Year 8

Summer Term (1)

Private Peaceful
Medium Term Plan

Novel – Private Peaceful

Year: 8 Term: Summer Duration: ½ term
Objectives

Word
7 review and develop their ability to:
● Work out the meaning of unknown words using context, syntax, etymology,
morphology and other factors
● Understand and explain exactly what words mean in particular contexts
11 appreciate the impact of figurative language in texts

Sentence
6 explore and compare different methods of grouping sentences into paragraphs of
continuous text that are clearly focused and well developed
7 develop different ways of linking paragraphs, using a range of strategies to improve
cohesion and coherence
9 adapt the stylistic conventions of the main non-fiction text types to fit different audiences
and purposes
13 recognise some of the differences in sentence structure, vocabulary and tone between a
modern English text and a text from another historical period

Reading
2 undertake independent research using a range of strategies
3 make notes in different ways, choosing a form which suits the purpose
4 review their developing skills as active, critical readers who search for meaning using a
range of reading strategies
5 trace the development of themes, values or ideas in texts
6 recognise bias and objectivity, distinguishing facts from hypotheses, theories or opinions
7 identify the ways implied and explicit meanings are conveyed in different texts
8 investigate how meanings change when information is presented in different forms or
transposed into different media
10 analyse the overall structure of a text to identify how key ideas are developed, e.g. through
the organisation of the content and the patterns of language used
11 investigate the different ways familiar themes are explored and presented by different
writers
13 read a substantial text (novel, play or work of one poet) revising and refining
interpretations of subject matter, style and technique

Writing
1 experiment with different approaches to planning, drafting, proofreading and presenting
writing, taking account of the time available
2 re-read work to anticipate the effect on the reader and revise style and structure, as well as
accuracy, with this in mind
3 use writing for thinking and learning by recording ideas as they develop to aid reflection and
problem solving
5 develop the use of commentary and description in narrative, e.g. by addressing the reader
directly
6 experiment with figurative language in conveying a sense of character and setting
7 experiment with different language choices to imply meaning and to establish the tone of a
piece
12 describe an event, process or situation, using language with appropriate degrees of
formality
16 weigh different viewpoints and present a balanced analysis of an event or issue, e.g. an
environmental issue or historical investigation
17 integrate evidence into writing to support analysis or conclusions, e.g. data, quotation

Speaking and Listening

10 use talk to question, hypothesise, speculate, evaluate, solve problems and develop
thinking about complex issues and ideas
11 recognise and build on other people’s contributions
15 explore and develop ideas, issues and relationships through work in role
16 collaborate in, and evaluate, the presentation of dramatic performances, scripted and
unscripted, which explores a character, relationships and issues
Assessment Focuses

Reading
AF1 use a range of strategies, including accurate decoding of text, to read for meaning
AF2 understand, describe and select or retrieve information, events or ideas from texts and
use quotation and reference to text
AF3 deduce, infer or interpret information, events or ideas from texts
AF4 identify and comment on the structure and organisation of texts, including grammatical
and presentational features at text level
AF5 explain and comment on the writers’ use of language, including grammatical and literary
features at word and sentence level
AF6 identify and comment on writers’ purposes and viewpoints and the overall effect of the
text on the reader

Writing
AF1 write imaginatively, interesting and thoughtful texts
AF2 produce texts which are appropriate to task, reader and purpose
AF3 organise and present whole texts effectively, sequencing and structuring information,
ideas and events
AF4 construct paragraphs and use cohesion within and between paragraphs
AF5 vary sentences for clarity, purpose and effect
AF6 write with technical accuracy of syntax and punctuation in phrases, clauses and
sentences
AF7 select appropriate and effective vocabulary
AF8 use correct spelling
National Curriculum Links

EN1
Speaking
1b use illustrations, evidence and anecdote to enrich and explain their ideas
1c use gesture, tone, pace and rhetorical devices for emphasis

Group discussion and interaction

3b take different views into account and modify their own views in the light of what others say
3c sift, summarise and use the most important points

Drama
4a use a variety of dramatic techniques to explore ideas, issues, texts and meanings
4b use different ways to convey action, character, atmosphere and tension when they are
scripting and performing in plays

EN2
Reading for meaning
1a to extract meaning beyond the literal, explaining how the choice of language and style
affects implied and explicit meanings
1c how ideas, values and emotions are explored and portrayed
1d to identify perspectives offered on individuals, community and society
1f to read and appreciate the scope and richness of complete novels, plays and poems

Understanding the author’s craft

1h to reflect on the writer’s presentation of ideas and issues, the motivation and behaviour of
characters, the development of plot and the overall impact of a text
1k to compare texts looking at style, theme and language, and identifying connections and
contrasts

Literature
8b recent and contemporary drama, fiction and poetry written for young people and adults

EN3
Writing to imagine, explore and entertain
1b use imaginative vocabulary and varied linguistic and literary techniques
1c exploit choice of language and structure to achieve particular effects and appeal to the
reader
1d use a range of techniques and different ways of organising and structuring material to
convey ideas, themes and characters

Writing to analyse, review and comment

1m form their own view, taking into account a range of evidence and opinions

Planning and drafting

2a plan, draft, redraft and proof read their work on paper and on screen
2c analyse critically their own and others’ writing

Teaching Sequence

Week One:
● Predictions about the text based on title, front cover, back cover and opening
paragraph
● Exploring relationships
Week Two:
● Exploring relationships

● Text types: recount

● Reading strategies: inference and empathy

● Text types: imagine, explore

Week Three:
● Text types: persuasive

● Recruitment: exploring issues of recruitment through recruitment speeches and

poetry
● Exploring relationships through the medium of song
Week Four:
● Exploring relationships: Tommo and Charlie

● War – presentation of gas attack

● Text types: describe, imagine

Week Five:
● Essay: Explain how Tommo and Charlie’s relationship develops over the course of
the novel. Why does Tommo believe he lives in Charlie’s glow?
Week Six:
● Final draft of essay in
Opportunities for Assessment
 Reading: Explain how Tommo and Charlie’s relationship develops over the course of the
novel. Why does Tommo believe he lives in Charlie’s glow?
Writing: Newspaper article on the yellow aeroplane, 2x letters to Charlie, song exploring
character

Lesson One

Teacher Ms/Mrs Subject English

Date Lesson 1 2 3 4 5 No. in group Set/group
Girls Boys Year 8
KS3/4 / GCSE / Cert. G/T SEN
Non exam

Context
Introduction to the novel
Making predictions

Learning objective/s
R4 review their developing skills as active, critical readers who search for meaning using a range of reading strategies
R10 analyse the overall structure of a text to identify how key ideas are developed

● What do I predict will happen in this story? How do I arrive at a set of predictions?

● How does the structure of a story aid meaning?

● Who are the main characters and what have I learnt about them?

Starter Timing
5 mins
● Silent Reading
3 mins
● Students copy date, title and learning objective 2 mins

● Explain to students that in today’s lesson we are going to start a new unit of work on a novel by Michael
Morpurgo entitled ‘Private Peaceful.’ Write the title of the book on the board and give students 30 secs to
discuss the connotations of the two words and what they think the book might be about based on the title. 10 mins
Feedback
● Hand out colour copy of front cover to students and ask them to stick it into the centre of their book. Ask
students to annotate the front cover in terms of what it tells us about the story that we are going to read. Take
feedback, drawing students attention to the images, the contrast in colour and the slogan. Reconsider title.
Ask students what features on the front cover tell us this is a good book? Ask students to write a few
sentences about their expectations of what they are about to read.
Main lesson
3 mins
● Show students the first paragraph on OHP / Powerpoint. What questions do the students have about it?
What clues are there to give the students an idea of what is happening? Is it happy / sad? Male or female?
What is happening? Give students one minute to reflect in pairs and then feedback. Draw students attention
in first chapter to two viewpoints – that of child and that of reflective adult. 9 mins
● Hand students A3 sheet containing all introductory passages. Ask students to highlight all predictions. Ask
students to use these predictions to create their own overview of the story. What do the students envisage 2 mins
happening in the story?
● Put students into pairs and hand out cards which identify the key events in the first chapter. Ask students to
sequence the cards into the chronological order we would expect them to occur within the narrative. Students 10 mins
feedback their ideas.
 4 mins
● Explain to students that we are now going to read Chapter one and that as we are reading, students should
sequence the events as they happen.
● Feedback new sequence of events. As a class, discuss why the two sequences are different, and what the
author’s purpose is in changing the chronological sequence. (Possible answers include: variety, showing
Tommo’s sequence of thoughts, hinting at something for suspense).
Plenary
5 mins
● Students make a list of the characters we have met already and words / phrases used to describe them from
the book. Students sum up each character in one sentence.
Differentiation / Extension / Assessment opportunities
Differentiation by task: a variety of tasks that lend themselves to different learning styles
Differentiation by outcome: predictions that students will create
Low ability students: help sheets with questions to aid the thought process
Sheet with fewer introductory passages on to formulate predictions
Assessment opportunities: RAF3, RAF4
Literacy / Numeracy / ICT / Health & safety / B & E / SMSC / WRL
Out of hours learning
NA

Evaluation
 They’ve gone now, and I’m alone at last. I have
the whole night ahead of me, and I won’t waste
a single moment of it. I shan’t sleep it away. I
won’t dream it away either. I mustn’t, because
every moment of it will be far too precious.
I want to try and remember everything, just as
it was, just as it happened. I’ve had nearly
eighteen years of yesterdays and tomorrows,
and tonight I must remember as many of them
as I can. I want tonight to be as long, as long as
my life, not filled with fleeting dreams that rush
me on towards dawn.
Tonight, more than any other night of my life, I
want to feel alive.

