English

At Key stage 3 students follow a course designed to effectively deliver the National Curriculum.

Students will read whole books, for pleasure as independent readers but also as critical readers.  They will study whole books in depth and compare whole texts.  

Students will be taught to write accurately, fluently, effectively and at length. They will learn to consolidate and build on their knowledge of grammar and vocabulary and use Standard English effectively. The skills of planning, drafting, editing and proofreading are embedded in the teaching of writing. Students also take part in ‘Writing Challenge’ lessons once a fortnight in order to improve their writing skills and help foster a love of writing.

Students will learn how to speak confidently and effectively, using Standard English in a range of formal and informal contexts, including classroom discussions, short speeches, presentations, debates as well as improvising, rehearsing and performing play scripts and poetry.

Students have 6 English lessons across 2 weeks in Years 7 and 8 and 7 in Year 9 and are regularly assessed in Reading, Writing and in Spoken English.

Homework is set weekly on Google Classroom and will often include: quizzes, spelling tests, preparation for assessments, work related to set texts, wider reading and practice examination style questions.

Students have 6 English lessons across 2 weeks and are regularly assessed in Reading, Writing and Spoken English.

Homework is set weekly on Google Classroom and will often include: quizzes, spelling tests, preparation for assessments, work related to set texts, wider reading and practice examination style questions.

The St Gregory’s Year 7 English curriculum prepares all students to express their ideas, opinions and feelings confidently, both verbally and in writing. It is split into 4 units:

UNIT 1: Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
UNIT 2: Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
UNIT 3: Our Voices: A study of diverse poetry and short stories
UNIT 4: Myths & Legends
FORTNIGHTLY WRITING CHALLENGES: CREATIVE & VIEWPOINT WRITING

Enrichment and Intervention

We offer many enrichment and intervention activities to support learning in English:

• KS3 Catch Up Clinic
• In school workshops delivered by poets and writers
• Poetry and Writing competitions
• Distinctive ‘Writing Challenge’ lessons
• Trips to museums and theatres
• After school clubs: Reading, Creative writing and Scrabble

Students have 6 English lessons across 2 weeks and are regularly assessed in Reading, Writing and Spoken English.

Homework is set weekly on Google Classroom and will often include: quizzes, spelling tests, preparation for assessments, work related to set texts, wider reading and practice examination style questions.

The St Gregory’s Year 8 English curriculum prepares all students to analyse texts confidently, both verbally and in writing. It is split into 4 units:

UNIT 1: Sawbones by Catherine Johnson
UNIT 2: Noughts and Crosses (Play version)- adapted from Malorie Blackman’s novel by Dominic Cooke and Prejudice & Justice Non-Fiction
UNIT 3: Pre 20^th Century Poetry
UNIT 4: Adventure Writing
FORTNIGHTLY WRITING CHALLENGES: CREATIVE & VIEWPOINT WRITING

Enrichment and Intervention

We offer many enrichment and intervention activities to support learning in English which include:

• KS3 Catch Up Clinic
• In school workshops delivered by poets and writers
• Poetry and Writing competitions
• Distinctive ‘Writing Challenge’ lessons
• Trips to museums and theatres
• After school clubs: Reading, Creative writing and Scrabble

The St Gregory’s Year 9 English curriculum prepares all students to evaluate and question texts and their contexts confidently, both verbally and in writing.

Students have 6 English lessons across 2 weeks and are regularly assessed in Reading, Writing and Spoken English.

Homework is set weekly on Google Classroom and will often include: quizzes, spelling tests, preparation for assessments, work related to set texts, wider reading and practice examination style questions.

UNIT 1: The Hate You Give by Angie Thomas
UNIT 2: Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare and The Study of Rhetoric
UNIT 3: Poetic Voices: Unseen to Comparison
UNIT 4: The Gothic
FORTNIGHTLY WRITING CHALLENGES: CREATIVE & VIEWPOINT WRITING

Enrichment and Intervention

We offer many enrichment and intervention activities to support learning in English which include:

• KS3 Catch Up Clinic
• In school workshops delivered by poets and writers
• Poetry and Writing competitions
• Distinctive ‘Writing Challenge’ lessons
• Trips to museums & theatres
• After school clubs: Reading, Creative writing and Scrabble

At Key Stage 4 students follow a course designed to effectively deliver the National Curriculum. The exam board we follow is AQA- for both English Language and English Literature.

Students will be taught how to read and appreciate the depth and power of the English literary heritage. They will also learn to understand and critically evaluate texts. Students will be taught how to seek evidence in the text to support a point of view as well as to analyse and evaluate the impact of a writer’s choice of vocabulary, form, grammatical and structural features- making critical comparisons as well as informed personal responses.

