Extract or Book - What is Usual in Secondary English?

[WoodRose]

I went along to our local comprehensive school's open day this morning and was told that the English department did not set whole texts until KS4. Children in KS3 are given only extracts to read and analyse. I was not educated in this country so am unsure whether this is normal in English secondary schools.

Our local school teaches English in mixed ability classes in all years and there is a wide spread of abilities amongst the school's intake. Could this be why children are given extracts rather than books, so as not to put off those who struggle with reading?

Would love to hear from other MNers as to whether their children are expected to read books or extracts in KS3.

Interesting that children study whole novels and plays (including Shakespeare) in Primary school but only extracts in secondary

That is shocking in my opinion and I would be looking for another school. I cannot see why Secondary students should not be able to read an entire play/novel. Children will never develop their reading skills at Secondary level if they can get away with just doing extracts. Even children with SEN can access simplified versions of plays/novels if they are having difficulties. There are plenty of guides/notes/resources available if help is needed.

Year 7 - Nation by Terry Pratchett; Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy; Midsummer Night's Dream; Beowulf, various versions including Morpurgo and Heaney; poetry from the literary heritage; media study of Chicken Run. We also take all Year 7's to The Globe to see a play, this year it was Much Ado.

Year 8 - Oliver Twist; War Horse by Morpurgo (including a theatre trip); Ballads; Travel writing, where we do use extracts; Twelfth Night; Johnny and the Dead a play by Pratchett; media study of Edward Scissorhands

Year 9 - Boy in the Striped Pyjamas; Noughts and Crosses by Malory Blackman; Much Ado About Nothing; Sonnets; media study of Life is Beautiful

In addition we obviously teach all sorts of writing styles etc etc. These are the texts I am choosing to teach to my groups the Shakespeare is prescribed but we have a choice of 6 novels for each year group. For GCSE Literature they have to study at least two full novels, a play, a Shakespeare play and an anthology.

Incidentally we got 87% A*-C in English and 93% in Literature in a school where 41% of pupils have been speaking English for less than 7 years. Subjects such as RE/History/Geography get around 70%, I am sure our reading ethos is what makes the difference. I cannot understand why any English dept would shortchange their pupils by depriving them of the joy of reading whole novels. Look at another school would be my advice

Only extracts in some secondaries.
Mix of whole texts & extracts in the majority.

Many thanks for all your views. It is particularly reassuring to realise that I am not an out of touch old bat and that there are plenty of MNers (including English teachers) who feel the same way.

I wish we could look at other state schools, but, unfortunately, we live in a part of London where schools are so over-subscribed that our only choice is our local comp or private schools. No other state options are available apart from a super-selective grammar school. DH and I were already questioning whether DS would thrive in a mixed ability school, so the use of extracts only in our local comp's English department is the final straw. It looks like DS will be going private for secondary school - if he can get in!

Anita and Me ? Meera Syal
Of Mice and Men ? John Steinbeck
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress ? Dai Sijie
To Kill a Mockingbird ? Harper Lee
Rani and Sukh ? Bali Rai
Heroes ? Robert Cormier
Riding the Black Cockatoo ? John Danalis

Texts in the new English spec - all under 76 pages. Apparently.

What's the obsession with 76 pages?
I'm studying OM&M at the moment with my year 10s and even though that's one of the shorter texts I already know it's got more than 125 pages at least as we were finding quotes the other day and using page refs!
And TKAM is way longer than that without even looking. It's a very dense text.

And btw, you haven't stated which spec.