The front entrance of the St. Mary Catholic Academy school building.

Departments

English

Our English Department offers students an enriching program with opportunities and activities that help bring the texts being studied in the classroom to life and that help students develop their literacy skills. As an enhancement of day to day classroom activities, English students are also given the opportunity to attend dramatic productions of the plays studied in the courses.

Beyond our regular program, starting in September 2014, St Mary's is proud to offer International Baccalaureate English A: Literature for grades 11 and 12. Students will be reading literature and writing about it, as well as critically analysing texts. Students will be preparing for their assessment tasks, in order to successfully complete the IB English component of the IB Diploma Program.

Courses

The following courses are available to students:

  • Grade 9: Enriched, Academic, Applied, and Locally Developed

  • Grade 10: Enriched, Academic, Applied and Locally Developed

  • Grade 11: IB Program, University, College, Work Place and Media Studies

  • Grade 12: IB Program, University, College, Work Place, Ontario Secondary School Literacy Course, Writer’s Craft and Yearbook

  • ESL: A, B, C, D, E and English Literacy Development.

Literacy is about more than reading and writing - it is about how we communicate in society. It is about social practices and relationships, about knowledge, language and culture. Literacy - the use of written communication - finds its place in our lives alongside other ways of communicating. Indeed, literacy itself takes many forms: on paper, on the computer screen, on TV, on posters and signs. Those who use literacy take it for granted - but those who cannot use it are excluded from much communication in today’s world. Indeed, it is the excluded who can best appreciate the notion of ‘literacy as freedom’. - UNESCO, Statement for the United Nations Literacy Decade, 2003-2012

 

At St. Mary Catholic Academy, Literacy preparation encompasses all subject areas. In order to help our Grade 10 students prepare for the literacy test, we provide them with an intensive study of all areas of reading and writing. We begin this analysis and practice in Grade 9 and we continue with an intensive preparation program in Grade 10.