English.

Vision / Intent:

The vision of the English department is to build a love of language and literature in our students through inspirational teaching based around memorable and challenging texts. We aim to develop students' vocabulary through challenging reading texts and through developing their writing expertise; allowing them to express themselves clearly and creatively regardless of their starting points.

The teaching of English permeates all subjects and we give students the opportunity to exceed in all areas of their academic studies. We give students opportunities to write creatively, read widely and in a wide range of different genres and to enjoy classic poetry and theatre.

Approach / Philosophy / Implementation

Year 6 English lessons build one the work done in year 5 and aim to emphasise students' enjoyment and understanding of language, especially vocabulary, to support their reading and writing. Students' knowledge of language - gained from stories, poetry and non-fiction texts - will support their increasing fluency as readers and competence as engaging and effective writers.

Students are taught how to write effectively for different audiences and how to control their sentence structure and vocabulary choice for maximum effect. They are given the opportunity to read, discuss and enjoy both significant modern children's authors and classic mythology. They read and write in a variety of genres. 

There is a continued emphasis on the correct use of spelling, punctuation and grammar. These elements will be explicitly taught and pupils will become increasingly confident at using academic language to describe their own and others' writing.

In Year 6, we support the development of good spelling skills and word knowledge through regular spelling challenges based around the key spellings and spelling patterns required for Keystage 2.

In KS3 students will develop an appreciation and love of reading and read increasingly challenging texts. They will read a wide range of fiction and non-fiction texts. They will improve their vocabulary and learn to respond critically to texts.

They will continue to improve their writing so they can write accurately, fluently and effectively. Their writing will become more extended and they will be taught to write well-structured formal essays, narratives, arguments and letters. The explicit teaching of grammar, spelling and punctuation will continue, supported by the homework programme ‘Educake’,  and will help them to structure effective writing.

There is also a strong emphasis on speaking and listening skills, where students will learn to speak confidently in group and formal situations; to use expression and vocabulary to engage an audience and to be aware of the differences between standard and non-standard English.

In Year 9 there is a focus on studying texts in more depth and with an increasing awareness of the demands of literary analysis at GCSE.

To see our English curriculum in detail please open the documents below.

KS2 English Curriculum

KS3 English Curriculum

KS4 English Curriculum

Department Members:

Topic Overview:

The main units of Study for Year 6 students are:

• Building the Basics  - consolidate and strengthen students' understanding on the basic writing skills to achieve the 'expected' standard.
• Wrest Park - narrative unit based on WWI and local history.
• Instruction writing.
• Journey to the River Sea by Eva Ibbotson - A major study of a contemporary novel.
• Persuasive Speech Writing
• Greek Myths - A study of myths, legends and traditional stories.
• Revision of all main elements of KS2 programme of study - comprehension and inference; writing for different audiences and reasons; sentence structure and vocabulary choice.
• Once by Morris Gleitzman - An in-depth study of an incredibly powerful historical novel.

The main units of Study for Year 7 students are:

• Holes - Major study of a contemporary author (Louis Sachar).
• Skellig - A major study of a novel by a significant author (David Almond) - close, critical analysis of text.
• Romeo and Juliet (Shakespeare).

The main units of Study for Year 8 students are:

• Gothic Horror - Close analysis of Gothic extracts including Frankenstein, Dracula. In depth study of gothic conventions and features and related ‘Big Write’ narrative and descriptive writing task.
• Dickens & Writing for Social Change – ‘Oliver Twist’,  'A Christmas Carol'.
• Stone Cold - Robert Swindells - Contemporary novel - links with empathy and PSHE.
• Shakespeare - The Tempest.
• Poetry Slam - Unit based around classic and contemporary poetry with an emphasis on performance poetry. All pupils produce their own poetry anthology and perform in a 'poetry slam'.

The main units of Study for Year 9 students are:

• Animal Farm – Analysis of Orwell’s allegorical novel. Focus on the power of language and use of rhetorical techniques.
• War Literature – comparison of poems displaying differing attitudes to war.
• Blood Brothers – Analysis of a modern play.