They’ve gone now, and I’m alone at last. I have the whole
night ahead of me, and I won’t waste a single moment of it. I
I don’t want to eat. Stew, potatoes and
shan’t sleep it away. I won’t dream it away either. I mustn’t,
biscuits. I usually like stew, but I’ve no
because every moment of it will be far too precious. I was once told in Sunday
appetite for it. I nibble at a biscuit, but
I want to try and remember everything, just as it was, just school that a church tower
I don’t want that either. Not now. It’s a
as it happened. I’ve had nearly eighteen years of reaches up skywards
good thing Grandma Wolf is not here.
yesterdays and tomorrows, and tonight I must remember as because it is a promise of
She always hated us leaving food on
many of them as I can. I want tonight to be as long, as long Heaven. Church towers
our plates. “Waste nt, want not,” she’d
as my life, not filled with fleeting dreams that rush me on are different in France. It
say.” I’m wasting this Wolfwoman,
towards dawn. was the first thing I noticed
when I came here, when I
changed my world of home
 I haven’t seen a fox while I’ve I’m not sure I ever really believed in God, even in Sunday school.
been out here. It’s hardly In church I’d gaze up at Jesus hanging on the cross in the
surprising, I suppose. But I have stained glass window, and feel sorry for him because I could see
heard owls. How any bird can how cruel it was and how much it must be hurting him. I knew he
survive in all this I’ll never know. was a good and kind man. But I never really understood why
I’ve even seen larks over no- God, who was supposed to be his father, and almighty and
man’s land. I always found hope powerful, would let them do that to him, would let him suffer so
much. I believed then, as I believe now, that crossed fingers and
Molly’s stones are every bit as reliable or unreliable as praying to
There’s a silver moon out there, a God. I shouldn’t think like that because if there’s no God, then
new moon. I wonder if they’re there can be no heaven. Tonight I want very much to believe
looking at it back home. Bertha there’s a heaven, that, as Father said, there is a new life after
used to howl at the moon, I
I keep checking the time. I promised myself I wouldn’t, but I can’t
remember. If I had a coin in my
pocket, I’d turn it over and make a seem to help myself. Each time I do it, I put the watch to my ear
wish. When I was young I really and listen for the tick. It’s still there, softly slicing away the
believed in all those old tales. I seconds, then the minutes, then the hours. It tells me there are
wish I still could believe in them. three hours and forty-six minutes left. Charlie told me once this
But I mustn’t think like that. It’s watch would never stop, never let me down, unless I forgot to
wind it. The best watch in the world, he said, a wonderful watch.
no good wishing for the moon, no
good wishing for the impossible. But it isn’t. If it was such a wonderful watch it would do more
Don’t wish Tommo. Remember. than simply keep the time – any watch can do that. A truly
wonderful watch would make the time. Then, if it stopped, time
itself would have to stand still, then this night would never have to
end and morning would never come. Charlie often told me we
I dropped off to sleep. I’ve lost were living on borrowed time out here. I don’t want to borrow any
precious minutes – I don’t know
more time. I want time to stop so that tomorrow never comes, so
how many, but they are minutes I There’s a mouse
that dawn will never happen.
can never have back. I should be in here with me.
able by now to fight off sleep. I’ve The mouse is here again. He keeps stopping and looking up at me. He’s He’s sitting there
done it often enough on lookout in wondering if he should run away, whether I’m friend of foe. “Wee, sleekit, in the light of the
the trenches, but then I had cold caw’rin tim’rous beastie.” I don’t know what half the words mean, but I still lamp, looking up
or fear or both as my wakeful at me. He seems
know the poem. Back at school Miss McAllister made us stand up and
companions. I long for that recite it on Burns Day. She said it was good for us to have at least one as surprised to
moment of surrender to sleep, just great Scottish poem in our heads forever. This wee beastie is tim’rous all see me as I am
to drift away into the warmth of right but he’s not Scottish, he’s a Belgian mouse. I recite the poem to him to see him.
nothingness. Resist it, Tommo, all the same. He seems to understand because he listens politely. I do it There he goes. I
resist it. After this night is over, can hear him still,
in Miss McAllister’s Scottish accent. I’m almost word perfect. I think Miss
then you can drift away, then you McAllister would have been proud of me. But the moment I finish he’s scurrying about
can sleep for ever, for nothing will gone, and I’m alone once more. somewhere
ever matter again. Sing Oranges Earlier they came and asked if I wanted someone to stay with me through under the
and Lemons. Go on. Sing it. hayrack. I think
the night, and I said no. I even sent the padre away. They asked if there
Sing it like Big Joe does, over and was anything I wanted, anything they could do to help, and I said there was he’s gone now. I
nothing. Now I long to have them all here, the padre too. We could have hope he comes
had singsongs. They could have bought me egg and chips. We could back. I miss him

There is the beginning of day in the night sky, not yet the pale light of dawn, but night is certainly losing its darkness. A cockerel sounds his
morning call, and tells me what I already know but do not want to believe, that morning will break and soon.
Morning at home used to be walking with Charlie to school, wading through piles of autumn leaves and stamping the ice in the puddles, or
Key events in Chapter One
the three of us coming up through the woods after a night’s poaching on the Colonel’s river, and crouching down to watch a badger that didn’t
know we were there. Morning here has always been to wake with the same dread in the pit of my stomach, knowing that I will have to look
(Adapted from Scheme of Work by HarperCollins.)
death in the face again, that up to now it may have been someone else’s death, but that today it could be mine, that this may be my last
Key events from Chapter One
sunrise, my last day on earth.
All that is different about this morning is that I know whose death it will be and how it will happen.
 Tommo wants to
remember all the past Charlie takes Tommo
eighteen years of his to school – first day.
life.

Tommo sees a dead Tommo and his family

crow, which makes bury his father’s things
him think of his father. under his rose bush.

Tommo meets Mr Tommo is put in Miss

Munnings, the McAllister’s class.
headmaster.

Molly helps Tommo tie Father is killed by a

up his laces. tree in Ford’s Cleave
Wood.

Tommo attends
Father’s funeral with Father is buried.
his family.

Differentiated worksheet.
 Making predictions about the story
1) Read the extract below. What do you think might happen in the story?

There is the beginning of day in the night sky, not yet the pale light of
dawn, but night is certainly losing its darkness. A cockerel sounds his
morning call, and tells me what I already know but do not want to
believe, that morning will break and soon.
Morning at home used to be walking with Charlie to school, wading
through piles of autumn leaves and stamping the ice in the puddles, or
the three of us coming up through the woods after a night’s poaching on
the Colonel’s river, and crouching down to watch a badger that didn’t
know we were there. Morning here has always been to wake with the
same dread in the pit of my stomach, knowing that I will have to look
death in the face again, that up to now it may have been someone
else’s death, but that today it could be mine, that this may be my last
sunrise, my last day on earth.
All that is different about this morning is that I know whose death it will
be and how it will happen.
Looking at it that way it seems not so bad. Look at it that way,
Tommo. Look at it that way.

I think that

______________________________________________
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
______________________________________________

Differentiated worksheet (2)

 1) Look at each of the character names below. What have you learnt
about each of the characters so far?

Character What have I learnt about them so far?

Tommo

Charlie

Mr Munnings

Mother

Big Joe

Father

Miss McAllister

Molly

Grandma Wolf

The Colonel

Lesson Two
Teacher Ms/Mrs Subject English
Date Lesson 1 2 3 4 5 No. in group Set/group
Girls Boys Year 8
KS3/4 / GCSE / Cert. G/T SEN
Non exam

Context
Establishing a context
Introducing the main characters

Learning objective/s
R4 review their developing skills as active, critical readers who search for meaning using a range of reading strategies
R5 trace the development of themes, values or ideas in texts
R13 read a substantial text, revising and refining interpretations of subject matter, style and technique
W16 weigh different viewpoints and present a balanced analysis of an event or issue
W17 integrate evidence into writing to support analysis or conclusions
SL15 explore and develop ideas, issues and relationships through work in role

● Is Tommo to blame for his father’s death?

● How do the three brothers relate to each other?

Starter Timing
5 mins
● Silent Reading
3 mins
● Students copy date, title and learning objective 1 min
5 mins
● Recap the events of the first chapter

● Ask students in pairs to describe Tommo and Charlie’s relationship in 5 words/phrases – close, brothers,
Charlie is the carer, Tommo idolises Charlie, Charlie understands Tommo’s worries and tries to make Tommo
feel better. Feedback.
Main lesson
5 mins
● Recap the ending of the first chapter. Pose question: ‘Is Tommo to blame for his father’s death?’ Set up a
conscience alley situation where a student is Tommo and the rest are in two halves. One half has to think that
Tommo is to blame, the other half thinks not. As Tommo walks down the alley, he looks at each child on
alternate sides in turn for a response. At the end he must decide whether he is to blame by sinking to his
knees at an imaginary gravestone (showing his guilt) or looking at the gravestone, touching it and walking
away. 8 mins
● Students write a response to the question in their exercise books, considering both sides of the argument,
8 mins
using quotes from the text if they can. Feedback 5 mins
● Read Chapter 2 ‘Twenty to eleven’ pages 18-25.

● Hand out ‘ripple effect’ sheet and character cards for Tommo, Charlie and Big Joe. Explain to students that
this sheet is going to help us examine how some of the characters in Private Peaceful relate to each other.
Pose question: who is the main character in the story? Explain that as a result Tommo needs to go in the
centre of the ripple. Reinforce that this diagram is going to show us how well Tommo relates to the other
characters in the story. Explain to students that they have two other character names in front of them: Charlie
and Big Joe. Ask students to place the names on the ripple according to how well Tommo gets on with them. 7 mins
The better the relationship, the closer to Tommo; the worse the relationship, the further away they should be
placed from Tommo. Give students 3 mins to stick the names on the sheet.
● Students must justify the decisions they have made with regard to character positions, using information from
the section we have just read. Feedback
Plenary
9 mins
● Read pages 25-33 of ‘Twenty to eleven’
Differentiation / Extension / Assessment opportunities
Differentiation by task: targeting a variety of learning styles
Differentiation by outcome: number of quotes students find to justify relationship decisions
Assessment: RAF2, RAF3
Literacy / Numeracy / ICT / Health & safety / B & E / SMSC / WRL
Out of hours learning
Place the characters of Mother and Grandma Wolf on the ripple effect diagram. Cite evidence from the text.
Evaluation

Name:........................................ Tutor group:................................. Date:...................................

Character relationship sheet. Write down the names of the characters and how close they are to the protagonist. Bonus points: Add
a quote to support your choice.
Tommo Tommo Tommo

Charlie Charlie Charlie

Big Joe Big Joe Big Joe

Tommo Tommo Tommo

Charlie Charlie Charlie

Big Joe Big Joe Big Joe

Tommo Tommo Tommo

Charlie Charlie Charlie

Big Joe Big Joe Big Joe

Tommo Tommo Tommo

Charlie Charlie Charlie

 Big Joe Big Joe Big Joe

Lesson Three

Teacher Ms/Mrs Subject English

Date Lesson 1 2 3 4 5 No. in group Set/group
Girls Boys Year 8
KS3/4 / GCSE / Cert. G/T SEN
Non exam

Context
Previously read chapters one and two
Identifying relationships between characters

Learning objective/s
W11 appreciate the impact of figurative language in texts
R3 make notes in different ways, choosing a form which suits the purpose
R4 review their developing skills as active, critical readers who search for meaning using a range of reading strategies
R5 trace the development of themes, values or ideas in texts

● What are the connotations of the name Grandma Wolf? Does the name suit the character Morpurgo is describing?

● How would you describe Tommo’s feelings towards Charlie? Towards Molly? Towards Charlie and Molly?

Starter Timing
5 mins
● Silent Reading
3 mins
● Students copy date, title and learning objective 3 mins

● Ask students to write down any words they associate with Grandma and Wolf. Share and discuss
Morpurgo’s choice of name and how it fits with the character of Grandma Wolf.
Main lesson
9 mins
● Read chapter 3 ‘Nearly quarter past eleven’ pages 35-43.
6 mins
● Discuss whether the ideas from the starter fit. Students to describe Grandma Wolf in 5 words and find
appropriate quotes to support them. Students to feedback, teacher to ensure they justify their choice of 3 mins
words with quotes from the text. 5 mins
● Read chapter 3 ‘Nearly quarter past eleven’ pages 43-46.

● Divide class into three. One section will be looking at Tommo’s feelings for Charlie (low ability as this
area has previously been covered). One section will be looking at Tommo’s feelings for Molly (middle
ability) and one section analysing Tommo’s feelings for Charlie and Molly when they are all together 5 mins
(high ability). Give students five mins to identify Tommo’s feelings for the other characters and identify 4 mins
quotations to support their points of view.
5 mins
● Re-organise groups into 3s. Give students 3 mins to discuss their findings with each other.

