Transition for Year 8 to Year 9 English 

The purpose of this transition unit is to provide a bridge between the end of Year 8 and the beginning of Year 9. The unit has been designed so that the Year 8 and Year 9 lessons are linked through the study of a particular author and genre but are not dependant on each other.

The unit is based on the Alex Rider books by Anthony Horowitz. The Year 8 unit uses extracts from ‘Stormbreaker” and the Year 9 unit uses extracts from ‘Point Blanc’. Lessons are planned around extracts and therefore schools will not have to purchase sets of books. However, it would be helpful if the middle schools could begin reading ‘Stormbreaker’ to Year 8 pupils at the beginning of the summer term in preparation for the unit and to recommend that they read ‘Point Blanc’ before they go to high school. To assist this, all middle and high schools will be issued with a copy of both texts.

The unit uses Year 8 and Year 9 teaching objectives drawn from the Key Stage 3
Framework for Teaching English. The lessons have been planned in detail to provide exemplars of good practice.

The unit is based on six, hour long lessons over two weeks in Year 8 and similarly for Year 9. This may not be appropriate for some schools because of differences in timetabling but the plans can be adapted.

Although the unit is optional, it would be beneficial if all Island middle and high schools use them.

A separate single lesson plan has also been included which high schools could use in induction week.