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English

Intention:

Our English Curriculum aims to challenge students and systematically expand their knowledge through exposure to a variety of traditional and modern texts. Students will gain knowledge of language and structural techniques as well as wider appreciation of genre and literary styles. We emphasize the power of language, encouraging students to use it effectively for personal empowerment and to understand its role in everyday life and literature.

By the end of Key Stage 3 (KS3), our goal is for students to have covered a range of text styles each year, reinforcing and advancing their understanding. For instance, each year includes studying a different Shakespeare play to explore genre conventions and become familiar with Shakespeare’s writing style, ensuring a solid foundation for their GCSE studies.

Implementation - curriculum sequence

 
  HT1 HT2 HT3 HT4 HT5 HT6
Year 7 Text: Oliver Twist - Developing Inference and Analysis skills and learning about 19th Century Context Poetry about different cultures - Analytical skills Text: Trash - Exploring characterisation and developing fiction writing skills Dracula - Fiction Writing in the Gothic Style Shakespeare - A Midsummer Night's Dream - Analysis Skills The Teenage Voice - Non-fiction Writing
Year 8 Text: Frankenstein - Developing analytical skills and understanding of the Gothic genre The Romantics - Analysis of Poetry  Text: The Giver - Dystopian Fiction Writing Speeches through time - Non-fiction writing Shakespeare - A Midsummer Night's Dream - Analysis Skills Text: Medusa by Jessie Burton - Fiction Writing
Year 9 Text: Animal Farm - Developing analysis skills Conflict Poetry - Analysis Skills Collection of Short Stories - Fiction Writing Sherlock Holmes - Fiction Writing Shakespeare - Romeo and Juliet - Analysis Skills Transactional Writing - Non-Fiction
Year 10 19th Century Novel: A Christmas Carol and AQA Language Paper 1 Section B (Creative Writing)  19th Century Novel: A Christmas Carol and AQA Language Paper 1 Section A (Reading of Fiction) Shakespeare: Macbeth and AQA Language Paper 2 Section A (Non-Fiction Reading) Shakespeare: Macbeth and AQA Language Paper 2 Section B (Transactional Writing) Worlds and Lives Poetry Anthology and Unseen Poetry and AQA Language Revision
Year 11 Revision for November Mocks Modern Text: An Inspector Calls and Revision Revision Revision Revision and Exams  

 

All students study both AQA GCSE English Language and Literature in KS4. The specification can be found here:

https://www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/english/gcse/english-language-8700

https://www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/english/gcse/english-literature-8702