what books do kids in year 7 and 8 in english these days?

[iamnotaprincess]

just wondering what books kids study in english at the beginning of secondary. is there a difference between comp and grammar?

Across yr 7&8, ds studied:

Boy In The Striped Pyjamas
Tulip Touch
Animal Farm
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Chaucer (can't remember which one)
Walter de la Mare
The Tempest
Boy (Roald Dahl)
Frankenstein
Grimms Fairy Tales
Oscar Wilde The Happy Prince
Another Shakespeare (can't remember)
More poetry (can't remember)

Top set, non-selective independent.

Is there a book list available anywhere? (Just interested!)

I found this

www.educationumbrella.com/curriculum-vital/the-new-national-curriculum-in-england-key-stage-3-english

Dd (yr7)in small independent school has just done a Christmas carol and will be doing frankinstein next. They have also done a bit of Shakespeare

It does seem that different books are studied at different schools which to me seems a bit weird. At one of our local schools they are doing Macbeth in year 7, 5 minutes down the road they are studying The hunger games. Both state.

An able year 8 set in my school would study a modern novel like Wonder or The Graveyard Book - both challenging and thought provoking texts. Shakespeare play - overall plot and themes/characters plus some detailed analysis of language in a key scene. Poetry from other cultures written in English to help expand their works view.

My daughter in yr 8 at a different school has done some extracts from famous gothic literature and is starting the Boy in the Striped Pyjamas this term.

Dd yr7 top set

Extracts from Jekyll and Hyde, frankinstein and dracular

They are just starting stay where you are and then leave
-she's hopeful they will actually get to read the actual book this time!

Lots of just extracts being mentioned.

In my list above, they read/studied the entire texts...

Ralph - that will be because your top set kids in a selective independent can be trusted to (a) do the reading when it is set for homework and (b) return the school's books/pay for lost ones at the end of the unit. State teachers have to do it all in school time - homework setting is different for us!

Non- selective, but, yes, I take your point.

In my last two (state) schools of very similar intake (academically and socially), one lets kids take reading and textbooks home, the other doesn't.

DSyr7 brought home Boy Overboard this week. They are meant to read the whole volume.

DSy11 is refusing to read TKAM, his GCSE text. He'll probably get a B anyway.