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13/02/25

What’s 451 cooking up today? Watch this space 👀 pic.twitter.com/BX2UYG6U0C

12/02/25

🎉HASU Inset Day Alert!🎉 Just a reminder that Friday, February 14th is an Inset Day at our school! 📚✨ Our staff will be busy with training and planning for the exciting things ahead! 🚀 There will be no classes for students, so enjoy the extra time for rest, play, and fun! pic.twitter.com/aGJdXK8WRK

08/02/25

What an incredible day! A special thank you to De Vere Connaught Rooms for hosting us. Thanks also goes to all attendees, exhibitors, academy staff, consultants and speakers who contributed to the success of today's event.#HarrisFederation pic.twitter.com/8CGpuG3FBF

07/02/25

Build, build. Code, code. pic.twitter.com/fr7K9r2ffM

06/02/25

📢A huge thank you to Sarah Piers for delivering an insightful assembly on Post-16 options for our Year 10 students! 🌟 Your guidance and expertise will help them make informed choices for their future.#HASU pic.twitter.com/z4MQHQPaFd

04/02/25

Our Y10 &12 students are participating in an inspiring Architectural Model Making trip to London today. They took part in a model making workshop and explored the NLA displays, gaining hands-on experience and insight into urban design and architecture.#Architecture pic.twitter.com/QSQMuIyYnj

31/01/25

HASU Robotics busy in the workshop after school today! pic.twitter.com/HnI0yibNGh

31/01/25

We're delighted to be hosting the Harris Federation Recruitment Fair with Harris Institute. Gene, Principal at Harris Institute shares why you should attend on Saturday 8 February at the De Vere Grand Connaught Rooms in London. Register today: https://t.co/6raW0TmoBW pic.twitter.com/xXni3zubYx

30/01/25

Over 100 mathematicians from Year 9, 10 and 11 sat the Intermediate Maths Challenge yesterday. Well done everyone! 👏 pic.twitter.com/EUJPV3yxjN

29/01/25

Wishing everyone celebrating today a year filled with happiness, prosperity, and good fortune! 🐍 From all of us at HASU, have a wonderful celebration!🎉#YearOfTheSnake #LunarNewYear2025 pic.twitter.com/WxPL1mJ1XT

29/01/25

Pupils are invited to discover Chinese authors and stories featuring Chinese characters this Lunar New Year. Lots already have as there are some firm favourites on display pic.twitter.com/ORdHzyySZw

21/01/25

Today at HASU we had a group of visitors including Mete Coban the Deputy Mayor of London for Environment and Energy and Leader of Sutton Council Barry Lewis. They had a tour of our Passive house building and met with our Eco Reps.Thank you for visiting our academy. pic.twitter.com/Duv2i47pqY

17/01/25

Our Year 12 students at Durdle Door after completing a day of physical geography fieldwork on Chessil beach!#geographyfieldwork pic.twitter.com/n5WB9Nq30y

16/01/25

Our Year 12 students have been reflecting on their Human Geography fieldwork exploring regeneration in Boscombe, Dorset!🏘️🔍A great opportunity to analize real-world impacts and bring their studies to life. Fantastic work,everyone! pic.twitter.com/T7hLbJdtnl

16/01/25

A big thank you to Hayley Dawson for delivering an inspiring assembly to our Year 10 students about Post-16 Options! 🌟 The session provided valuable insights to help our students plan their next steps. pic.twitter.com/60PQiWcBBV

15/01/25

Huge congratulations to Zoe in Y12, who completed in Cyclocross and became the British Junior Women's Cyclocross Champion on Sunday!🌟👏 An incredible achievement-we are so proud of you, Zoe!#CyclocrossChampion https://t.co/bhkSKyq2iO pic.twitter.com/tBHxTI1QO8

14/01/25

We’re excited to welcome our Year 9 students and their parents/carers to the GCSE Options Information Event this Thursday.🌟 🕟 Gates open via the student entrance from 16:30 to 18:00. See you there as we help guide your next steps!#HASU pic.twitter.com/6HcKNJ2TCJ

13/01/25

Join Harris Federation for a day dedicated to exploring career pathways for teachers, at all stages of your career! Register here: https://t.co/D5brHBkB4q pic.twitter.com/hxnoAdKdx9

08/01/25

Having loved Safiyyah's War Aaila and Mobina were so excited to find more stories about Muslim girls on our library shelves🤩📚 pic.twitter.com/wcgAGBeqmJ

20/12/24

Our latest Newsletter is out now. Catch up on all the exciting updates at HASU. https://t.co/BZXFtiisec#HASU pic.twitter.com/gIlYHJLOAU

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English

What is English? 

