Strategic intent

The intent of the English curriculum is to shape our students as writers, readers, speakers and thinkers equipped to survive and thrive in a fast-changing global climate. This will be achieved through rigorously planned lessons, structured home learning, creative teaching and drawing on the support of the whole English department and their wealth of experience, enabling our students to become confident communicators and helping them to achieve the grades required to access a future pathway of their choice.

Home learning

Pupils in years 7 and 8 will be set weekly quizzes by their classroom teacher that reinforce the learning that they have done in class that week. Pupils will also be issued with a knowledge organiser that will support them to learn key content and vocabulary taught within a given unit. Where these are currently available, they are linked below.

Pupils in year 9, 10 and 11 will be set a revision task each week in addition to a quiz that reinforces the learning that they have done in class that week. In years 10 and 11, pupils will be directed to use the revision guide that they have been issued with to complete their revision task. They will also be provided with knowledge organisers to support with their GCSE English Language revision.

Pupils in year 12 and 13 are expected to complete 2 hours of homework, and 3 hours of independent study each week. This is set by their classroom teacher and works to either reinforce learning done in class, or to prepare pupils for future lessons. Pupils are provided with revision guides to support their home learning and independent study. In addition, pupils complete a bi-weekly essay for each of the units that they study.

All lessons link to the school’s core CARES values of Commitment, Aspiration, Resilience, Excellence and Self-Management.

Commitment: pupils are encouraged to put maximum effort into all tasks, and complete homework to a high standard on a weekly basis.

Aspiration: pupils know the importance of English to their future careers. They are encouraged to develop their verbal responses using full sentences, justifying and explaining their answers to difficult questions, and evidence their aspiration through the high-quality presentation of work in their exercise books.

Resilience: pupils deal with challenging topics across the range of texts that they study as part of the curriculum and are required to ‘think hard’ in every lesson. The range of literature that they study from the Elizabethan and Victorian era requires them to show resilience when interpreting and responding to these texts.

Excellence: pupils are encouraged to use high-level vocabulary in their responses, and are exposed to a wide-range of high-quality literature with a view to replicating structures and ideas in their own writing.

Self-management: pupils complete homework on a weekly basis, and are taught how to revise independently at home.

Access and Exposure/ Advice guidance

The themes that are studied through English texts, and the skills that are taught as part of the subject, equip pupils with the skills and knowledge to access a wide range of careers in which speaking, writing and reasoning are key elements.

British Values Coverag

The selection of texts studied address a range of important social and historical issues that are still relevant today. We strive to tackle these issues in an open and inclusive way where every student feels safe and secure in developing and expressing their beliefs. The texts we study, covering a range of literature from key British writers from Elizabethan England to contemporary writers, often deal with themes incorporating democracy (Animal Farm, An Inspector Calls), the rule of law (Romeo & Juliet, The Tempest, Sherlock Holmes), individual liberty (Oliver Twist, Jane Eyre) and mutual respect and tolerance (Power & Conflict poetry, A Christmas Carol)

Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural Coverage

Cultural themes underpin the study of English Literature as genres and texts are compared, contrasted, discussed and evaluated. Each year group studies texts with a clear focus on SMSC: in year 7 we study both ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’, with a focus on morality, and ‘Oliver Twist’, where we examine the social and historical context of Victorian England; in year 8 we explore the issue of colonialism through Shakespeare’s ‘The Tempest’; in year 9 students study the classic novel of Jane Eyre where we examine gender equality and contextual influences; at GCSE we study a variety of forms including the study of poetry from a wide range of cultures, allowing students to celebrate diversity and the contribution of a variety of global communities in modern Britain. Additionally, students engage with the issues of social responsibility in ‘An Inspector Calls’ and ‘A Christmas Carol,’ whilst GCSE students also study Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’, focusing in part on youth violence, gender roles and patriarchal societies.

English Curriculum Coverage