Students will learn to write accurately, fluently, effectively and at length for pleasure and information by adapting their writing for a wide range of purposes and audiences. They will be taught how to select and organise ideas, facts and key points and how to cite evidence, details and quotation effectively. Students will learn how to select and use judiciously vocabulary, grammar, form, and structural and organisational features, including rhetorical devices, to reflect audience, purpose and context, and using Standard English where appropriate. Students will also be taught how to make notes and to draft as well as to revise, edit and proof-read, reflecting on and restructuring their writing, and amending its grammar and vocabulary to improve coherence, consistency, clarity and overall effectiveness while paying attention to the accuracy and effectiveness of grammar, punctuation and spelling.

Students will be taught to speak confidently, audibly and effectively using Standard English. They will also learn to work effectively in groups, listen to and build on the contributions of others as well as learning to improvise, rehearse and perform play scripts and poetry.

Students have 9 English lessons across 2 weeks and are regularly assessed in reading, writing and the study of literary texts.

The exam board we follow is AQA- for both English Language and English Literature.

Students will sit two un-tiered examination papers in both English Language and English Literature at the end of their two year course. Also, they will be assessed in Spoken English through a formal presentation.

Homework is set weekly on Google Classroom and will often include: preparation for assessments, work related to set texts, wider reading and practice examination style questions.

Skills required for GCSE English Language and Literature are embedded into all schemes of work and the curriculum is organised into units of work:

• Reading Poetry- comparative and unseen
• Creative writing in different genres
• Viewpoint writing
• Reading historical and contemporary non-fiction texts
• Reading contemporary and pre 20th century prose

Literary texts studied include:

• Macbeth by William Shakespeare
• The Sign of Four by Arthur Conan Doyle
• Leave Taking by Winsome Pinnock
• AQA poetry anthology- Love and relationships (A range of contemporary and pre 20th century poetry)

Enrichment and Intervention:

We offer many enrichment and intervention activities to support learning in English which include:

• Revision and catch-up sessions
• Some Saturday sessions in the Summer term
• In school workshops delivered by authors and arts and theatre groups
• Theatre trips

Students have 9 English lessons across 2 weeks as well as a 45 minute after school intervention session and are regularly assessed in reading, writing and the study of literary texts.

The exam board we follow is AQA- for both English Language and English Literature.

Students will sit two un-tiered examination papers in English Language and English Literature at the end of Year 11. Also, they will be assessed in Spoken English through a formal presentation.

Homework is set weekly on Google Classroom and will often include: preparation for assessments, work related to set texts, wider reading and practice examination style questions.

Skills required for GCSE English Language and Literature are embedded into all schemes of work and the curriculum is organised into units of work:

• Reading Poetry –comparative and unseen
• Creative writing in different genres
• Viewpoint writing
• Reading historical and contemporary non-fiction texts
• Reading contemporary and pre 20th century prose

Literary texts studied include:

• Macbeth by William Shakespeare
• The Sign of Four by Arthur Conan Doyle (Sets 2-9) OR The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson (Set 1)
• AQA Telling Tales- An anthology of contemporary and pre 20th century Short Stories (Sets 2-9) OR An Inspector Calls by J. B. Priestley (Set 1)
•  AQA poetry anthology- Love and relationships (A range of contemporary and pre 20th century poetry)

Enrichment and Intervention:

We offer many enrichment and intervention activities to support learning in English which include:

• After school intervention and catch-up sessions
• A morning revision clinic
• Saturday and holiday intervention programme
• Revision Conferences/Master Classes
• Theatre trips

At Key Stage 5, students can choose to continue the study of English Literature at A Level over two years.

Students follow AQA Specification B for English Literature. The A Level course consists of three units: Aspects of Tragedy, Elements of Crime Writing and the Non-examination Assessment. The first two units are assessed by two external examinations at the end of Year 13. The non-examination assessment will be assessed by teachers.

English Literature

Students follow AQA Specification B for English Literature. The Year 12 A Level course will cover the following units: Aspects of Tragedy and one essay for the Non-Examination Assessment. Students are required to study three set texts with a particular focus on the genre of tragedy. They are assessed by two external examinations at the end of Year 12.

The four set texts are Shakespeare’s Othello alongside Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman and Keats' poetry selection. Students are expected to comment in detail on the dramatic methods of each writer and explore how each writer draws on aspects of tragedy in their work.

For the Non-Examination Assessment, your assigned supervisor will support you in selecting an appropriate prose text, the relevant literary theory from the AQA Critical Anthology and forming your question. Here are some examples of questions past students have submitted:

• 'In 'Purple Hibiscus', Adichie demonstrates that it is impossible for any of the characters to be free from the legacy of colonialism.'
• Angela Carter ‘questions the restricted choices and limited economic independence of the female characters in The Bloody Chamber.’

