024. Students will stay overnight in this scenic village, visit Shakespeare's house and take part in a workshop by the Royal Shakespeare Company.

English National Opera: The Handmaid's Tale

Years 12 and 13 are looking forward to seeing The Handmaid's Tale come to life at the London Coliseum. This dystopian favourite by Margaret Atwood is a key A-Level text and explores sexism and misogyny in a world sent into crisis by infertility.

It'll help Year 13 with their comprehension and analysis of the text while serving as a great introduction to Year 12.

Letter to an MP: Helping refugees

Congratulations to Hansika in Year 8, who has been chosen to write to local MP John McDonnell about helping refugees. 'Anybody young or old, rich or poor, man or woman, can become a refugee, but no matter who it is, we should help. Refugees should not be passed around, forced to live their entire lives in limbo, neither here nor there. They are people like us,' Hansika writes. She has also won an Amazon voucher for her impassioned speech, which embodies our SHARE values of service to others and equality.

Open Evening

It was exciting to welcome prospective Year 7s this term and give them an insight into English at GNSA. Students took part in a number of literacy-based activities such as poetry writing (creating verses for the Poet Tree about starting secondary school), 'book tasting' (where they sampled new literature), swapping the genres of well-known stories and re-writing them and more.

Year 7

Students have been studying the aptly-named novel October, October, by Katya Balen. It is a beautifully-written, lyrical masterpiece and students have been using it as inspiration to bring their own descriptive writing to life.

Year 8

Students had a wonderful talk from Ms Williams on how to find books that they will love reading. The students went on a ‘book treasure hunt’ sourcing books through the Dewey Decimal Classification.

Year 9

Year 9s have spent their first few weeks of term exploring the world of dystopian fiction. They have been testing their creativity by designing their own dystopian worlds.

Year 10

Year 10s have been studying Macbeth this term and exploring the themes of the supernatural, violence and power. As well as analysing the play and trying their hand at some acting, they have also been writing their own witches' spells - rhyming couplets, iambic pentameter and all!

Year 11

Year 11s have been immersing themselves in the grisly, Victorian world of The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. This GCSE text looks at the themes of the duality of man, good and evil, and Science vs. Religion.

KS5

The Handmaid's Tale is a dystopian favourite by Margaret Atwood and a key A-Level text studied by Year 13. It explores sexism and misogyny in a world sent into crisis by infertility. Meanwhile, Year 12s have been reading F.Scott.Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby.