English
Please note that our subject pages are currently being updated as we move across to the United Learning Curriculum. If you have any queries regarding our curriculum, please contact us.
English forms an essential part of our pupils’ education. It helps our students understand what it is to be human, through the study of triumph and tragedy, suffering and loss, pride, humility and identity. These common themes weave through our English curriculum to help students understand the world around them and their own place within society. We want our students to hear from a diverse range of writers with the texts that we study. The curriculum celebrates the power of English as a subject and the vital roles that it plays in preparing students for different pathways in the future. We want students to study texts that we, as teachers, love and for them to see the passion that we have for our subject. We want our students to love English. In creating a curriculum that revolves around the human experience, we want our students to be empowered by language and literature and confident in their own opinions. We strongly believe in the transformative power of knowledge and immerse our students in a knowledge-rich English curriculum. We want our students to live rich, meaningful lives, to empower them to participate in the conversations that shape their community and wider society and become self-sufficient citizens. This provides a mirror and a window for students to the human experiences of the world they live in.
Year 7 begins with adventure themes through the texts of The Odyssey and Treasure Island. Both of these texts build upon knowledge from KS2, such as typical heroes and villains and how they are portrayed by writers. In the spring term we move on to study our first Shakespeare play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, which is a Shakespearean comedy play. The final summer term links back to the study of relationships and ends with a modern adventure story, The Girl of Ink and Stars.
In Year 8, we continue to build on the themes explored in Year 7, but with more depth, detail and challenge. Year 8 begins with the gothic text of Dracula and returning to the theme of heroes and villains and is followed by our second Shakespeare text, Richard III, which is a Shakespearean history. In the summer term, the theme of identity and power is further developed with a dystopian short story unit and the prose novel, Long Way Down.
Year 9, then continues to build again on the themes from Year 7 and 8. Year 9 begins with The Crucible, a modern play that links to heroes and villains but as more complex character than in previous texts. In the spring term, we move on to study a unit around Relationships and Identity through a variety of non-fiction and poetry texts. These are thought provoking and link to topics in the modern world today. In the summer term, we and end with our final Shakespeare play, King Lear, a Shakespearean tragedy and then Sherlock Holmes.
Year 10 marks the start of the two-year GCSE curriculum, where pupils will study and master the texts required for GCSE Literature alongside developing, revising and practising GCSE English reading, writing and speaking skills. Our set text studies include: Macbeth by William Shakespeare; A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens; An Inspector Calls by J.B. Priestley; and Power and Conflict Poetry.
In Year 11, pupils sit AQA GCSE English Literature and Language qualifications.
French
Please note that our subject pages are currently being updated as we move across to the United Learning Curriculum. If you have any queries regarding our curriculum, please contact us.