● Students must produce three still images that reflect Tommo’s feelings for Charlie, Tommo’s feelings for
Molly and Tommo’s feelings for Charlie and Molly.
● Share student’s work and discuss what they reveal about Tommo’s inner thoughts.
Plenary
5 mins
● Students complete chart detailing Tommo’s feelings for Charlie and Molly.
Differentiation / Extension / Assessment opportunities
Differentiation by outcome: less able will be able to describe Grandma Wolf in two words and may refer to the text
Differentiation by task: range of working groups, individual, paired and group. Also mixture of learning styles.
Assessment: RAF2, RAF3

Literacy / Numeracy / ICT / Health & safety / B & E / SMSC / WRL

Out of hours learning
NA

Evaluation

Chapter 3: ‘Nearly quarter past eleven’

Tommo

Charlie Molly

How is Tommo feeling at this point in the story?

In your copy books:

 ● Describe Tommo’s feelings for Charlie?

● Describe Tommo’s feelings for Molly?

● Describe Tommo’s feelings for Charlie and Molly?

Lesson Four

Teacher Ms/Mrs Subject English

Date Date Tuesday 8 Lesson 1 2 3 4 5 No. in group Set/group
October 2024 Girls Boys Year 8

KS3/4 / GCSE / Cert. G/T SEN

Non exam

Context
Discussed relationship between Tommo, Charlie and Molly.
Revision of text type: recount

Learning objective/s
S9 adapt the stylistic conventions of the main non-fiction text types to fit different audiences and purposes
R8 investigate how meanings change when information is presented in different forms or transposed into different media
Wr12 describe an event, process or situation, using language with appropriate degrees of formality

● How is the relationship between Tommo, Charlie and Molly changing?

● What are the features of a recount text and how can I use these to create an effective news report?

Starter Timing
5 mins
● Silent Reading
3 mins
● Students copy date, title and learning objective 3 mins

● Recap relationship between Tommo, Charlie and Molly. Ask students to identify one word that sums up
the relationship between Tommo and Charlie, Tommo and Molly and Tommo and Charlie and Molly.
Feedback, exploring student responses.
Main lesson
9 mins
● Read ‘Ten to midnight’ pages 47-55
5 mins
● Pose question: how is Tommo’s relationship with Charlie and Molly changing? Students write a
6 mins
response to this question in their exercise books, citing evidence from the text if they can.
● Read pages 55-58. What makes this a narrative text? Look for answers such as structure (intro,
development, climax and resolution), characters and characterisation, dialogue, style (expressive 3 mins
language, first person narrative, implied feelings) and purpose (foreshadowing the war).
● Explain to students that they are going to turn this narrative episode into a straightforward recount text,
as if they had been asked to write up the account for a local newspaper. Explain to students what a
recount text is and ask students to discuss the features of a recount text, focusing on purpose, 5 mins
form/structure and style. Feedback and look for responses such as: tell what happened clearly, series
of events in chronological order, straightforward style, past tense, third person, specific dates and
names, formal language. 13 mins
 ● Review the key techniques for ‘translating’ the narrative passage into a recount text, i.e. reducing the
narrative to the key points and turning most of the dialogue into reported speech. Display the top half of
the OHT and ask the class to suggest how to convert the sample extract before showing them the
bottom half of the OHT.
● Students write their newspaper account of the yellow plane incident, following the model on the OHY.
Hear examples of student’s work.
Plenary
3 mins
● Read pages 58-60.
Differentiation / Extension / Assessment opportunities
Differentiation: reviewing the relationship between the three characters to aid understanding
Low ability: provide students with key sentences from the opening of the chapter that will aid student’s response. Also provide
low ability students with a writing frame for the newspaper article.
Differentiation by outcome: newspaper article
Assessment: WAF1, WAF2, WAF3, WAF4
Literacy / Numeracy / ICT / Health & safety / B & E / SMSC / WRL
Out of hours learning
Students finish their recount text on the yellow plane

Evaluation

Differentiated work sheet

What do you learn about Tommo’s relationship with Charlie

and Molly from the statements below?

‘But when it’s Charlie’s turn, all we hear are the whacks, and then the
silences in between. I am so proud of him for that. I have the bravest
brother in the world.’

Tommo’s feelings about Charlie here are

_______________________
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________

‘Molly likes Big Joe. Now I know for sure that I will love her till the day I die.’

Tommo’s feelings for Molly here are __________________________

_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________

‘The trouble was that it was becoming more evident to me that the gap
between us was more serious, and that is was widening.’

Tommo’s feelings for Charlie and Molly when they are all together are
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________

Differentiated worksheet
 Lesson Five

Teacher Ms/Mrs Subject English

Date Wednesday 9 Lesson 1 2 3 4 5 No. in group Set/group
October 2024 Girls Boys Year 8

KS3/4 / GCSE / Cert. G/T SEN

Non exam

Context
Discussed relationship between Tommo, Charlie and Molly. In this lesson we will begin to explore how this is changing.

Learning objective/s
R3 make notes in different ways, choosing a form which suits the purpose
R4 review their developing skills as active, critical readers who search for meaning using a range of reading strategies
R5 trace the development of themes, values or ideas in texts
W3 use writing for thinking and learning by recording ideas as they develop to aid reflection and problem solving
SL15 explore and develop ideas, issues and relationships through work in role
SL16 collaborate in, and evaluate, the presentation of dramatic performances, scripted and unscripted, which explore character,
relationships and issues

● How do the Colonel and the boy’s mother interact with one another? What does this reveal about their character?

● What clues are there in the text to suggest that Charlie and Molly are falling in love?

Starter Timing
5 mins
● Silent Reading.
3 mins
● Students copy date, title and learning objective 1 min
5 mins
● Recap work from last lesson and focus on how the last chapter ended.

● Hand out chart to students. Ask students to show the weaknesses and the strengths of the Colonel and the
boys’ mother. Discuss these and consider that when the Colonel was weak, their mother was strong and vice
versa.
Main lesson
 4 mins
● Read ‘Twenty four minutes past twelve’ pages 61-64
12 mins
● Organise students into groups of 5. Explain to students that they are going to act out the passage they read
at the start of the lesson. Explain that they are being assessed on the way that they present the interactions
and read with expression. Go through examples about how they can vary their expression to show different
emotions. Also identify how body language can contribute to expression. Remind students of the relationship 5 mins
between the boys’ mother and the Colonel. Give students 8 mins to practice their performance.
● Students share their performances and comment on presentation of characters and their feelings and the use 8 mins
of expression.
● Organise students into groups of four. Each group reads a section from the chapter ‘Twenty four minutes past 6 mins
twelve.’ Two groups read page 65-67, two groups read pages 68-71 and two groups read pages 71-74. Ask
students to discuss how the reader realises what Tommo does not - that Molly and Charlie are falling in love.
● Students work individually to identify key quotations from their sections of the story that help us to infer that
Charlie and Molly are falling in love.
Plenary
5 mins
● Groups to feedback their ideas, teacher to collate ideas in a thought shower ready to use next lesson.
2 mins
● Read pages 74-76
Differentiation / Extension / Assessment opportunities
Differentiation by outcome: no. of strengths and weaknesses for boys’ mother and Colonel
Performance of passage
Differentiation by task: mixture of ability groups
Mixture of tasks that enable individual and group work
Consolidation task at the end to ensure all students have appropriate information
Assessment: RAF2, RAF3
Literacy / Numeracy / ICT / Health & safety / B & E / SMSC / WRL
Out of hours learning
NA

Evaluation

Lesson Six

Teacher Ms/Mrs Subject English

Date Lesson 1 2 3 4 5 No. in group Set/group
Girls Boys Year 8
KS3/4 / GCSE / Cert. G/T SEN
Non exam

Context
Used inference to identify the developing relationship between Charlie and Molly.
This lesson uses ability to retrieve literal information and then use that to empathise with Tommo.

Learning objective/s
W11 appreciate the impact of figurative language in texts
S7 develop different ways of linking paragraphs, using a range of strategies to improve cohesion and coherence
R5 trace the development of themes, values or ideas in texts
Wr2 re-read work to anticipate the effect on the reader and revise style and structure, as well as accuracy, with this in
mind
Wr6 experiment with figurative language in conveying a sense of character and setting
Wr7 experiment with different language choices to imply meaning and to establish the tone of a piece

● How does Tommo feel after he discovers the truth about Charlie and Molly’s relationship? What would he say to
 Charlie?

Starter Timing
5 mins
● Silent Reading
3 mins
● Students copy date, title and learning objective 4 mins

● Hand out episodes from previous chapters where Tommo discusses his feelings for Molly / talks
about Molly. Ask students to sequence these episodes into chronological order. These episodes
will form content of main activity. Feedback and discuss how the episodes develop until Tommo 3 mins
realises that Charlie and Molly are in love.
● Thought shower Tommo’s feelings towards Charlie and Molly. Ask students to justify choice of
word.
Main lesson
5 mins
● Explain to students that they are going to write a secret letter from Tommo to Charlie explaining his
feelings of anger, hurt and betrayal after realising Charlie and Molly’s deception. Explain that the
letter never got to Charlie but the students must imagine what Tommo would have put into it.
Share assessment criteria with students for a level 5 making sure students are aware of audience, 20 mins
purpose and format. 5 mins
● Students write their letter.

● After twenty minutes silent work, ask students to share their work with the person they are sitting 10 mins
next to. Ask them to peer assess each others work according to the given criteria. Ask students to
suggest ways to improve the piece of writing.
● Students continue draft
Plenary
3 mins
● Hear examples of students’ work, commenting and praising where necessary.
2 mins
● Ask students to complete, in neat, for homework.
Differentiation / Extension / Assessment opportunities
Differentiation by task: sequencing activity and thought shower give less able students some stimuli to work with.
Sentence starters can be supplied to low ability students
Differentiation by outcome: students will produce varied responses to task
Assessment: WAF1, WAF2, WAF3
Literacy / Numeracy / ICT / Health & safety / B & E / SMSC / WRL
Out of hours learning
Students produce neat copy of letter from Tommo to Charlie.
Evaluation

Name: …………………………… Tutor:.............. Date:...........................................

Below are episodes from chapters where Tommo discusses
his feelings for Molly or talks about Molly.

Your task: Sequence the episodes below into chronological

order.

Molly comes over, and taking me by the hand, leads me towards the pump. She soaks her
handkerchief under it and dabs my nose and my hands and my knee – the blood seems to be
everywhere. The water is wonderfully cold and soothing, and her hands are soft. She doesn’t say
anything for a while. She’s dabbing me very gently, very carefully so as not to hurt me. Then all of a
sudden she says: “I like Big Joe. He’s kind. I like people who are kind.”
Molly likes Big Joe. Now I know for sure that I will love her till the day I die.
Both of them being older than me, Molly by two years, Charlie by three, they always run
faster than I did. I seem to have spent much of my life watching them race ahead of me,
leaping the high meadow grass, Molly’s plaits whirling about her head, their laughter
mingling. When they got too far ahead I sometimes felt they wanted to be without me. I
would whine at them then to let them know I was feeling all miserable and abandoned, and
they’d wait for me to catch up. Best of all Molly would sometimes come running back and
take my hand.

