Page 2 | What literature is on the Scot’s curriculum?

SleepyFergus · 27/08/2023 11:43

Pardon me for using the word 'set' 🙄

MrsDBaddiel · 27/08/2023 12:00

Don’t know where this “no Shakespeare in state schools” nonsense is coming from, it’s patently false.

OP, I get you’re trying to pre empt the curriculum but it’s not really worth bothering with, the dc will just go with the flow with whatever their class is doing.

weebarra · 27/08/2023 12:36

DS1 did Tally's Blood for Nat 5. DS2 is in S2 and currently doing Shadow by Michael Morpurgo.

Doyoureallyhavetoask · 27/08/2023 12:42

Yes both my kids did Shakespeare at comprehensive school (Glasgow).

Blanketpolicy · 27/08/2023 12:47

DB hoping to give DN13 as much prep as possible. TIA.

If they are looking to give them a head start on their English NAT5s I would suggest general reading of books to expand their knowledge and vocabulary. If you can get them comfortable with reading and discussing opinion pieces in quality newspapers that will really help as the RUAE element of the exams comes from there.

I think this is a brilliant book for English NAT5 RUAE and one of the few study guides ds actually used https://www.brightredpublishing.co.uk/shop/national-5-english-course-book (make sure it is the thicker Course Book and not the slim Study Guide which is ok but not as good as this course book). If you know anyone with a Young Scot card I think you can get 20% off the price.

It will give your DB a good idea of what the English NAT5 course entails and each of the element, tips (such as reading quality newspapers!) and lots of practise for RUAE to help her practise during NAT5 year. Developing RUAE skills will help with the other elements of the course. It also has a helpful section on Folio writing that is good. I wasn't as keen on the Scottish Set Text or Critical Essay sections, the school guided them better on that.

This book helped me "tutor" ds in English which was by far his weakest subject instead of paying for one! We did it in parallel/just after he was learning the topics in school, discussed the content, he did the exercises and I critically marked them and it prompted a lot of discussion and understanding together. We then did the same thing with past papers and marking instructions closer to the exams.

They can also look at the SQA Understanding Standards website that has examples of folio pieces and commentary on how they were marked to give an idea of what is expected.

MrsAmaretto · 27/08/2023 23:23

@Rainydaydelight the 11 year old won’t be at high school. She’ll be going into p7. Your friends would be best to speak to the schools. Scotland is not like England where everything is mandated by government.

YerAWizardHarry · 28/08/2023 01:14

MrsAmaretto · 27/08/2023 23:23

@Rainydaydelight the 11 year old won’t be at high school. She’ll be going into p7. Your friends would be best to speak to the schools. Scotland is not like England where everything is mandated by government.

Depending on when her birthday is she could very much be going into high school. My son will start S1 next August aged 11yrs 7 months..

Sommerled · 28/08/2023 07:36

What about other areas of the curriculum? The 11 yr old will likely have to study Gaelic in Oban for S1&2, Maths will be very different.

Best for them to go with the flow and be guided by the school.

Igneococcus · 28/08/2023 07:39

The 11 yr old will likely have to study Gaelic in Oban for S1&2,

No, they wont. None of my two did.

IWillNoLie · 28/08/2023 10:28

My ds did a poem for his Nat 5s about how terrible it was to move to England and how awful he felt to lose his Scottish Accent.

heartofglass23 · 28/08/2023 11:22

Schools all seem to be different in my experience

Examples-

Edwin Morgan
Carol Anne Duffy
John Steinbeck
Death of a salesman
John Donne
The crucible

WhatWouldTheDoctorDo · 28/08/2023 14:28

DS (S4) only seems to have done (not very many) poems and plays so far in secondary school. But it seems to vary according to the teacher.

LadyMacbethssweetArabianhand · 28/08/2023 14:44

This is still August. The school year has barely begun so it's unlikely pupils will have done much in the way of texts so far. Whatwouldthedoctordo. Timetables often change in June to begin National Five and Higher, but aren't fixed so it makes sense to focus on close reading techniques and writing in June which can be developed and improved across the year in case class sections change. I had parents complain that their children had not studied many texts since they started in S1. I was able to show the range of texts that they had studied. Often pupils aren't allowed to take texts home because of cost implications. I still feel that avoiding texts but encouraging reading quality newspapers and developing vocabulary,as suggested by me and others, is the best option.

gawditswindy · 28/08/2023 21:18

IWillNoLie · 28/08/2023 10:28

My ds did a poem for his Nat 5s about how terrible it was to move to England and how awful he felt to lose his Scottish Accent.

