Within English, we aim to develop all students’ ability to read, write and communicate orally with imagination and precision. Our units revolve around the exploration of a variety of texts – novels, plays, poems and non-fiction – and provide students with the opportunity to write stories, essays, poems and a wide variety of other forms.
Students in Key Stage 3 are taught within mixed ability groups (their tutor groups), though some students receive further support in small group literacy lessons.
All students take English Language GCSE and English Literature GCSE, with the Year group broadly banded to allow some smaller classes for more intervention. We run regular sessions after school for Year 11 revision as well as extremely successful Saturday morning revision sessions! We are with the AQA Examination Board.
At A Level, we offer both English Literature and English Language and Literature, both with AQA. Film Studies and Media Studies are also offered within the school.
The English Department offers trips, Carnegie Book Award Shadowing, reading groups, author visits and regular Gifted and Talented sessions.
Further resources:
English Knowledge Organisers for each unit from Year 7 to GCSE
Key Stage 3 Extension Reading Journey (English)
MAIN TOPICS COVERED
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YEAR 7
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- Poetry study, leading to an essay
- Non-fiction, involving the study of non-fiction texts and writing non-fiction
- Class novel, looking at characters, themes and style
- Creative writing, exploring a particular genre
- Texts from the past, looking at a 19th century text
- Drama, exploring Shakespeare
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YEAR 8
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- Poetry study , leading to the writing a comparison of two poems
- Non-fiction, writing a comparison of two non-fiction texts and producing a persuasive piece
- Class novel, comparing two passages from a studied novel
- Creative writing, producing a section of narrative (e.g. the opening chapter of a novel)
- Drama, studying Shakespeare
- Texts from the past, exploring a selection of 19th century short stories
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YEAR 9
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- Class novel, studying themes, characters and context in John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men
- Tests from the past, practising GCSE close analysis skills
- Drama, the study of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet
- Non-fiction, preparing GCSE non-fiction skills in reading and writing
- Poetry study, looking at poems from the GCSE English Literature anthology
- Creative writing, producing three short creative pieces
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YEAR 10
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- Poems from the AQA anthology, the conflict and power section
- Study of a modern novel (either Animal Farm or Lord of the Flies) and creative writing
- Study of Macbeth, by Shakespeare
- Study towards the English Language Paper 1
- Study towards the English Language Paper 2
- Study of a 19th century novel (either A Christmas Carol or The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde)
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YEAR 11
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- Poems from the AQA anthology and creative writing
- Revision of the modern novel
- Close reading skills for English Language Paper 1 and English Language Paper 2
- Writing skills for English Language Paper 1 and English Language Paper 2
- Revision of the Shakespeare and 19th century texts
- Revision for the exams
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A LEVEL ENGLISH LITERATURE
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- Unit 1: study of tragedy, including Shakespeare, poetry and a modern play
- Unit 2: the study of crime fiction, including an unseen element
- Unit 3: Non Examined Assessment (coursework) built up of two elements, one poetry and one prose, informed by the study of critical perspectives and theories
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A LEVEL ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE
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- Unit 1: study of a prose text set within a fantasy storyworld (e.g. Frankenstein) and study of a set of texts based around a set theme (e.g. the presentation of Paris)
- Unit 2: study of the works of a poet (e.g. Seamus Heaney, John Donne) and development of re-creative writing skills
- Unit 3: Non Examined Assessment (coursework) comparing a literary text with a non-literary text in terms of ideas and approach
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