English courses at Lynwood Senior High School cater for all students and are based on the Western Australian Curriculum which is designed to enable students to become ethical, thoughtful, informed and active members of society.
We acknowledge the fact that our society is linguistically and culturally diverse, and that English is essential in developing the knowledge and skills needed for education, training and the workplace.
English courses help students to engage imaginatively and critically with literature to expand the scope of their experience. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have contributed to Australian society and to its contemporary literature and its literary heritage through distinctive ways of representing and communicating knowledge, traditions and experience. The Western Australian Curriculum’s English course values, respects and explores this contribution. It also emphasises Australia’s links to Asia.
English Years 7 – 10
From Years 7-10 the English curriculum is built around the three interrelated strands of Language, Literature and Literacy. Teaching and learning programs balance and integrate all three strands with a focus on developing students’ knowledge, understanding and skills in listening, reading, viewing, speaking, writing and creating.
Students extend their understanding of how language works, and learn to transfer this knowledge to different contexts. To achieve this, students develop an understanding of the requirements of different types of texts; they are introduced to increasingly sophisticated analyses of various kinds of literary, popular culture, and everyday texts, and they are given opportunities to engage with the technical aspects of texts, including those of their own choosing – and to explain why they made that choice.
The notion of valuing certain texts as ‘literature’ is introduced. Students learn how such texts can be discussed and analysed in relation to themes, ideas and historical and cultural contexts.
English Years 11-12 ATAR Courses
There are two ATAR courses offered to Year 11 and 12 students who wish to enrol in university courses beyond Year 12:
English ATAR
The English ATAR focuses on developing students’ analytical, creative, and critical thinking and communication skills in all language modes, encouraging students to critically engage with texts from their contemporary world, the past, and from Australian and other cultures. Through close study and wide reading, viewing and listening, students develop the ability to analyse and evaluate the purpose, stylistic qualities and conventions of texts and to enjoy creating imaginative, interpretive, persuasive and analytical responses in a range of written, oral, multimodal and digital forms
English as an Additional Language or Dialect (EAL/D) ATAR
The EAL/D courses are designed for students who speak another language or dialect as their first or ‘home’ language. EAL/D focuses on development of the competent use of Standard Australian English (SAE) in a range of contexts. The EAL/D ATAR course develops academic English skills to prepare students for tertiary study.
English Years 11-12 General Courses
General English
The English General course focuses on consolidating and refining the skills and knowledge needed by students to become competent, confident and engaged users of English in everyday, community, social, further education, training and workplace contexts. The course is designed to provide students with the skills to succeed in a wide range of post-secondary pathways by developing their language, literacy and literary skills. Students comprehend, analyse, interpret, evaluate and create analytical, imaginative, interpretive and persuasive texts in a range of written, oral, multimodal and digital forms.
EALD General English
The EALD General English courses are designed for students who speak another language or dialect as their first or ‘home’ language. EAL/D focuses on development of the competent use of Standard Australian English (SAE) in a range of contexts. The EAL/D General course prepares students for a range of post-secondary destinations in further education, training and the workplace.
Enrolment into EALD Courses
Students entering Year 11 and 12 may apply for enrolment into an EALD course.
Year 12 EALD
Enrolment into EAL/D as a Year 12 student cannot occur without eligibility approval. For a student to gain approval to enrol, the appropriate eligibility application must be completed and submitted to the Authority, along with the required supporting documentation. EAL/D eligibility status is determined on a case-by-case basis.
While eligibility for EAL/D is only required for students enrolling in Year 12 courses, schools are advised to collect documentation supporting EAL/D eligibility applications at the time of initial student enrolment in the school. Schools may submit students’ eligibility applications from the time that students are in Year 10 if they wish to determine the appropriate pathway for their students.
Any student who has not finalised their EAL/D eligibility by the Year 12 enrolment deadline, as published in the WACE Activities Schedule for that year, will not be able to enrol in a Year 12 EAL/D course for that year.