I remember the day Molly dared Charlie to take off all his clothes, and to my amazement he
did. Then she did, and they ran shrieking and bare-bottomed into the water. When they
called me in after them, I wouldn’t do it, not in front of Molly. So I sat and sulked on the
bank and watched them splashing and giggling, and all the while I was wishing I had the
courage to do what Charlie had done, wishing I was with them. Molly got dressed
afterwards behind a bush and told us not to watch. But we did. That was the first time I
ever saw a girl with no clothes on. She was very thin and white, and she wrung her plaits
out like a wet cloth.

Back in the cottage we found waiting for us the best Christmas present we could ever have
hoped for. Molly was sitting there smiling at us as we came in through the door. She was
pale, but she was back with us. We were together again. Her hair was cut shorter. The
plaits were gone, and somehow that changed the whole look of her. She wasn’t a girl any
more. She had a different beauty now, a beauty that at once stirred in me a new and
deeper love.

Then quite suddenly, just after my twelfth birthday, the last of the larking was all over.
Charlie and Molly left school and I was alone. I was a Biggun, in Mr Munnings’ class and
hating him now even more than I feared him. I woke up dreading every day. Both Charlie
and Molly had found work up in the Big House – almost everyone in the village worked up
there or on the estate. Molly was under-parlour maid, and Charlie worked in the hunt
kennels and in the stables looking after the dogs and the horses, which he loved. Molly
didn’t come round to see us nearly so often as before – like Charlie, she worked six days a
week. So I hardly saw her.

When I did see Molly, and it was only on Sundays now, she was as kind to me as she
always had been, but too kind almost, too protective, more like a little mother to me than a
friend. I could see that she and Charlie lived in another world now.
 I tried all I could to interest them in my life at school. I told them about how we’d all heard
Miss McAllister and Mr Munnings having a blazing argument because he refused to light
the school stove, how she’d called him a wicked, wicked man. She was right too. Mr
Munnings would never light the stove unless our fingers were so cold we couldn’t write. He
shouted back at her that he would light the stove when he thought fit, and that anyway
suffering was part of life and good for a child’s soul. Charlie and Molly made out they were
interested, but I could tell they weren’t. Then one day down by the brook, I turned and saw
them holding hands. We’d all held hands before, often, but then it had been the three of
us. I knew at once this was different. As I watched them I felt a sudden ache in my heart.
I don’t think it was anger or jealousy, more a pang of loss, of deep grief.

I ran down to the brook and waited under the trees where we’d always done our fishing
together. I didn’t have long to wait before she came. She took my hand without a word,
and led me down under the bank where we couldn’t possibly be seen. She was crying as
she told me everything: how the Colonel had come to the cottage – she’d overheard it all –
how he’d told her father that Charlie Peaceful was a thief; how he’d heard Charlie Peaceful
had been seeing much more of Molly than was good for her, and that if he had any sense
Molly’s father should put a stop to it. “So my father won’t let me see Charlie any more. He
won’t let me see any of you.” Molly told me, brushing away her tears. “I’m so miserable
without you, Tommo. I hate it up at the Big House without Charlie. And he said he’ll take a
gun to Charlie if he ever comes near me. I think he means it too.”
“Why?” I asked. “Why’s he like that?”
“He’s always been like that,” she said. “He says I’m wicked. Born in sin. Mother say’s
he only trying to save me from myself, so I won’t go to Hell. He’s always talking about Hell.
I won’t go to Hell, will I, Tommo?”
I did what I did next without thinking. I leant over and kissed her on the cheek. She threw
her arms around my neck, sobbing as if her heart would break. “I so want to see Charlie,”
she cried. “I miss him so much.” That was when I remembered to give her the letter.

That was the first of dozens of letters I delivered from Charlie to Molly and from Molly to
Charlie over the weeks and months that followed. All through my last year at school I was
their go-between postman. I didn’t mind that much, because it meant I got to see Molly
often, which was all that really mattered to me. It was all done in great secrecy – Charlie
insisted on that.

It seemed that someone had put salt in her tea instead of sugar and she swore it was on
purpose – which it probably was, Molly said. She’d been ranting and raving about it ever
since, telling everyone how she’d find out who it was. Meanwhile she was treating all of
them as if they were guilty.
“Was it you?” I asked Molly.
“Maybe,” she said smiling, “and maybe not.” I wanted to kiss her again then, but I didn’t
dare. That has always been my trouble. I’ve never dared enough.
 “Yours I believe,” said Molly’s mother, her voice as hard as stone. She handed Charlie a
packet of letters tied up with a blue ribbon. “I found them. I’ve read them, every one of
them. So has Molly’s father. So we know, we know everything. Don’t bother to deny it,
Charlie Peaceful. The evidence is here, in these letters. Molly has been punished already,
her father has seen to that. I’ve never read anything so wicked in all my life. Never. All
that love talk. Disgusting. But you’ve been meeting as well haven’t you?”
Charlie looked across at Molly. The look between them said it all, and I knew then that I
had been betrayed.
“Yes,” said Charlie.
I couldn’t believe what he was saying. They hadn’t told me. They’d been meeting in
secret and neither of them had told me.

That night I lay there beside Charlie not speaking. I was so filled with anger and
resentment towards him that I never wanted to speak to him again, nor to Molly come to
that. Then out of our silence he said: “All right, I should’ve told you, Tommo. Molly said I
should tell you. But I didn’t want to. I couldn’t, that’s all.”
“Why not?” I asked. For several moments he did not reply.
“Because I know, and she does too. That’s why she wouldn’t tell you herself,” Charlie
said.
“Know what?”
“When it was just letters, it didn’t seem to matter so much. But later, after we began
seeing each other… we didn’t want to hide it from you, Tommo, honest. But we didn’t want
to hurt you either. You love her, don’t you?” I didn’t answer. There was no need. “Well,
so do I, Tommo. So you’ll understand why I’m going to go on seeing her. I’ll find a way no
matter what that old cow says.” He turned to me. “Still friends?” he said.
“Friends,” I mumbled, but I did not mean it.

So while she calls the roll Molly kneels down in front of me and does up my laces. She ties
laces very differently from Charlie, delicately, more slowly, in a great loopy double knot.
She doesn’t look up at me while she’s doing it, not once, and I wish she would. She has
hair the same colour as Billyboy, Father’s old horse – chestnut brown and shining – and I
want to reach out and touch it. Then she looks up at me at last and smiles. It’s all I need.
Suddenly I no longer want to run home. I want to stay here with Molly. I know I have a
friend.
Lesson Seven

Teacher Ms/Mrs Subject English

Date Lesson 1 2 3 4 5 No. in group Set/group
Girls Boys Year 8
KS3/4 / GCSE / Cert. G/T SEN
Non exam

Context
Exploration of the fragmentation of Charlie and Tommo’s relationship
Introduction of war.

Learning objective/s
W7 review and develop their ability to:
● Work out the meaning of unknown words using context, syntax, etymology, morphology and other factors

● Understand and explain exactly what words mean in particular contexts

S13 recognise some of the differences in sentence structure, vocabulary and tone between a modern English text and a text
from another historical period
R4 review their developing skills as active, critical readers who search for meaning using a range of reading strategies
R6 recognise bias and objectivity, distinguishing facts from hypotheses, theories or opinions
R7 identify the ways implied and explicit meanings are conveyed in different texts
R11 investigate the different ways familiar themes are explored and presented by different writers
W3 use writing for thinking and learning by recording ideas as they develop to aid reflection and problem solving
SL15 explore and develop ideas, issues and relationships through work in role

● How is the speech given by the recruitment officer persuasive? What techniques does he use?

● How do the recruitment posters also persuade men to sign up?

Starter Timing
5 mins
● Silent Reading
3 mins
● Students copy date, title and learning objective 10 mins
2 mins
● Read ‘Nearly Five to One’ (pages 77-86)

● Focus students on the last paragraph. What emotions are the Peaceful family experiencing? Is there
an element of tension? Where does this occur?
Main lesson
11 mins
● Read ‘Twenty-eight minutes past one’ (pages 87-97)
4 mins
● Organise students into groups of four. Hand out recruitment speech. Ask one person from each group
4 mins
to read the speech out to the rest of their group.
● Identify the purpose of the speech. Ask students to identify how it intends to persuade the audience of
young men to sign up to the war, making notes on sheets accordingly. Feedback the different methods:
rhetorical questions to make the audience think about the consequences of not joining up. repetition of 9 mins
you to emphasise that each person is being addressed, lists of three to identify consequences etc etc
● Ask students to consider how this speech might be presented in order to persuade the audience.
Explain to students that they need to consider facial expressions, hands, body language and tone of
voice. Give students 5 minutes to nominate one person to act the speech out and then work on the
presentation of the speech. Hear examples. Pose question: how does the speech make you feel?
Would you want to join up?
Plenary
7 mins
● Hand each group a different recruitment poster and give students 4 mins to discuss how the poster is
attempting to persuade men to sign up to war. Each group feeds back their ideas to the rest of the
class.
Differentiation / Extension / Assessment opportunities
Differentiation by task: variety of tasks leaning themselves to a variety of learning styles and opportunities to work individually,
in pairs and in groups
Differentiation by outcome: students will present speeches differently
Assessment: RAF6, RAF1, SL12
Literacy / Numeracy / ICT / Health & safety / B & E / SMSC / WRL
Out of hours learning
NA

‘I shan’t beat about the bush, ladies and gentlemen,” he began. “I shan’t tell you
it’s all tickety-boo out there in France – there’s been too much of that nonsense
 already in my view. I’ve been there. I’ve seen it for myself. So I’ll tell you
straight. It’s no picnic. It’s hard slog, that’s what it is, hard slog. Only one
question to ask yourself about this war. Who would you rather see marching
through your streets? Us lot or the Hun? Make up your minds. Because, mark
my words, ladies and gentlemen, if we don’t stop them out in France the
Germans will be here, right here in Hatherleigh, right here on your doorstep.”
I could feel the silence all round.
“They’ll come marching through here burning your houses, killing your children,
and yes, violating your women. They’ve beaten brave little Belgium, swallowed
her up in one gulp. And now they’ve taken a fair slice of France too. I’m here to
tell you that unless we beat them at their own game, they’ll gobble us up as well.”
His eyes raked over us. “Well? Do you want the Hun here? Do you?”
“No!” came the shout, and I was shouting along with them.
“Shall we knock the stuffing out of them then?”
“Yes!” we roared in unison.
The sergeant major nodded. “Good. Very good. Then we shall need you.”
He was pointing his stick now into the crowd, picking out the men. “You, and you
and you.” He was looking straight at me now, into my eyes. “And you too, my
lad!”
Until that moment it had honestly never occurred to me that what he was
saying had anything to do with me. I had been an onlooker. No longer.
“Your king needs you. Your country needs you. And all the brave lads out in
France need you too.” His face broke into a smile as he fingered his immaculate
moustache. “And remember one thing, lads – and I can vouch for this – all the
girls love a soldier.”
The ladies in the crowd all laughed and giggled at that. Then the sergeant
major returned the stick under his arm.
“So, who’ll be the first brave lad to come up and take the king’s shilling?”
No one moved. No one spoke up. “Who’ll lead the way? Come along now.
Don’t let me down, lads. I’m looking for boys with hearts of oak, lads who love
their King and their country, brave boys who hate the lousy Hun.

Lesson Eight

Teacher Ms/Mrs Subject English

Date Lesson 1 2 3 4 5 No. in group Set/group
Girls Boys Year 8
KS3/4 / GCSE / Cert. G/T SEN
Non exam

Context
The issue of recruitment was explored through the medium of speech
Analysis of poems of the time to consider perspectives on recruitment process

Learning objective/s
R4 review their developing skills as active, critical readers who search for meaning using a range of reading strategies
R5 trace the development of themes, values or ideas in texts
R7 identify the ways implied and explicit meanings are conveyed in different texts
R11 investigate the different ways familiar themes are explored and presented by different writers
W16 weigh different viewpoints and present a balanced analysis of an event or issue
W17 integrate evidence into writing to support analysis or conclusions
SL10 use talk to question, hypothesise, speculate, evaluate, solve problems and develop thinking about complex issues and ideas
SL11 recognise and build on other people’s contributions

● How is war presented in the poems ‘Whose for the game?’ and ‘Recruiting’? Which poem do you think portrays a more
realistic view on war? Why?

Starter Timing
5 mins
● Silent Reading
3 mins
● Students copy date, title and learning objective 5 mins

● Recap the recruitment process. Hand out copies of posters from last lesson. Ask students to stick into their
exercise book and comment on how these posters are persuasive in encouraging men to sign up to war.
Main lesson
4 mins
● Organise students into groups of 4/5. Hand two groups copy of the poem ‘Whose for the game?’ by Jessie
Pope and the other three groups a copy of ‘Recruiting’ by E.A. Mackintosh. Ask one person from each group
to read the poem to the other group members. 6 mins
● Tell the students they have 2 mins to discuss the poem, e.g. what do they think of the poem? What does it
appear to be about? What is the message behind the poem? Etc etc/ After two mins students write five 5 mins
questions that they think might help someone to understand the poem. Collect questions in.
● Hand groups copies of the second poem. Ask one group member to read the poem to the other group
members. Hand out questions that groups have compiled and see if students can answer them. Explain to
students that they have two minutes to discuss the poems and see if they can answer all questions set to 2 mins
them. 5 mins

● Give students two mins to discuss the similarities and differences between the two poems.

● Identify two people from each group and bring them into the centre of the room in a horseshoe. Tell 5 that
they need a copy of ‘Whose for the game?’ in front of them and the other 5 that they need a copy of 3 mins
‘Recruiting’ in front of them. (Best to do this activity with most able). Play Relay Race. Ask both teams: How
is war presented in their poem? Students develop response until they can speak no more and baton is
passed over.
● Pose question to whole class: Whose version of war do we believe? Discuss. Put up backgrounds of poets
on OHP / Powerpoint. Ask why the backgrounds of the poets / experience of war may affect the tone of their
poem.
Plenary
20 mins
● Ask students to return to their desks. Put question: How is war presented in the poems ‘Whose for the
Game?’ and ‘Recruiting’? Which poem do you think portrays a more realistic view on war? Why?
Differentiation / Extension / Assessment opportunities
Differentiation by task: variety of individual, paired and group work. Discussion of poems will help students write about poems.
Differentiation by outcome: written response
Assessment: RAF2, RAF3, RAF5
Literacy / Numeracy / ICT / Health & safety / B & E / SMSC / WRL
Out of hours learning
NA – although final task could be finished at home

Evaluation
Who’s for the Game?

Who’s for the game, the biggest that’s played,

The red crashing game of a fight?
Who’ll grip and tackle the job unafraid?
And who thinks he’d rather sit tight?

Who’ll toe the line for the signal to ‘Go!’?

Who’ll give his country a hand?
Who wants a turn to himself in the show?
And who wants a seat in the stand?

Who knows it won’t be a picnic – not much –

Yet eagerly shoulders a gun?
Who would much rather come back with a crutch
Than lie low and be out of the fun?

Come along, lads – but you’ll come on all right –

For there’s only one course to pursue,
Your country is up to her neck in a fight,
And she’s looking and calling for you.
Recruiting
‘Lads, you’re wanted, go and help,’
On the railway carriage wall
Stuck the poster, and I thought
Of the hands that penned the call.

Fat civilians wishing they

‘Could go and fight the Hun’.
Can’t you see them thanking God
That they’re over forty-one?

Girls with feathers, vulgar songs –

Washy verse on England’s need –
God – and don’t we damned well know –
How the message ought to read.

‘Lads, you’re wanted! over there,

Shiver in the morning dew,
More poor devils like yourselves
Waiting to be killed by you.

Go and help to swell the names

In the casualty lists.
Help to make the column’s stuff
For the blasted journalists.

Help to keep them nice and safe

From the wicked German foe.
Don’t let him come over here!
Lads, you’re wanted – out you go.’

There’s a better word than that,

Lads, and can’t you hear it come
From a million men that call
You to share their martyrdom?

Leave the harlots still to sing

Comic songs about the Hun,
Leave the fat old men to say
Now we’ve got them on the run.

Better twenty honest years

Than their dull three score and ten.
Lads, you’re wanted. Come and learn.
To live and die with honest men.

You shall learn what men can do

If you will but pay the price,
Learn the gaiety and strength
In the gallant sacrifice.

Take your risk of life and death

Underneath the open sky.
 Live clean or go out quick –
Lads, you’re wanted. Come and die.

Lesson Nine

Teacher Ms/Mrs Subject English

Date Lesson 1 2 3 4 5 No. in group Set/group
Girls Boys Year 8
KS3/4 / GCSE / Cert. G/T SEN
Non exam

Context
Have reflected on the various changes Tommo and Charlie have gone through as brothers
Analysing their relationship whilst at war

Learning objective/s
R3 make notes in different ways, choosing a form which suits the purpose
R4 review their developing skills as active, critical readers who search for meaning using a range of reading strategies
R5 trace the development of themes, values or ideas in texts
R10 analyse the overall structure of a text to identify how key ideas are developed
Wr1 experiment with different approaches to planning, drafting, proofreading and presenting writing, taking account of the
time available
Wr2 re-read work to anticipate the effect on the reader and revise style and structure, as well as accuracy, with this in
mind
Wr3 use writing for thinking and learning by recording ideas as they develop to aid reflection and problem solving
Wr7 experiment with different language choices to imply meaning and to establish the tone of a piece

● Why does Tommo perceive himself as lucky to have a friend in Charlie?

Starter Timing
5 mins
● Silent Reading
3 mins
● Students copy date, title and learning objective 2 mins

● Recap recruitment speech in story, recruitment posters and two poems. How were men
encouraged to sign up?
Main lesson
19 mins
● Read pages 105-118 ‘Fourteen minutes past two’
7 mins
● Students to write down 4 adjectives to describe each character – Tommo and Charlie and 2
adjectives to describe their relationship. Then give reasons for their choice relating them to
particular events in the book Discuss ideas together. Feedback ideas about Tommo and Charlie’s 1 min
relationship onto the board. 6 mins
● Discuss the description of Hanley and the metaphor used to describe him like a wasp

● Explain to students that Tommo talks of a hymn at the end of the chapter, which gives him 10 mins
strength. Play students ‘What a friend we have in Jesus.’ Hand students a copy of the hymn and
read through.
● Explain to students that at the end of the chapter Tommo found himself ‘involuntarily changing the
words, changing Jesus into Charlie’ to create a new hymn ‘What a friend I have in Charlie’.
Students re-write the words to hymn ‘What a friend we have in Jesus’ to refer to the relationship of
Tommo and Charlie
Plenary
5 mins
● Hear students hymns and discuss how they reflect upon Tommo and Charlie’s relationship
Differentiation / Extension / Assessment opportunities
Differentiation by task: thought shower on board describing Tommo and Charlie’s relationship will help students in hymn
activity, listening to hymn will give students idea of rhythm, targeting a variety of learning styles
Differentiation by outcome: hymn students produce
Assessment: WAF1, WAF2, WAF3
Literacy / Numeracy / ICT / Health & safety / B & E / SMSC / WRL
Out of hours learning
Finish hymn and present neatly on A4 plain / coloured paper
Evaluation

What a friend we have in Jesus

What a Friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer!
O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.

Have we trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere?

We should never be discouraged; take it to the Lord in prayer.
Can we find a friend so faithful who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our every weakness; take it to the Lord in prayer.

Are we weak and heavy laden, cumbered with a load of care?

Precious Savior, still our refuge, take it to the Lord in prayer.
Do your friends despise, forsake you? Take it to the Lord in
prayer!
In His arms He’ll take and shield you; you will find a solace there.

Blessed Savior, Thou hast promised Thou wilt all our burdens
bear
May we ever, Lord, be bringing all to Thee in earnest prayer.
Soon in glory bright unclouded there will be no need for prayer
Rapture, praise and endless worship will be our sweet portion
there.
 Lesson Ten

Teacher Ms/Mrs Subject English

Date Lesson 1 2 3 4 5 No. in group Set/group
Girls Boys Year 8
KS3/4 / GCSE / Cert. G/T SEN
Non exam

Context
Building on our understanding of Tommo and Charlie’s relationship

Learning objective/s
S6 explore and compare different methods of grouping sentences into paragraphs of continuous text that are
clearly focused and well developed
S7develop different ways of linking paragraphs, using a range of strategies to improve cohesion and
coherence
R5 trace the development of themes, values or ideas in texts
R13 read a substantial text (novel, play or work of one poet) revising and refining interpretations of subject
matter, style and technique
Wr17 integrate evidence into writing to support analysis or conclusions

● How does Tommo view his relationship with Charlie?

Starter Timing
5 mins
● Silent Reading
3 mins
● Students copy date, title and learning objective 2 mins

● Recap reading from last lesson

Main lesson
17 mins
● Read ‘A minute past three’ pages 119-135
10 mins
● Use the line ‘I live in his glow.’ Students are to explain the significance of Tommo’s
statement about himself and his relationship to Charlie. Children to find other examples 5 mins
from given page references (p7-8, 24. 43-44,52-53, 83, 89).
● Students share quotes they have found. Put example on board following PEE structure.
Ask students to rework their quotations into a PEE format orally.
Plenary
12 mins
● Ask students to write title ‘I live in his glow’ in their books and write three paragraphs
giving examples from the text which suggest Tommo lives in his glow.
Differentiation / Extension / Assessment opportunities
Differentiation by outcome: some will be able to use PEE structure fluently, most will be able to write one
paragraph using PEE structure, all will be able to identify quotes
Assessment: RAF2, RAF3:
Literacy / Numeracy / ICT / Health & safety / B & E / SMSC / WRL
Out of hours learning
NA

Evaluation

How does Tommo view his relationship with Charlie?

Quote Explanation

‘I live in his glow’

 Lesson Eleven

Teacher Ms/Mrs Subject English

Date Lesson 1 2 3 4 5 No. in group Set/group
Girls Boys Year 8
KS3/4 / GCSE / Cert. G/T SEN
Non exam

Context
Have looked at how soldiers were recruited and how war was presented to them
The reality of war for Tommo and Charlie

Learning objective/s
R4 review their developing skills as active, critical readers who search for meaning using a range of reading strategies
R5 trace the development of themes, values or ideas in texts
Wr3 use writing for thinking and learning by recording ideas as they develop to aid reflection and problem solving
Wr17 integrate evidence into writing to support analysis or conclusions
SL10 use talk to question, hypothesise, speculate, evaluate, solve problems and develop thinking about complex issues and ideas
SL15 explore and develop ideas, issues and relationships through work in role
● What is our impression of war so far?

● How would Tommo have felt about the declaration of war?

