Animal Farm: Target 9 for GCSE

Originally subtitled ‘A Fairy Story’, Animal Farm is a fable with great relevance for the modern age. The complex themes and ideas are a challenge for students but offer the most able a chance to develop the insightful interpretations needed to achieve higher grades.

This pack of activities will prompt high-level discourse and require students to be analytical, exploratory and conceptual, encouraging them to think and work at the top end of the GCSE assessment criteria.

An excellent resource for mixed-ability classes where differentiation is needed for the high-ability students, or equally as an additional resource for a top set when studying the novel or as revision activities

H McCombie, Teacher & Peer Reviewer

The resource covers the key areas of the book: important events, characters, relationships, context, language, structure, form, themes, setting, ideas and interpretations.

Explore challenging themes of: power, ambition, corruption, deception, rebellion, education… and many more!

Within each key area, engaging and thought-provoking activities aim to:

  • Prompt the recall of important points
  • aid comprehension and reinforce clear, advanced understanding
  • enable students to apply their knowledge of the novella to a new situation or an unseen extract
  • support implicit and explicit analyses
  • encourage individual interpretations and stimulate new, creative and individual ideas

Makes analysing texts a fun and creative procedure

D Massey, English Teacher (Previous Ed.)

Going further! Help students practise their essay-writing skills by using an annotated response to demonstrate the best way of achieving top marks.

What do teachers say about this resource? (12100)

A really useful resource... Ideas were effectively challenging... I liked the organisation which would help whole-class teaching and enable some students to use the pack for extension work independently. The use of "creative writing" activities is also good practice for the writing sections of non-fiction papers. I also liked the sampling of extracts that could be used for practice... This would be a good support for teachers in terms of providing resources for both classwork and for homework and independent study... The layout is student friendly and the use of grids and boxes makes it easier for students to use their completed booklet as revision aides.

C Allison, Teacher & Peer Reviewer

An excellent resource...It followed a reassuring house style with emphasis on characters, context, language, structure, form and themes, each with an exam style question... I particularly liked the glossary... Tasks were varied... Enhances learning by providing the student with reassurance.

L Ashley, HoD & Peer Reviewer

What do teachers say about this resource? (9831)

This is an excellent resource that encourages deep and meaningful connections with the text... The resource encourages forensic investigation of the text and requires deep levels of thinking. Tasks encourage students to work at the top end of the Bloom’s Taxonomy levels, and the vocabulary and close analysis of extracts, in particular, are extremely valuable. This would be an excellent resource for mixed-ability classes where differentiation is needed for the high-ability students, or equally as an additional resource for a top set when studying the novel or as revision activities... The ‘Level 9 alert’ boxes are excellent – I can imagine myself guiding my top students towards these for extra challenge or as extension tasks during lessons... The comparison of Napoleon to Macbeth is a stroke of brilliance... I love the suggested reading list at the end, along with the student glossary.

H McCombie, Teacher & Peer Reviewer

It was excellent and did what it claimed to in the introduction. It really does challenge more able students, preparing them for GCSE whilst introducing skills required for further study at AS and A level. The different types of tasks was useful and the range of tasks varied and extensive. The resource encourages both individual and group tasks and prepares the student for controlled assessment and exams. Most importantly, it makes analysing texts a fun and creative procedure.

D Massey, English Teacher (Previous Ed.)

Excellent - very thorough.
Learning is two-fold: students learn about the text itself as well as how to write about any text they happen to be studying.
This resource allows students to explore their own ideas about the text without allowing them to go too far off piste.
Implicit in the short sample essays are the skills required to actually write about different aspects of a text.

N Timmis, Teacher and Peer Reviewer (Previous Ed.)

This is an excellent resource which will stretch and challenge HA students as well as G&T students.
The resource is engaging for students .
There are a wide range of tasks which meet a range of learning styles/needs as well the AOs for three exam boards.
This resource is supportive to both teachers and students.
It provides excellent exemplars for students and will encourage them to become more independent and confident in their own abilities.
A range of resources can be glues into exercise books to allow students to refer back to them in future lessons.
This will also encourage them to take more responsibility for their learning and development as they will already have the support required in their exercise books.
This resource clearly shows students how to reach their target level or higher.
There is a very strong focus on the students becoming much more independent in their learning which benefits them greatly.

K Greaves, Teacher and Peer Reviewer (Previous Ed.)