Paper 1: Aspects of Tragedy

Written exam: 2 hour 30 minutes; closed book (75 marks)
Weighting: 40% of A Level
Texts: One Shakespeare play, Othello and two further texts, Death of a Salesman and Keats’ poetry

The paper will be divided into three sections:

• Section A: One passage-based question on Othello (25 marks)
• Section B: One essay question on Othello (25 marks)
• Section C: One essay question which connects Death of a Salesman and Keats’ poetry (25 marks)

Non-Examination Assessment: Theory and Independence

You will write the first of two essays for the Non-Examination Assessment in Year 12. The essay will be 1,250-1,500 words focusing on a prose text of your choice, approved by your teacher. Your essay will be clearly underpinned by your study of the literary theories explored in AQA’s Critical Anthology. These include feminism, Marxism, eco-criticism, post-colonialism, narrative theory and the value of the literary canon. Your work will be assessed by your teacher.

Written essay: You will work on this for 6 weeks with guidance from your assigned supervisor (25 marks)

Task: One essay analysing a prose text of your choice through a literary lens

Weighting: 10% of A Level

In Year 12 there are nine lessons over a two-week period with homework set weekly. Students are expected to spend six hours per week studying outside of lessons, either reading, writing essays, responding to questions set by the teacher or preparing for presentations. Work is regularly assessed and students are given constructive feedback in order to help them progress. Students' private study is also monitored, through regular folder-checks and ongoing discussion.

This is a demanding course which requires students to read attentively and to engage with challenging texts. Students will develop their ability to analyse and evaluate texts both verbally and in writing. We encourage them to be passionate readers with a genuine love and appreciation of literature.

Intervention, Revision and Enrichment

The English Department runs regular intervention sessions for A Level students, as well as some Saturday-morning revision sessions. In addition, the department organises various theatre trips, revision lectures, movie nights, book clubs, opportunities to support younger students and author visits throughout the year.

English Literature

Non-examination assessment (NEA): Theory and Independence

You will write the second of two essays for the Non-Examination Assessment in Year 13. The essay will be 1,250-1,500 words focusing on poetry. Your essay will be clearly underpinned by your study of the literary theories explored in AQA’s Critical Anthology. These include feminism, Marxism, eco-criticism, post-colonialism, narrative theory and the value of the literary canon. Your work will be assessed by your teacher.

Your supervisor will support you in selecting an appropriate poetry anthology, the relevant literary theory from the AQA Critical Anthology and forming your question. Here are some examples of questions past students have submitted:

• Duffy creates a vision of a world which renounces our obedience to the fathers and recognises the world that they have described is not the whole world.
• Duffy’s dramatic monologues in Meantime create empathy for those who are alienated by society.

Written essay: You will work on this for 6 weeks with guidance from your assigned supervisor (25 marks)

Task: One essay analysing poetry through a literary lens

Weighting: 10% of A Level

 

Paper 2: Elements of crime writing 

This unit involves the study of 3 literary texts: Kate Atkinson’s When Will There Be Good News?, Graham Greene’s Brighton Rock and a selection of poetry by George Crabbe, Robert Browning and Oscar Wilde.

Students are expected to explore how crime drives these narratives and to consider the many ways in which elements of crime are fundamentally important to the way these texts are structured.

Written exam: 3 hours; open book (75 marks)
Weighting: 40% of A Level
Texts: One set text, poetry by Browning, Crabbe and Wilde and two further set texts, When Will There Be Good News? and Brighton Rock

The paper will be divided into three sections:

• Section A: Compulsory question on an unseen passage (25 marks)
• Section B: One essay question on poetry by Browning, Crabbe and Wilde (25 marks)
• Section C: One essay question which connects When Will There Be Good News? and Brighton Rock (25 marks)

 

Paper 1: Aspects of Tragedy

Students will revise the two plays and prose texts previously studied in Year 12: Shakespeare’s Othello, alongside Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman and Keats' poetry selection. Students are expected to comment in detail on the dramatic methods of each writer and explore how each writer draws on aspects of tragedy in their work.

Written exam: 2 hours 30 minutes; closed book (75 marks)
Weighting: 40% of A Level
Texts: One Shakespeare text, Othello and two further set texts, Death of a Salesman and Keats’ poetry

The paper will be divided into three sections:

• Section A: One passage-based question on Othello (25 marks)
• Section B: One essay question on Othello (25 marks)
• Section C: One essay question which connects Death of a Salesman and Keats’ poetry (25 marks)

In Year 13 there are nine lessons over a two-week period with homework set weekly. Students are expected to spend six hours per week studying outside of lessons, either reading, writing essays, responding to questions set by the teacher or preparing for presentations. Work is regularly assessed and students are given constructive feedback in order to help them progress. Students' private study is also monitored, through regular folder-checks and ongoing discussion.

This is a demanding course which requires students to read attentively and to engage with challenging texts. Students will develop their ability to analyse and evaluate texts both verbally and in writing. We encourage them to be passionate readers with a genuine love and appreciation of literature.

Intervention, Revision and Enrichment

The English Department runs a weekly after-school support and intervention session for A Level students, as well as some Saturday-morning revision sessions. In addition, the department organises various theatre trips, revision lectures, movie nights, book clubs, opportunities to support younger pupils and author visits throughout the year.