The CMCC English Faculty wishes families a very warm welcome to the 2025 academic year. We have welcomed three wonderful new staff to our team, Mr Michael Crellin, Mrs Jaclyn Wilton and Miss Abbey Lakajev. Both our new and existing team members have enjoyed welcoming your children to classes and getting to know them in the opening weeks of the year.

Our focus in these opening weeks has been to create predictable and effective routines so our learners can maximise their learning time.

Across our Years 7-10 classrooms this year:

· We have implemented a 30-minute block of explicit literacy instruction at the beginning of each Learning Session. This block is broken up into three ten-minute activities encompassing a specific skill, writing practice and reading for meaning. The activities are directly linked to the skills that students are learning and applying during their unit of work.

· Learners will have three short homework tasks across the term that support their learning and the creation of a sustainable home-learning routine. Class teachers will advise students of due dates across the term and these will also be available on your child’s class Teams page.

· Learners will have one summative assessment to work towards at the end of each term to demonstrate their learning. Full details of this assessment can be found on Compass and on your child’s class Teams page.

Ways parents can support their learner in Years 7-10 English:

· Ask questions about what your child is reading in class, what they liked about the text and what they didn’t like about the text.

· Support and encourage wide reading at home by reading together and asking about what your child has read. Ask them to summarise the main points, or to pick out particular words or phrases that stood out to them.

· Support your child to read over and revise their writing, checking for punctuation, grammar and spelling errors together. Sometimes it is useful to read writing aloud to check for fluency and clarity. See if there are any vocabulary words that could be improved by using an online thesaurus together.

In Year 11 & 12 English courses:

· All courses have been provided with their formal assessment notification for this term which is available on Compass and on the class Teams page.

· Standard and Advanced classes have been provided with a homework schedule to work towards throughout the term. Each short homework activity assists students to build the skills needed for their formal assessment task.

Ways parents can support their learner in Year 11 & 12 English:

· Help learners stay on top of their home-learning by supporting them to use a calendar or diary to plan out their homework and assessment work.

· Ask questions about what skills and content they are covering in class, have them try and summarise or recount their learning to you and the next steps they are taking to improve.

As a Faculty, we are committed to maintaining an effective three-way relationship between learner, school and home, so we welcome your communication at any time throughout the term.