English

At key stage 3 students follow a course designed to effectively deliver the National Curriculum.

Students will read whole books, for pleasure as independent readers but also as critical readers.  They will study whole books in depth and compare whole texts.  

Students will be taught to write accurately, fluently, effectively and at length. They will learn to consolidate and build on their knowledge of grammar and vocabulary and use Standard English effectively. The skills of planning, drafting, editing and proofreading are embedded in the teaching of writing.

Students will learn how to speak confidently and effectively, using Standard English in a range of formal and informal contexts, including classroom discussions, short speeches, presentations, debates as well as improvising, rehearsing and performing play scripts and poetry.

Students have 6 English lessons across 2 weeks and are regularly assessed in Reading, Writing and in Spoken English.

Homework is set weekly and will often include: preparation for assessments, work related to set texts, wider reading and practice examination style questions.

Students have 6 English lessons across 2 weeks and are regularly assessed in Reading, Writing and Spoken English.

Homework is set weekly on Google Classroom and will often include: research, work related to set texts, wider reading, preparation for assessments and practice examination style questions.

The English Curriculum:

To ensure effective transition from KS2 and to implement the National Curriculum, the curriculum is organised into the following units of work:

• Creative writing
• Literary heritage including works by Charlotte Bronte, Charles Dickens, Laurie Lee
• Study of Non Fiction reading and writing
• Poetry analysis, and writing own poetry
• Reading a play by Shakespeare
• Reading a selection of pre 20th century texts
• Reading contemporary prose

Literary texts studied include:

• A Christmas Carol
• A Midsummer Night’s Dream
• A wide range of modern and literary heritage writers and poets
• A range of contemporary fiction, including texts from the Carnegie Medal awards selection

Enrichment and Interventions

We offer many enrichment and intervention activities to support learning in English which include:

• Catch-up sessions
• In school workshops delivered by arts and theatre groups
• Poetry and Writing Competitions
• Distinctive 'writing for pleasure’ lessons 
• Distinctive ‘Let’s Think in English’ lessons​ 
• Trip to museums and theatres
• Book Clubs
• Homework Clubs
• Scrabble Club
• Library based lessons

Students have 6 English lessons across 2 weeks and are regularly assessed in Reading, Writing and Spoken English.

Homework is set weekly on Google Classroom and will often include: research, work related to set texts, wider reading, preparation for assessments and practice examination style questions.

The English Curriculum:

To ensure effective progress across Key stage 3 and to implement the National Curriculum, the curriculum is organised into units of work:

• A wide selection of seminal world literature: prose, poetry and non-fiction
• Creative writing
• A wide range of modern and literary heritage writers and poets
• Study of Non Fiction reading and writing
• Poetry analysis, comparison and writing
• Reading a Shakespeare play
• Reading contemporary prose

Literary texts studied include:

• Seminal world literature, including work by James Berry and Brian Patten
• Romeo and Juliet
• A wide range of modern and literary heritage writers and poets
• A range of contemporary fiction, including texts from the Carnegie Medal awards selection

Enrichment and Intervention

We offer many enrichment and intervention activities to support learning in English which include:

• Catch-up sessions
• In school workshops delivered by arts and theatre groups
• Poetry and Writing Competitions
• Distinctive 'writing for pleasure’ lessons 
• Distinctive  ‘Let’s Think in English’ lessons​ 
• Trip to museums and theatres
• Book Clubs
• Homework Clubs
• Scrabble Club
• Library based lessons

Students have 7 English lessons across 2 weeks and are regularly assessed in reading, writing and speaking and listening. 

Homework is set weekly on Google Classroom and will often include: research, preparation for assessments, work related to set texts, wider reading and practice examination style questions.

The English Curriculum:

To ensure effective progress across Key stage 3 and to implement the National Curriculum, the curriculum is organised into units of work:

• Poetry analysis, comparison and writing
• Creative writing
• Study of Rhetoric reading and writing
• Reading a Shakespeare play
• Reading historical and contemporary non-fiction texts
• Reading contemporary and pre 20^th century prose

Literary texts studied include:

• A range of contemporary and pre 20^th century poetry
• Julius Caesar
• 19^th century short stories including works written by Kate Chopin, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Conan Doyle and Thomas Hardy
• 20^th century short stories including works written by Nadine Gordimer, Raymond Carver, Doris Lessing and Guy de Maupassant 

Enrichment and Intervention

We offer many enrichment and intervention activities to support learning in English which include:

• Lunch time and after school revision and catch-up sessions
• Distinctive 'writing for pleasure’ lessons 
• Distinctive ‘Thinking  hard’ lessons 
• In school workshops delivered by authors and arts and theatre groups
• Poetry and Writing Competitions
• Trips to museums and theatres

At Key Stage 4 students follow a course designed to effectively deliver the National Curriculum.