English is the study of literature, mainly comprising novels, poetry and drama. This study includes analysis, debate and critical theorising of published works of literature, both classic and contemporary. Alongside this, English language study focuses on engaging creatively and analytically with texts, as well as the creative production of students’ own pieces of fiction and non-fiction writing. 

Why do we teach English at HASU? 

At HASU, our curriculum is built around our purpose of fostering a love of literature, reading, writing and the spoken word. We want students to relish the opportunity to read widely and by doing so, explore a range of cultures, experiences and opinions that stem from a wide range of social, cultural and political ideas. Through this, pupils will develop their empathy skills, as well as be able to form their own opinions based on their knowledge and experience of the world. Not only this, but through regular discussion and listening, students will develop a respect for others, their opinions, similarities and differences. Through engagement with literature, the subject promotes and develops powerful knowledge which enables students to decode and engage fruitfully with society beyond their own experience. We ensure that our value of integrity is embedded in our discussions, both explicitly and implicitly, using characters and stories as a stimulus for discussion about our attributes and characteristics as citizens of the world. Exposure to different types of texts from a range of cultural perspectives and contexts, means our students will feel inspired to build their knowledge of the world they live in, developing their cultural capital and experience. 

How do we teach English at KS3? 

Students study texts from both the Literary Canon (those texts that we consider to be classics in literature, that have endured the test of time), as well as contemporary writing so that they can foster an understanding of where the society they live in now has come from and what has informed their life experience and understanding. In each year of KS3 we focus on a different big theme or concept that ties our learning together. In year 7 we begin with ‘Telling Stories’, then move on to ‘Heroes and Villains’ in year 8 and ‘Forms of masculinity and femininity’ in year 9. We use these themes to examine texts through a lens and make links between the stories and ideas that pupils are exposed to in context. This approach means pupils are well prepared and ready for the demands of KS4 and the level of conceptual understanding necessary to achieve highly.  

At the start of year 7, we begin with extract-based work to mirror the end of KS2 assessments and aid with a smooth transition between primary and secondary English study. Literary heritage authors are studied in all year groups, starting with extract-based exploration in year 7 as a foundational unit on where stories come from and then build into more whole text analysis in year 8 and 9. Within our curriculum, we have ensured that we have chosen a range of texts to explore diversity and a range of cultures as well as promoting the British Values throughout. 

When it comes to delivering the curriculum in the classroom, we put great emphasis on high levels of spoken language, with discussion embedded into every lesson. Pupils’ levels of literacy are expected to be excellent through this constant practice of rehearsing ideas through discussion, and then being supported in constructing these ideas into coherent and explorative pieces of writing. In order to do this, as well as comprehend and engage with reading, we believe pupils’ level of vocabulary needs to be broad so we explicitly teach vocabulary necessary to access and express important academic ideas. Each lesson, learning builds towards answering the ‘Big Question’ which is introduced at the start. 

How do we teach English at KS4? 

At KS4, pupils continue to be taught English language through literature and many of our implementation strategies remain the same, however in preparation for examination, knowledge and skills are taught more explicitly. Retrieval of previous learning is embedded into the schemes of work to ensure learning is moved to pupils’ long-term memory. Pupils continue to work towards answering a ‘Big Question’ in every lesson but are also made explicitly aware of how what they are learning fits into the examination and assessment programme they are studying. Pupils take part in discussion about ‘what, how and why’ writers do what they do in texts and are trained how to take effective notes so that the work they produce becomes a valuable revision resource when it comes to examination and assessment preparation at the end of KS4.  

What exam board do we study at Key Stage 4? 

All students at Harris Academy Sutton will study English Literature and English Language at GCSE as part of our broad and balanced Key Stage 4 curriculum. Students studying both English Language (8700) and Literature (8702) at HASU follow the AQA Specification. These can be found here.