She. It's a Carol Ann Duffy poem and it's about identity. I'd imagine your son knew that.

TooOldForThisNonsense · 28/08/2023 22:01

My son did Carol Ann Duffy for N5 and Liz Lochead for higher, both a lot of total crap but hey he got As for both so who cares

IWillNoLie · 29/08/2023 00:29

gawditswindy · 28/08/2023 21:18

She. It's a Carol Ann Duffy poem and it's about identity. I'd imagine your son knew that.

Show quote history

My son was perfectly aware who wrote the poem and that it was thinly veiled nationalist propaganda. He got an A as he knew what he was expected to write.

SammyScrounge · 29/08/2023 01:08

WhatapityWapiti · 25/08/2023 19:57

Sunset Song … I laughed the other day at a comment a friend of mine (male, late forties) made in a Facebook reminiscence about our school days

”How to turn an adolescent boy off literature for a couple of decades - make him read a book about a young woman coming of age in turn of the century Aberdeenshire”

I said that we girls were not massive fans either..there was an awful lot of herring.

Show quote history

It's one of the most moving I have ever read.

FuckingHateRats · 29/08/2023 14:15

thatsnotmywean · 25/08/2023 21:14

Not an odd comment at all.

My DD hasn't had it yet, nor has any other the other year groups at that school, or any of her friends, nor has any relative or friend's children currently at school or left in recent years. Yes I've checked.

DD goes to a west of scotland low achieving high school. The aforementioned children of relatives and friends go to schools in low achieving / high achieving areas and none of them have done shakespeare yet.

Reason for asking people is I hated Shakespeare so wanted to know if DD would do it. (I loved English apart from Shakespeare).

Your school must be the exception.

I teach in a very mixed, truly comprehensive secondary in Edinburgh. 65% of our school roll is SIMD 1, 2 OR 3.

We teach Shakespeare to every S2, and most of us teach it again at either N5 or Higher. I teach Advanced Higher and we study two Shakespearean tragicomedies. Some of my S6s have studied four Shakespeare dramas across their school career, as well as several other plays.

Many of my colleagues around the city teach Shakespeare.

I mark for SQA and I'd say Shakespeare is the most common playwright we see for drama essays. Othello, Macbeth, R&J are the top three we see.

Respectfully, I think your experience may be the less common.

FuckingHateRats · 29/08/2023 14:21

In response to the OP, we only have set texts when they get to N5 and H, and even then there is a degree of choice.

Encouraging your children to read widely and broadly, across fiction and non-fiction, and facilitating theatre trips would be the best prep you can give them. A subscription to National Theatre would be a fantastic way to spend some time watching great productions. Reading a poem a week and discussing it as a family also very helpful.

Our BGE goes like this:
S1: greek mythology unit, climate change poetry, a novel unit (teacher and/or class choice), a drama unit, fairytales across the world.

S2: a Midsummer Night's Dream, an intro to media unit, activist poetry, autobiographical writing, a bias/news unit.

S3: a tragedy unit, N4 outcomes, a novel unit, rhetoric and persuasive speeches across history, more literature if we have time.

That should give you some idea of the breadth of what they study.

WhatWouldTheDoctorDo · 29/08/2023 19:32

LadyMacbethssweetArabianhand · 28/08/2023 14:44

This is still August. The school year has barely begun so it's unlikely pupils will have done much in the way of texts so far. Whatwouldthedoctordo. Timetables often change in June to begin National Five and Higher, but aren't fixed so it makes sense to focus on close reading techniques and writing in June which can be developed and improved across the year in case class sections change. I had parents complain that their children had not studied many texts since they started in S1. I was able to show the range of texts that they had studied. Often pupils aren't allowed to take texts home because of cost implications. I still feel that avoiding texts but encouraging reading quality newspapers and developing vocabulary,as suggested by me and others, is the best option.

I get that it's August. The children the OP referred to are 11 and 13, so I'm just sharing experience from the last three years.

AuldWeegie · 31/08/2023 05:12

@Rainydaydelight Google this. (I can't do links.)
bbc bitesize nat5 english.