English and Media Studies

The Logan Park English and Media Studies Department is committed to enabling students to be engaged, perceptive learners, confident in forming their own ideas and articulate in expressing them.  The focus is on strengthening all students’ skills, no matter what level of skill or experience they bring into the classroom – building their enjoyment of communication in all its forms; whether it be through producing a short film, radio show or podcast, writing a poem, arguing a case in a debate or reading and responding to a broad range of literature.   

Students are actively guided along a learning pathway that will play a significant role in their future lives, giving them the ability to be life-long learners and encouraging them to find satisfaction and extension in all sorts of activities and ways of communication.

The teachers in our department are committed to offering opportunities for extension through a huge range of extra-curricular activities. These include creative writing (school club and competitions), public speaking, debating (junior, intermediate and senior levels), junior spelling bee, film-makers’ club, input into the school magazine, opportunities for publication in other media (eg The Otago Daily Times). Our students have attained a number of national Scholarships and prizes.

SUMMARY

YEAR 9

This is a dynamic time in a young person’s life and our English programme matches and builds on that dynamism. Students can expect plenty of support but also multiple opportunities for challenge and extension.  It is hoped that by the end of the year, students will be working at Level 4 of the NZ Curriculum. We take our commitment to personalised learning seriously, but that doesn’t mean that all learning has to be serious. Amongst the many opportunities for fun and extension in the classroom, Year 9 students may well find themselves planning and presenting a radio show; creating a film or taking part in a debate.

A distinctive feature of our Logan Park Year 9 programme is that we devote an hour a week to library time, with a strong emphasis on helping students to develop their personal reading skills and find the genre and authors that they enjoy most.

Students who haven’t enjoyed reading in the past, or who find it challenging, are given extra support, not only in the classroom but also through our Peer Reading Programme.

No matter which class, all Logan Park students are given the chance to strengthen their skills, to enjoy and to achieve.

YEAR 10 ENGLISH

In Year 10, students may well find themselves working small groups to invent a band, write some song lyrics and design an album cover; reading, thinking about and acting out a scene from a play (perhaps by William Shakespeare); writing a diary entry in the voice of a character from a novel studied in class; making a podcast or writing a poem about their experiences on the outdoor education camp that is run during the year.

All classes offer students the opportunity to achieve near, at or above the expected curriculum level for this age cohort. No student will be put in a box – somebody who faces challenges expressing themselves in writing will of course be given support to continue building those skills, but they will also be recognised and affirmed for their strengths, be they in speaking, in performance or in communication through visual design.

By the end of Year 10, Logan Park students should feel confident to face the demands of the coming year, knowing their strengths and having developed tactics to meet any challenges they face.

YEAR 11 ENGLISH

The first year of NCEA English provides multiple challenges, but that doesn’t mean that there can’t be plenty of enjoyment along the way. The Logan Park High School English course continues to be built around the NZ Curriculum’s focus areas of writing, speaking and presenting, balanced by reading, listening and viewing.  NCEA grades are generated by a balance between internal assessment and external examination. Internally assessed skills include:

  • Wide reading
  • Creative writing
  • Formal writing
  • Communication through visual design or public speaking

YEAR 12 & 13 MEDIA STUDIES

Students can study Media Studies from Year 12.  All aspects of the Media are covered, including film, magazines, social media and newspapers.  Logan Park has a particular strength in film-making and students make their own short films.  A Film Club runs on Wednesday lunch times in Room 7 with professional film-maker, Craig Storey, and a 3-D Modelling and Animation Club runs on Thursday lunchtimes in Room 7

COURSE OUTLINES

TEACHER CONTACT

NameInitialsEmail
Esther Kristel – HoDEnglishELKelk@lphs.school.nz
Jennifer AshbyEnglishJRAjra@lphs.school.nz
Louise FarrEnglishLCFlcf@lphs.school.nz
Suzanne RobinsEnglishSLRslr@lphs.school.nz
Andrew SpittleEnglishAJSajs@lphs.school.nz
Anna ChiltonEnglish, ESOLAKCakc@lphs.school.nz
Arran WilkinsonEnglishAJWajw@lphs.school.nz
Arnika HazelwoodMedia StudiesAMHamh@lphs.school.nz
Diane DupresEnglishDXDdxd@lphs.school.nz