Students will be taught how to read and appreciate the depth and power of the English literary heritage. They will also learn to understand and critically evaluate texts. Students will be taught how to seek evidence in the text to support a point of view as well as to analyse and evaluate the impact of a writer’s choice of vocabulary, form, grammatical and structural features- making critical comparisons as well as informed personal responses.

Students will learn to write accurately, fluently, effectively and at length for pleasure and information by adapting their writing for a wide range of purposes and audiences. They will be taught how to select and organise ideas, facts and key points and how to cite evidence, details and quotation effectively. Students will learn how to select and use judiciously vocabulary, grammar, form, and structural and organisational features, including rhetorical devices, to reflect audience, purpose and context, and using Standard English where appropriate. Students will also be taught how to make notes and to draft as well as to revise, edit and proof-read, reflecting on and restructuring their writing, and amending its grammar and vocabulary to improve coherence, consistency, clarity and overall effectiveness while paying attention to the accuracy and effectiveness of grammar, punctuation and spelling.

Pupils will be taught to speak confidently, audibly and effectively using Standard English. They will also learn to work effectively in groups, listen to and build on the contributions of others as well as learning to Improvise, rehearse and perform play scripts and poetry.

Students have 9 English lessons across 2 weeks and are regularly assessed in reading, writing and the study of literary texts.

Students will sit two un-tiered examination papers in both English Language and English Literature at the end of their two year course. Also, they will be assessed in Spoken English through a formal presentation.

Homework is set weekly on Google Classroom and will often include: preparation for assessments, work related to set texts, wider reading and practice examination style questions.

Skills required for GCSE English Language and Literature are embedded into all schemes of work and the curriculum is organised into units of work:

• Reading Poetry –comparative and unseen
• Creative writing in different genres
• Viewpoint writing
• Reading historical and contemporary non-fiction texts
• Reading contemporary and pre 20th century prose

Literary texts studied include:

• Macbeth
• The Sign of Four
• An Inspector Calls
• An anthology of contemporary and pre 20th century Short Stories (Telling Tales)
• A range of contemporary and pre 20th century poetry (Love and relationships)

Enrichment and Intervention:

We offer many enrichment and intervention activities to support learning in English which include:

• After school revision and catch-up sessions
• Some Saturday sessions in the Summer term
• In school workshops delivered by authors and arts and theatre groups
• Trips to museums and theatres

Students have 9 English lessons across 2 weeks as well as a 45 minute after school intervention session and are regularly assessed in reading, writing and the study of literary texts.

Students will sit two un-tiered examination papers in English Language and English Literature at the end of Year 11. Also, they will be assessed in Spoken English through a formal presentation.

Homework is set weekly on Google Classroom and will often include: preparation for assessments, work related to set texts, wider reading and practice examination style questions.

Skills required for GCSE English Language and Literature are embedded into all schemes of work and the curriculum is organised into units of work:

• Reading Poetry –comparative and unseen
• Creative writing in different genres
• Viewpoint writing
• Reading historical and contemporary non-fiction texts
• Reading contemporary and pre 20th century prose

Literary texts studied include:

• Macbeth
• The Sign of Four
• An Inspector Calls
• An anthology of contemporary and pre 20th century Short Stories (Telling Tales)
• A range of contemporary and pre 20th century poetry (Love and relationships)

Enrichment and Intervention:

We offer many enrichment and intervention activities to support learning in English which include:

• After school intervention and catch-up sessions
• A morning revision clinic
• Saturday and holiday intervention programme
• GCSE English Language revision conferences
• GCSE English Literature Master Classes
• In school workshops delivered by arts and theatre groups
• Theatre trips

At Key Stage 5, students can choose to continue the study of English Literature at A Level over two years.

Students follow AQA Specification B for English Literature. The A Level course consists of three units: Aspects of Tragedy, Elements of Crime Writing and the Non-examination Assessment. The first two units are assessed by two external examinations at the end of Year 13. The non-examination assessment will be assessed by teachers.

English Literature

Students follow AQA Specification B for English Literature. The Year 12 AS Level course will be made up of one unit: Aspects of Tragedy. Students are required to study four set texts with a particular focus on the genre of tragedy. They are assessed by two external examinations at the end of Year 12.

The four set texts are Shakespeare’s Othello alongside Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and Keats' poetry selection. Students are expected to comment in detail on the dramatic methods of each writer and explore how each writer draws on aspects of tragedy in their work.

