Year 7 have had an extremely exciting start to their English lessons at Etone College. After completing a two-week introduction to the dystopian genre, we have started to study the novel “Thief!” by Malorie Blackman. This book tells the story of Lydia, a girl who moves to a new school and is accused of stealing the Sports Cup. As a result, Lydia’s whole world is turned upside-down. Students have particularly enjoyed the range of expressions and emotions within the text. They have also found the idea of a child starting at a new school to be relatable, which helps to engage them with the text.

The students have been using ideas from “Thief!” to craft their own pieces of writing, ranging from diary entries to re-writing parts of the story.

The students are also taking their first steps towards becoming literary detectives, analysing Blackman’s use of language and how this creates certain ideas and feelings for the reader. Everyone is showing fantastic commitment and creating some superb pieces of independent work.

Away from “Thief!”, students have also been having weekly “library” lessons. While it is not always possible for these to take place in the school library, we still have an hour each week where students complete spelling tests and share the reading of the class book (Holes or The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas). Students have told their teachers that they really appreciate the opportunity to read “for fun”.