● How does Tommo’s feelings towards Charlie change within this chapter?

Starter Timing
5 mins
● Silent Reading
3 mins
● Students copy date, title and learning objective 4 mins

● Ask students to spend one min discussing their impression of the war as it has been described so far in the
book . Thought shower responses onto board, feeding back both positive and negative responses.
Main lesson
7 mins
● Read Chapter ‘Twenty five past three’ (pg 135-141)
5 mins
● Ask students to write down 3 words that help to describe Tommo’s feelings during this part of the text. They
5 mins
must justify their views.
● Explain to students that although the text has been well written, it is hard to imagine what it would have been
like. Explain to students that I am going to play them some sounds the soldiers may have experienced. Play
sounds and as students are listening they should jot down further words to describe how soldiers might be 3 mins
feeling.
5 mins
● Present the students with the ‘Declaration of War’. Ask the students to stick the declaration into their books
and read through.
 ● Ask students to consider how Tommo would have felt about the declaration of war based on what we have
just read. Ask students to draw a picture of Tommo looking either happy or sad about the declaration labelling
their drawings with reasons why. Students feedback and share their ideas.
Plenary
8 mins
● Read Chapter ‘Twenty five past three’ (pg 141-149)
1 min
● Pose question: How does Tommo feel about Charlie in this chapter? Give students one min to discuss 5 mins

● Organise students into groups of 4 and ask them to create two still images that contrast two feelings Tommo 5 mins
has towards Charlie within this chapter.
● Students show work and explain their choice of still image.
Differentiation / Extension / Assessment opportunities
Differentiation by task: variety of learning styles and opportunities to work individually, in pairs and in groups
Differentiation by outcome: responses to tasks
Assessment: Work in today’s lesson in building up to a written response
Literacy / Numeracy / ICT / Health & safety / B & E / SMSC / WRL
Out of hours learning
NA

Evaluation

Great Britain Declares War on Germany

Great Britain is in a state of war with Germany. It was officially stated at the Foreign Office last
night that Great Britain declared war against Germany at 7pm. The British Ambassador in
Berlin has been handed his passport.

War was Germany's reply to our request that she should respect the neutrality of Belgium,
whose territories we were bound in honour and by treaty obligations to maintain inviolate.

Speaking in a crowded and hushed House the Premier yesterday afternoon made the following
statement: 'We have made a request to the German Government that we shall have a
satisfactory assurance as to the Belgian neutrality before midnight tonight.'

The German reply to our request, officially stated last night, was unsatisfactory.

The King and His Navy

The King has addressed the following message to Admiral Sir John Jellicoe: 'At this grave
moment in our national history I send to you and, through you, to the officers and men of the
fleets, of which you have assumed command, the assurance of my confidence that under your
direction they will revive and renew the old glories of the Royal Navy, and prove once again the
sure shield of Britain and of her Empire in the hour of trial.'

The above message has been communicated to the senior naval officers on all stations outside
of home waters.
 It was reported yesterday evening that Germany had taken the first hostile step by destroying a
British mine-layer.

At the present time Germany is in a state of war with: Great Britain, Russia, France and
Belgium.

'Germany tried to bribe us with peace to desert our friends and duty. But Great Britain has
preferred the path of honour.'

It would seem as if Germany, in her ambition to control the destiny of the whole of Europe,
were ready to embark on any grandiose scheme of adventure, however precarious her
chances.

So far as Great Britain is concerned, her attitude has always been plain, straightforward and
perfectly intelligible. She was prepared to stand aside from the conflict that has now involved
practically the whole of Europe.

But she insisted and had to insist on two things: these were that Belgium's neutrality should be
respected; and that the German fleet should not bombard defenceless French towns.

Germany tried to bribe us with peace to desert our friends and duty. But Great Britain
has preferred the path of honour.

Lesson Twelve

Teacher Ms/Mrs Subject English

Date Lesson 1 2 3 4 5 No. in group Set/group
Girls Boys Year 8
KS3/4 / GCSE / Cert. G/T SEN
Non exam

Context
Develop our understanding of the realities of war
The work in today’s lesson will prepare students for an imagined response

Learning objective/s
W11 appreciate the impact of figurative language in texts
R4 review their developing skills as active, critical readers who search for meaning using a range of reading
strategies
R5 trace the development of themes, values or ideas in texts
R11 investigate the different ways familiar themes are explored and presented by different writers
● How does the use of imagery contribute to our understanding of the gas attacks?

● How is Tommo feeling?

Starter Timing
5 mins
● Silent Reading
3 mins
● Students copy date, title and learning objective 2 mins

● Recap imagery: simile, metaphor and personification

Main lesson
2 mins
 ● Give students opening extract of the gas attack and ask students to read through
8 mins
independently.
● Ask students to consider how the author has used imagery to describe the gas attack. Hand
3 mins
out chart. Students work in pairs to complete the chart. Feedback. Do students think the gas
attack is effectively described?
5 mins
● Explain to students that there is a famous poem that describes the effect of a gas attack by
Wilfred Owen called Dulce et Decorum est. Hand out copies of the poem and read through.
5 mins
● Ask students to consider the following: What is the main image? Why is this an effective
image? How does the poet develop this imagery? Give one min to discuss and then 4 mins
feedback, discussing as a class the imagery within this poem.
● Students compare the extract from Private Peaceful with the poem, drawing up a list of
similarities and differences in a) narrative detail and b) language.
● Students create a wordbank to describe the feelings of Tommo.
Plenary
13 mins
● Read Chapter ‘Nearly four o’clock’ (pages 150-163). Students describe Tommo’s feelings
orally.
Differentiation / Extension / Assessment opportunities
Differentiation: opportunities to work individually and in pairs
Differentiation by outcome: responses to texts
Assessment: building up to a written assessment next lesson.
Literacy / Numeracy / ICT / Health & safety / B & E / SMSC / WRL
Out of hours learning
NA
Evaluation

We grab our rifles and fix bayonets. We’re on the

firestep looking out into no-man’s-land and we see it
rolling towards us, this dreaded killer cloud we have
heard so much about but have never seen for ourselves
until now. Its deadly tendrils are searching ahead,
feeling their way forward in long yellow wisps, scenting
me, searching for me. Then finding me out, the gas
turns and drifts straight for me. I’m shouting inside my
gas mask. “Christ! Christ!” Still the gas comes on,
wafting over our wire, through our wire, swallowing
everything in its path.
I hear again in my head the instructor’s voice, see him
shouting at me through his mask when we went out on
our last exercise. “You’re panicking in there, Peaceful.
A gas mask is like God, son. It’ll work bloody miracles
for you, but you’ve got to believe in it.” But I don’t
believe in it! I don’t believe in miracles.
The gas is only feet away now. In a moment it will be
on me, around me, in me. I crouch down hiding my face
between my knees, hands over my helmet, praying it
will float over my head, over the top of the trench and
seek out someone else. But it does not. It’s all around
me. I tell myself I will not breath, I must not breath.
Through a yellow mist I see the trench filing up with it.
It drifts into the dugouts, snaking into every nook and
cranny, looking for me. Its wants to seek us all out, to
kill us all, every one of us. Still I do not breathe. I see
 Lesson Thirteen

Teacher Ms/Mrs Subject English

Date Lesson 1 2 3 4 5 No. in group Set/group
Girls Boys Year 8
KS3/4 / GCSE / Cert. G/T SEN
Non exam

Context
Students use previous learning to help them write an imagined response to gas attack

Learning objective/s
W11 appreciate the impact of figurative language in texts
S6 explore and compare different methods of grouping sentences into paragraphs of continuous text that are
clearly focused and well developed
S7 develop different ways of linking paragraphs, using a range of strategies to improve cohesion and
coherence
Wr2 re-read work to anticipate the effect on the reader and revise style and structure, as well as accuracy,
with this is mind
Wr6 experiment with figurative language in conveying a sense of character and setting

● How has the gas attack affected Tommo?

Starter Timing
5 mins
● Silent Reading
3 mins
● Students copy date, title and learning objective 5 mins

● Hand out extracts from soldier’s diaries / letters where they talk about the gas attacks.
Students read and feedback their thoughts, recapping last lessons work.
Main lesson
1 min
● Explain to students the task for today’s lesson. Students must write a letter from Tommo
to Charlie telling him about the gas attack. 3 mins
● Hand out task sheet and criteria and read through with students, explaining elements the
15 mins
students don’t understand. 4 mins
● Students work on task in silence for fifteen minutes.
4 mins
● Ask students to swap their work with a partner. Students to peer assess each other’s
work, looking to find evidence that the student has worked to meet the criteria.
● Students to discuss each other’s work, identifying the strengths of the piece of writing and
ways in which to make it better.
Plenary
15 mins
● Students continue working on the task in silence for fifteen minutes
Differentiation / Extension / Assessment opportunities
Differentiation by task: offer low ability students sentence starters
Differentiation by outcome: students responses to task
Assessment: Peer assessment opportunity, WAF1, WAF2, WAF3, WAF4, WAF7
Literacy / Numeracy / ICT / Health & safety / B & E / SMSC / WRL
Out of hours learning
NA

Evaluation

Lance-Sergeant Elmer Cotton, Northumberland Fusiliers: 'Propped up

against a wall was a dozen men - all gassed...'

Propped up against a wall was a dozen men - all gassed - their colours were
black, green and blue, tongues hanging out and eyes staring - one or two
were dead and others beyond human aid, some were coughing up green froth
from their lungs - as we advanced we passed many more men lying in the
ditches and gutterways - shells were bursting all around.

My respirator fell to pieces with the continual removal and readjustment - the gas
closed my eyes and filled them with matter and I could not see. I was left lying in the
trench with one other gassed man and various wounded beings and corpses and forced
to lie and spit, cough and gasp the whole of the day in that trench.

Lance-Corporal AJ Abraham, 8th Battalion Queen's Regiment:

'Although our road was only slightly sunken it lay at the foot of a
gentle slope and thus acted as a gas trap...'

Although our road was only slightly sunken it lay at the foot of a gentle slope
and thus acted as a gas trap. Our Colonel and our Medical Officer had both
been affected by the stuff and during the morning they were carried away on
stretchers. The rest of us stayed out there all day, coughing and retching and
gradually going blind...

Next day, with a label hung on each of us, and equipped with nothing but our
tin hats and gas masks, ha ha, we groped our way outside with the Quarter-
Master-Sergeant leading and each of us hanging on to the tail of the jacket of
the man in front of him...

Rifleman Harold Clegg, 3/6th King's Liverpool Regiment: 'Our eyes

now began to feel irritated. All and sundry commenced to vomit...'

Our eyes now began to feel irritated. All and sundry commenced to vomit. I
heard several men complain about the pain in their eyes, some even
complained of going blind; one by one these fellows made their way to the
First Aid Dressing Station. The stream of men increased, those who could see
led the way while the others formed a queue behind, each one placing his
hands on the shoulders of his predecessor for guidance...

The symptoms were as follows: blindness, deafness, loss of voice, inability to

swallow, weakness, high fever, burns on exposed and delicate parts of the
anatomy, choking cough, difficult breathing.
Bombardier JW Palmer, 26th Brigade RFA: '...the faces of our lads
who lay in the open changed colour and presented a gruesome
spectacle...'