Paper 1: Drama

Written exam: 1 hour 30 minutes; closed book (50 marks)
Weighting: 50% of AS Level
Texts: One Shakespeare play, Othello and one further drama text, Death of a Salesman

The paper will be divided into two sections:

• Section A: One passage-based question on Othello (25 marks)
• Section B: One essay question on Death of a Salesman (25 marks)

Paper 2: Prose and Poetry
Written exam: 1 hour 30 minutes; open book (50 marks)
Weighting: 50% of AS Level
Texts: Poetry set text, Keats’ poetry and one prose set text, The Great Gatsby

The paper will be divided into two sections:

• Section A: One essay question on Keats’ poetry (25 marks)

• Section B: One essay question on The Great Gatsby (25 marks)

In Year 12 there are nine lessons over a two-week period with homework set weekly. Students are expected to spend six hours per week studying outside of lessons, either reading, writing essays, responding to questions set by the teacher or preparing for presentations. Work is regularly assessed and students are given constructive feedback in order to help them progress. Students' private study is also monitored, through regular folder-checks and ongoing discussion.

This is a demanding course which requires students to read attentively and to engage with challenging texts. Students will develop their ability to analyse and evaluate texts both verbally and in writing. We encourage them to be passionate readers with a genuine love and appreciation of literature.

Intervention, Revision and Enrichment

The English Department runs regular intervention sessions for A Level students, as well as some Saturday-morning revision sessions. In addition, the department organises various theatre trips, revision lectures, movie nights, book clubs, opportunities to support younger pupils and author visits throughout the year.

English Literature

Non-examination assessment (NEA): Theory and Independence

Theory and Independence involves the writing of two essays of 1,250 – 1,500 words. One will focus on poetry whilst the other explores a prose text. Your essays will be clearly underpinned by your study of the literary theories explored in AQA’s Critical Anthology. These include feminism, Marxism, eco-criticism, post-colonialism, narrative theory and the value of the literary canon.

Both essays will be assessed by teachers, moderated by AQA and are worth a total of 50 marks (20% of A Level). Students will complete this in Term 1 of Year 13.

Paper 2: Elements of crime writing 

This unit involves the study of 3 literary texts: Kate Atkinson’s When Will There Be Good News?, Graham Greene’s Brighton Rock and a selection of poetry by George Crabbe, Robert Browning and Oscar Wilde.

Students are expected to explore how crime drives these narratives and to consider the many ways in which elements of crime are fundamentally important to the way these texts are structured.

Written exam: 3 hours; open book (75 marks)
Weighting: 40% of A Level
Texts: One set text, poetry by Browning, Crabbe and Wilde and two further set texts, When Will There Be Good News? and Brighton Rock

The paper will be divided into three sections:

• Section A: Compulsory question on an unseen passage (25 marks)
• Section B: One essay question on poetry by Browning, Crabbe and Wilde (25 marks)
• Section C: One essay question which connects When Will There Be Good News? and Brighton Rock (25 marks)

Paper 1: Aspects of Tragedy

Students will revise the two plays and prose texts previously studied in Year 12: Shakespeare’s Othello, alongside Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman and Keats' poetry selection. Students are expected to comment in detail on the dramatic methods of each writer and explore how each writer draws on aspects of tragedy in their work.

Written exam: 2 hours 30 minutes; closed book (75 marks)
Weighting: 40% of A Level
Texts: One Shakespeare text, Othello and two further set texts, Death of a Salesman and Keats’ poetry

The paper will be divided into three sections:

• Section A: One passage-based question on Othello (25 marks)
• Section B: One essay question on Othello (25 marks)
• Section C: One essay question which connects Death of a Salesman and Keats’ poetry (25 marks)

In Year 13 there are nine lessons over a two-week period with homework set weekly. Students are expected to spend six hours per week studying outside of lessons, either reading, writing essays, responding to questions set by the teacher or preparing for presentations. Work is regularly assessed and students are given constructive feedback in order to help them progress. Students' private study is also monitored, through regular folder-checks and ongoing discussion.

This is a demanding course which requires students to read attentively and to engage with challenging texts. Students will develop their ability to analyse and evaluate texts both verbally and in writing. We encourage them to be passionate readers with a genuine love and appreciation of literature.

Intervention, Revision and Enrichment

The English Department runs a weekly after-school support and intervention session for A Level students, as well as some Saturday-morning revision sessions. In addition, the department organises various theatre trips, revision lectures, movie nights, book clubs, opportunities to support younger pupils and author visits throughout the year.