English

In line with the school’s Aim Aspire Achieve ethos, we strive to provide all students with a broad and rich English curriculum rooted in academic rigour that offers the opportunity for all, regardless of starting points and circumstances, to access and excel at both language and literature. As the fount of all study, it is essential that students are proficient in English and literacy in order for them to excel both in and out of school. Throughout their secondary school journey students are given the chance to study a range of fiction and non-fiction texts to fulfil the requirements of the National Curriculum while developing and building upon the skills required for success in terminal GCSE examinations. In order to close gaps in the acquisition of the cultural capital required for successful scholarship and citizenship, whole-school strategies for encouraging students to speak, listen, read and write like experts are established in English and shared and embedded across the school.

Implementation

Across the Key Stages, progression is secured through the sequential development of the full range of reading, writing and speaking skills required for success at GCSE and beyond. Breadth of study is encouraged as cross-curricular links are established. Collaborative projects between English and History have included using ‘Talk for Writing’ techniques to significantly improve extended writing. We will also be working on marrying historical source materials with non-fiction texts from the 19th century. This will facilitate students with the cultural capital necessary to understand context and to appreciate the power of rhetoric and the pitfalls of propaganda as they appear in literature and in life. Between English and modern foreign languages, standardisation of key grammatical terms ensures understanding of terminology across subject areas, allowing teachers to focus on content-driven learning. Literacy and numeracy strategies are embedded in schemes of work and are shared across the curriculum. Progress is measured against the Pearson steps which are directly linked to final GCSE assessment objectives and success criteria.

To find out more, please view our assessment objectives and learning content here.