[By the afternoon]...the faces of our lads who lay in the open changed colour
and presented a gruesome spectacle. Their faces and hands gradually
assumed a blue and green colour and their buttons and metal fittings on their
uniform were all discoloured. Many lay there with their legs drawn up and
clutching their throats.

In 1930 H. S. Clapham published a book of his experiences during the

First World War called Mud and Khaki: The Memories of an
Incomplete Soldier.

The shells came over just above the parapet, in a flood, much more quickly
than we could count them. After a quarter of an hour of this sort of thing,
there was a sudden crash in the trench and ten feet of the parapet, just
beyond me, was blown away and everyone around blinded by the dust. With
my first glance I saw what looked like half a dozen bodies, mingled with
sandbags, and then I smelt gas and realised that these were gas shells. I had
my respirator on in a hurry and most of our own men were as quick. The
others were slower and suffered for it. One man was sick all over the sandbag
and another was coughing his heart up. We pulled four men out of the debris
unharmed. One man was unconscious, and died of gas later. I started at once
to build up the parapet again, for we had been laid open to the world in front,
but the gas lingered about the hole for hours, and I had to give up as it made
me feel very sick.

General John French, despatch (15th June, 1915)

All the scientific resources of Germany have apparently been brought into
play to produce a gas of so virulent and poisonous a nature that any human
being brought into contact with it is first paralysed and then meets with a
lingering and agonising death.

Following a heavy bombardment, the enemy attacked the French Division at

about 5 p.m., using asphyxiating gases for the first time. Aircraft reported that
at about 5 p.m. thick yellow smoke had been seen issuing from the German
trenches
between Langemarck and Bixschoote. The French reported that two
simultaneous attacks had been made east of the Ypres-Staden Railway, in
which these asphyxiating gases had been employed.

What follows almost defies description. The effect of these poisonous gases
was so virulent as to render the whole of the line held by the French Division
mentioned above practically incapable of any action at all. It was at first
impossible for anyone to realise what had actually happened. The smoke and
fumes hid everything from sight, and hundreds of men were thrown into a
comatose or dying condition, and within an hour the whole position had to be
abandoned, together with about 50 guns.

William Pressey was gassed on 7th June 1917 at Messines Ridge. He

survived the attack and later wrote about the experience of being
gassed.

I was awakened by a terrific crash. The roof came down on my chest and legs
and I couldn't move anything but my head. I found I could hardly breathe.
Then I heard voices. Other fellows with gas helmets on, looking very
frightened in the half-light, were lifting timber off me and one was forcing a
gas helmet on me. Even when you were all right, to wear a gas helmet was
uncomfortable, your nose pinched, sucking air through a canister of
chemicals.

I was put into an ambulance and taken to the base, where we were placed on
the stretchers side by side on the floor of a marquee. I suppose I resembled a
kind of fish with my mouth open gasping for air. It seemed as if my lugs were
gradually shutting up and my heart pounded away in my ears like the beat of
a drum. On looking at the chap next to me I felt sick, for green stuff was
oozing from the side of his mouth.

To get air in my lungs was real agony. I dozed off for short periods but
seemed to wake in a sort of panic. To ease the pain in my chest I may
subconsciously have stopped breathing, until the pounding of my heart woke
me up. I was always surprised when I found myself awake, for I felt sure that I
would die in my sleep.
 Task Sheet

You are going to write a letter from Tommo to Charlie telling him about the gas
attack.

Content:
● Describe the moment you realised that you were about to be gassed

● Describe the appearance of the gas as it came over

● Explain how the other soldier’s reacted to the gas and what you saw
happening around you
● Describe your own feelings about what was going on

● Explain to Charlie the effects of the gas and what effect it specifically had on
you

Criteria to help you achieve a level 5:

● Have you written in a form appropriate for a letter describing the gas attack?

● Have you written a clear opening and ended the letter appropriately?

● Have you maintained the viewpoint of Tommo throughout the whole of the
letter?
● Have you written in a style that is appropriate for 1914? Have you used
words that would be used during that time period?
● Have you used paragraphs effectively and linked these paragraphs with
connectives?
● Have you used figurative language to describe the appearance of the gas?

Task Sheet

You are going to write a letter from Tommo to Charlie telling him about the gas
attack.

Content:
● Describe the moment you realised that you were about to be gassed
 ● Describe the appearance of the gas as it came over

● Explain how the other soldier’s reacted to the gas and what you saw
happening around you
● Describe your own feelings about what was going on

● Explain to Charlie the effects of the gas and what effect it specifically had on
you

Criteria to help you achieve a level 5:

● Have you written in a form appropriate for a letter describing the gas attack?

● Have you written a clear opening and ended the letter appropriately?

● Have you maintained the viewpoint of Tommo throughout the whole of the
letter?
● Have you written in a style that is appropriate for 1914? Have you used
words that would be used during that time period?
● Have you used paragraphs effectively and linked these paragraphs with
connectives?
● Have you used figurative language to describe the appearance of the gas?

Lesson Fourteen

Teacher Ms/Mrs Subject English

Date Lesson 1 2 3 4 5 No. in group Set/group
Girls Boys Year 8
KS3/4 / GCSE / Cert. G/T SEN
Non exam

Context
Students have written a letter from Tommo to Charlie about the gas attack. In this lesson students will receive
feedback and will be expected to redraft letter for homework, taking into account comments / targets.
We will finish reading the novel in today’s lesson.

Learning objective/s
R2 re-read work to anticipate the effect on the reader and revise style and structure, as well as accuracy, with
this in mind
R13 read a substantial text, revising and refining interpretations of subject matter, style and technique

● How can I improve my piece of writing?

● How does the story of Private Peaceful end?

Starter Timing
5 mins
● Silent Reading
3 mins
● Students copy date, title and learning objective 7 mins

● Ask students to look at my comments on their work from last lesson and read through 3 mins
 their targets. Ask students to re-write 1st paragraph bearing in mind the comments I have
made.
● Issue homework. Students re-draft letter from Tommo to Charlie bearing in my mind
comments made. Work to be completed on lined paper or on the computer.
Main lesson
2 mins
● Recap reading from last lesson and focus on how Tommo is feeling, asking students to
23 mins
explain their POV.
● Read pages 163-186
Plenary
10 mins
● Ask students to privately respond to the book in any way they feel – drawing, a letter, a
review etc. Students could re-title novel. Have some prompting questions to guide them
if they need this. 3 mins
● Discuss responses and consider why this book was short listed for the Carnegie prize.
Differentiation / Extension / Assessment opportunities
Differentiation by outcome: students will have received personal feedback on their work from last lesson and
will have personal targets to which they have to work.
Differentiation by task: the way the students can respond to the text it up to them
Literacy / Numeracy / ICT / Health & safety / B & E / SMSC / WRL
Out of hours learning
Redraft letter from Tommo to Charlie taking on board any comments / targets. Work to be completed on lined
paper or on the computer.

Evaluation

Lesson Fifteen

Teacher Ms/Mrs Subject English

Date Lesson 1 2 3 4 5 No. in group Set/group
Girls Boys Year 8
KS3/4 / GCSE / Cert. G/T SEN
Non exam

Context
Finished reading the novel.
Have focused a lot of attention on the relationship between Tommo and Charlie. Will now develop this to write a literature
essay.

Learning objective/s
R3 make notes in different ways, choosing a form which suits the purpose
R4 review their developing skills as active, critical readers who search for meaning using a range of reading strategies
R5 trace the development of themes, values or ideas in texts
R10 analyse the overall structure of a text to identify how key ideas are developed
Wr2 re-read work to anticipate the effect on the reader and revise style and structure, as well as accuracy, with this in
mind

● Explore how Tommo and Charlie’s relationship develops over the course of the novel. Why does Tommo believe
he lives in Charlie’s glow?
Starter Timing
5 mins
● Silent Reading
3 mins
● Students copy date, title and learning objective 5 mins

● Hand out quotations taken from the story at various points. Ask students to sequence quotations in
the order they appear in the story. Feedback so that all students have the quotations in the right
order. Explain that these quotations all reveal Tommo’s feelings towards Charlie at a particular
time and that this is what we are going to explore in today’s lesson.
Main lesson
20 mins
● Hand students worksheet. Ask students to work in pairs to identify the range of feelings Tommo
has for his brother at various points within the story. For each quotation ask students to pick out a
key phrase / sentence that they think tell us about how Tommo feels towards Charlie at that point in
the story. Ask students to identify the feeling and explain why he feels the way he does at that
point. Modal example one and then allow students 20 mins to complete chart. 5 mins
● Hand students essay plan and go through with students.
Plenary
10 mins
● Students write introduction to the essay outlining the name of the book, the author and overview of
the story with focus on the characters Tommo and Charlie. Students have word limit of 100 words
in which they need to be concise. 5 mins
● Students feedback their introductions to one another and ensure that introductions are concise.
Differentiation / Extension / Assessment opportunities
Differentiation by outcome: introduction to essay will vary
Differentiation by task: students have opportunity to work independently and in pairs
Assessment: Students are working to formal literature response to book
Literacy / Numeracy / ICT / Health & safety / B & E / SMSC / WRL
Out of hours learning
NA

Evaluation

“Piggyback?” says Charlie. He sees my eyes are full of tears and knows how it is. Charlie
always knows how it is. He’s three years older than me, so he’s done everything and
knows everything. He’s strong, too, and very good at piggybacks. So I hop up and cling
on tight, crying behind my closed eyes, trying not to whimper out loud.

I look up to see Charlie grabbing him round the neck and pulling him to the ground.
They’re rolling over and over, punching each other and swearing. The whole school has
gathered round to watch now, egging them on. That’s when Mr Munnings comes running
out of the school, roaring like a raging bull. He pulls them apart, takes them by their collars
and drags them off inside the school. Luckily for me Mr Munnings never even notices me
sitting there, bleeding. Charlie gets the cane, and so does Jimmy Parsons – six strokes
each. So Charlie saves me twice that day. The rest of us stand there in the school yard in
silence, listening to the strokes and counting them. Big Jimmy Parsons gets it first, and he
keeps crying out: “Ow, sir! Ow, sir! Ow, sir!” But when it’s Charlie’s turn, all we hear are
the whacks, and then the silences in between. I am so proud of him for that. I have the
bravest brother in the world.

Both of them being older than me, Molly by two years, Charlie by three, they always ran
faster than I did. I seem to have spent much of my life watching them racing ahead of me,
leaping the high meadow grass, Molly’s plaits whirling about her head, their laughter
mingling. When they got too far ahead I sometimes felt they wanted to be without me. I
would whine at them then to let them know I was feeling all miserable and abandoned, and
they’d wait for me to catch up….
I think, without knowing it, I had always charted my own growing up by constant
comparison to Molly and Charlie. Day by day I was becoming even more painfully aware of
how far behind them I was. I wasn’t just smaller and slower than they were – I had never
liked that, but I was used to it by now. The trouble was that it was becoming evident to me
that the gap between us was more serious, and that it was widening….
…..Then quite suddenly, just after my twelfth birthday, the last of the larking was all over.
Charlie and Molly had left school and I was alone…
…Charlie would come home quite late in the evenings as Father had before him, and he’d
hang his coat up on Father’s peg and put his boots outside in the porch where Father’s
boots had always been. He warmed his feet in the bottom oven when he came in out of
the coldof a winter’s day, just as Father had done. That was the first time in my life I was
ever really jealous of Charlie.

Charlie looked across at Molly. The look between them said it all, and I knew then that I
had been betrayed.
“Yes,” said Charlie.
I couldn’t believe what he was saying. They hadn’t told me. They’d been meeting in secret
and neither of them had told me….
…That night I lay there beside Charlie not speaking. I was so filled with anger and
resentment towards him that I never wanted to speak to him again, nor to Molly come to
that. Then out of our silence he said: “All right, I should’ve told you, Tommo. Molly said I
should tell you. But I didn’t want to. I couldn’t, that’s all.”
“Why not?” I asked. For several moments he did not reply.
“Because I know, and she does too. That’s why she wouldn’t tell you herself,” Charlie
said.
“Know what?”
“When it was just letters, it didn’t seem to matter so much. But later, after we began
seeing each other…we didn’t want to hide it from you, Tommo honest. But we didn’t want
to hurt you either. You love her, don’t you?” I didn’t answer. There was no need. “Well,
so do I, Tommo. So you’ll understand why I’m going to go on seeing her. I’ll find a way no
matter what that old cow says.” He turned to me. “Still friends?” he said.
“Friends,” I mumbled, but I did not mean it.
I tried never to be alone with Molly for I did not know what to say to her any more. I didn’t
stop to drink with Charlie any more at The Duke, for the same reason. On the farm, I took
every opportunity that came my way to work on my own, so as to be nowhere near him. I
volunteered for any fetching and carrying that had to be done away from the farm. Farmer
Cox seemed more than happy for me to do that. He was always sending me off with the
horse and cart on some errand or other: bringing back feed from the merchants maybe,
fetching the seed potatoes, or perhaps taking a pig to market to sell for him. Whatever it
was, I took my time about it and Father Cox never seemed to notice. But Charlie did. He
said I was skiving off work, but he knew that all I was doing was avoiding him. We knew
each other so well. We never argued, not really; perhaps it was because neither of us
wanted to hurt the other. We both knew enough hurt had been done already, that more
would only widen the rift between us and neither of us wanted that.

“Who would you rather I look after, Molly,” I replied. “All of you at home who can perfectly
well look after yourselves? Or Charlie, who’s always getting himself into nasty scrapes,
even at home?” When they had no answer to this, they knew I’d won, and I knew it too. I
was going to fight in the war with Charlie and no one could stop me now.
I’ve had two long years to think on why I decided like that, on the spur of the moment, to
go with Charlie. In the end I suppose it was because I couldn’t bear the thought of being
apart from him. We’d lived our lives always together, shared everything, even our love for
Molly. Maybe just didn’t want him to have this adventure without me.

They gave us rifles and packs and trenching shovels. We learnt to run up hills with heavy
packs, and how to shoot straight. Charlie didn’t have to be taught. On the rifle range he
proved to be far and away the best shot in the company. When they gave him his red
marksman’s badge I was so proud of him.

My head was swimming. I was staggering now, not running and barely able to keep
upright. My back was on fire with pain. I simply hadn’t the strength to life the rifle above
my head at all. I remember hearing a shout, knowing it was Charlie, and wondering why he
was shouting. Then I passed out. When I woke in my tent they told me what had
happened. Charlie had broken ranks and run at Hanley, screaming at him. He hadn’t
actually hit him, but he had stood there nose to nose with Hanley telling him exactly what
he thought of him. They said it was magnificent, that everyone cheered when he’d
finished. But Charlie had been marched off to the guardroom under arrest.
The next day, in heavy rain, the whole battalion was paraded to witness Charlie’s
punishment. He was brought out and lashed to a gun wheel. Field Punishment Number
One, they called it. The brigadier in command sat high on his horse and said that this
should be a warning to all of us, that private Peaceful had got off lightly, that
insubordination in time of war could be seen as mutiny and that mutiny was punishable by
death, by the firing squad. All day long Charlie was lashed there in the rain, legs apart,
arms spread-eagled. As we marched past him, Charlie smiled at me. I tried to smile back,
but no smile came, only tears. He seemed to me like Jesus hanging on the cross in the
church back home in Iddlesleigh. And I thought then of the hymn we used to sing in
Sunday school, What a friend we have in Jesus, and sang it to myself only to banish my
tears as I marched. I remembered Molly singing it down in the orchard when we buried
Joe’s mouse, and as I remembered I found myself involuntarily changing the words,
changing Jesus into Charlie. I sang it to myself under my breath as we were marched
away. “What a friend I have in Charlie.”
But we couldn’t do it without Charlie either. It’s Charlie who keeps us together, breaks up
our squabbles (which are many and frequent now that we are so closely confined together)
and jollies each of us along when we get downhearted. He’s become like a big brother to
everyone. After Sergeant Hanley and the field punishment, and the way Charlie managed
to smile through it all, there isn’t a man in the company who doesn’t look up to him. Being
his real brother I could feel I live in his shadow, but I never have and I do not now. I live in
his glow.

From under the wire a drak shape shifted and moved towards me. Not a dream, not one of
my make-believe stories. It was Charlie. I could see his face now and he could see mine.
“Tommo, you dozy beggar, you. Give us a hand, will you?” I grabbed him and tumbled him
down into the trench. “Am I glad to see you!” he said. We hugged one another then. I
don’t think we ever had before. I cried, and tried unsuccessfully to hide it, until I felt him
crying too…..
…..I knew I should have been pleased for him, and I wanted to be, but I just could not bring
myself to think that way. All I could think was that we’d come to this war together. We’d
stuck together through thick and thin, and now he was breaking the bond between us, and
deserting me, Worst of all he was going home without me, and he was so unashamedly
happy about it…..
…..But the evening after Charlie had left for Blighty I wasn’t thinking of that at all. I was in
the estaminet in Pop drowning my anger in beer. And it was anger I was drowning, not just
sorrows: anger at Charlie for abandoning me, anger that he was to see Molly and home,
and that I was not.

Charlie came instead, just strolled into our dugout as if he’d been gone five minutes.
“Afternoon, Tommo. Afternoon, all,” he said, grinning from ear to ear. His arrival gave us
all new heart. With Sergeant Hanley still on our backs, always on the prowl, we had our
champion back, the only one of us who had ever faced him down. As for me, I had my
guardian back, my brother and my best friend. Like everyone else I felt suddenly safer.

I try to close my mind to what is happening at this minute to Charlie. I try just to think of
Charlie as he was at home, as we all were. But all I can see in my mind are the soldiers
leading Charlie out into the field. He is not stumbling. He is not struggling. He is not
crying out. He is walking with his head held high, just as he was after Mr Munnings
caned him at school that day. Maybe there’s a lark rising, or a great crow wheeling into
the wind above him. The firing squad stands at ease, waiting. Six men, their rifles
loaded and ready, each one wanting only to get it over with. They will be shooting one of
their own and it feels to them like murder. They try not to look at Charlie’s face.
Charlie is tied to the post. The padre says a prayer, makes the sign of a cross on his
forehead and moves away. It is cold now but Charlie does not shiver. The officer, his
revolver drawn, is looking at his watch. They try to put a hood over Charlie’s head, but
he will not have it. He looks up to the sky and sends his last living thoughts back home.
“Present! Ready! Aim!”
He closes his eyes and as he waits he sings softly. “Oranges and Lemons, say the bells
of St. Clements.” Under my breath I sing it with him. I hear the echoing volley. It is
done. It is over. With that volley a part of me has died with him. I turn back to go to the
solitude of my hay barn, and I find I am far from alone in my grieving. All over the camp I
see them standing to attention outside their tents. And the birds are singing.
 Explore how Tommo and Charlie’s relationship develops over the
course of the novel. Why does Tommo believe he lives in Charlie’s
glow?

Point Evidence Explanation

‘Charlie always knows
how it is’
Explore how Tommo and Charlie’s relationship develops over
the course of the novel. Why does Tommo believe he lives in
Charlie’s glow?

Introduction
● What is the name of the book you have been studying? Who wrote the
book?
● What is the book about?

● What are you going to do in this essay?

Main
 ● Identify five different points in the story when the relationship between
Tommo and Charlie develops / changes.
● Use the PEE structure to explore how their relationship develops /
changes. Choose your quotations carefully and make sure you explain
what you have learnt about Tommo and Charlie’s relationship through
the quotations you have used.
● If I were doing the essay I might concentrate on;
o Tommo and Charlie’s relationship whilst at school;
o Tommo and Charlie’s relationship with Molly;
o Tommo and Charlie’s relationship after Tommo discovers
Charlie and Molly have secretly been seeing each other;
o Tommo and Charlie’s relationship at war and
o Tommo and Charlie’s relationship at the end of the novel
● Consider why Tommo might feel that he lives in Charlie’s glow rather
than his shadow. What evidence is there for this within the text?

Conclusion
● What do you think of Tommo and Charlie’s relationship? Summarise
how it develops over the course of the story.
● Is it true that Tommo lives in Charlie’s glow? Or do you think he lives in
Charlie’s shadow? Why?

How am I going to be assessed?

This assessment is testing your reading.

AF2 AF3
Understand, describe, select or Deduce, infer or interpret
retrieve information, events or information, events or ideas
ideas from texts and use from text
 quotation and reference to text
Level 4
● Some relevant points ● Comment shows inference
identified based on evidence from
different points in the text
● Comments supported by
some generally relevant ● Inferences not always
textual reference or rooted securely in the text.
quotation. May lack focus. Comments are often
repeating narrative or
content
Level 5
● Most relevant points ● Use of inference and
identified deduction from textual
evidence shown in
● Comments supported by
comments
apt textual reference or
quotation, even when ● Comments develop
points made are not explanation of textual
always accurate evidence
Level 6
● Evidence of understanding ● Student can use inference
is presented and and deduction to identify
developed different layers of meaning
● Relevant points and ideas ● Student shows insight
are illustrated by reference
to the text
● Student has selected
relevant quotations and
presented them in a
convincing manner

Student comment

Teacher comment

Overall level

Targets for development

Lesson Sixteen

Teacher Ms/Mrs Subject English

Date Lesson 1 2 3 4 5 No. in group Set/group
Girls Boys Year 8
KS3/4 / GCSE / Cert. G/T SEN
Non exam

Context
Finished reading the novel.
Have focused a lot of attention on the relationship between Tommo and Charlie. Will now develop this to write
a literature essay.
Preparation for essay took place last lesson
Students will work on essay today

Learning objective/s
R4 review their developing skills as active, critical readers who search for meaning using a range of reading
strategies
R5 trace the development of themes, values or ideas in texts
R10 analyse the overall structure of a text to identify how key ideas are developed
Wr17 integrate evidence into writing to support analysis or conclusions
● Explore how Tommo and Charlie’s relationship develops over the course of the novel. Why does
Tommo believe he lives in Charlie’s glow?

Starter Timing
5 mins
● Silent Reading
3 mins
● LO: Explore how Tommo and Charlie’s relationship develops over the course of the novel.
Why does Tommo believe he lives in Charlie’s glow?
Main lesson
30 mins
● Students work on their essay in this lesson.
Plenary
15 mins
● Students work on their essay in this lesson.
Differentiation / Extension / Assessment opportunities
Differentiation by outcome: essay response
Assessment opportunities: RAF2, RAF3
Literacy / Numeracy / ICT / Health & safety / B & E / SMSC / WRL
Out of hours learning
Students complete draft of essay at home

Evaluation