English

Director of Learning: Mrs J Cartwright         

Assistant Director of Learning: Mr L Turner     

Lead Practitioner: Mrs A Walters 

Reading Lead: Mrs L Jones

Introduction of the English Curriculum

Our curriculum follows both the United Learning Trust’s and National Curriculum’s vision for English in that it enables pupils to read and respond to a wide range of high-quality works including: poetry, whole books, short stories, plays, and non-fiction. We explicitly teach pupils the knowledge they will need to write accurately, creatively and for a purpose using a high level of vocabulary through layers of textual experiences.  

We have crafted our curriculum specifically to meet the needs of our pupils and their context. We believe our pupils are entitled to a rich, challenging curriculum that represents a range of human experiences and want our pupils to have a deep understanding of English and to develop their knowledge, skills and personal voice by ‘bringing themselves to the lesson’ (Professor Robert Eaglestone). As part of the United Learning Trust, we want our pupils to feel empowered to understand the world around them with the wisdom that a rich curriculum can give them, in order to confidently ‘enter into a conversation of mankind’ (Michael Oakeshott). The specific sequencing of the English learning journey reflects this aim. We want our pupils to experience the richness of the subject and build on their layers of understanding over time. Pupils move through the units, using them as vehicles; collecting the layers of knowledge, skills, and experience they will need to become more confident and independent. Our decision to study a range of forms in depth is crucial; we want to enable pupils to take the time to fully embed and add to their developing knowledge each year. This enables the learning conversation to be deeper, richer and more confident each year; increasing pupils’ awareness and confidence with a range of challenging texts, appropriately chunked to meet their needs. Our aim is to revisit each text type every year to deepen and stretch the knowledge gained from previous years with the outcome being a rich academic experience leading to a confident and equipped young person, educated with character, ready to succeed in life.   

Year 7

The learning journey begins by exploring the form of fiction by reading the contemporary bildungsroman adventure novel, Hargrave’s ‘Girl of Ink and Stars’. Pupils will use it as a platform to develop their knowledge and skills of creative writing and analytical reading. We aim to build upon experiences from Key Stage 2 by opening them up to new and increasingly complex subject specific terminology and thematic vocabulary. We then move onto studying Shakespeare, specifically ‘Romeo and Juliet’. We have made a conscious decision to study the full text as an in-depth introduction to Shakespeare developing on their Key Stage2 knowledge. We want our pupils to develop their confidence tackling unfamiliar contexts, concepts and vocabulary to develop their reading skills of inference, deduction and analysis of writer’s craft/methods. The curriculum then moves onto a study of poetry keeping the theme of love and relationships which includes poems from a range of cultures to enable a rich study of the human condition through the representation of different voices. The year ends by studying the theme of conflict and relationships in non-fiction using the anchor text of ‘The Diary of a Young Girl’ and writing their own non-fiction in response to issues raised. 

Year 8

At the beginning of Year 8, pupils will revisit the fiction form by studying Gothic literature. We will explore Bram Stoker’s ‘Dracula’ as well as extracts from other Gothic novels during this study. Pupils will build on their fiction experiences from Year 7 by studying and analysing the specific conventions of the Gothic and using these to develop their creative writing. In the Spring term, pupils will study the play form, specifically Shakespeare’s ‘Richard III’ and Shaw’s ‘Pygmalion’. These texts have been chosen as they explore thematically the big ideas of power, justice and satire. We want our pupils to build on their experiences of Shakespeare from Y7 and introduce a modern play to enable them to explore and understand the playwright’s craft as well as engage with these themes via analytical and personal responses. Following this, pupils will study a range of poetry exploring the theme of social justice building on knowledge of methods learned in Year 7. Pupils end the year by revisiting non-fiction, ‘I am Malala’ is used as an anchor text to continue to explore the key themes of power and justice. Pupils will use this as a platform to develop their own non-fiction writing and personal voice. 

Year 9

During this pivotal year, pupils will revisit all of the forms previously studied and embed knowledge and skills as well as experience different voices and opportunities to respond. The year begins by studying detective fiction: ‘The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes’. As part of this unit pupils will read and respond to texts analytically and deepen their creative writing skills by focusing on whole text structural techniques. Pupils will then study Shakespeare’s King Lear which builds on knowledge of language, methods and themes from previous years, specifically the big ideas of conflict and the abuse of power as well as the Shakespearean tragedy. They will then revisit poetry by continuing to explore the theme of conflict and developing their understanding of how poetry is used for purpose. The end of Year 9 brings a revisit of non-fiction, a critical essay exploring gender and ideology: ‘We Should all be Feminists.’ This unit enables pupils to strengthen their understanding of non-fiction and experience the critical essay form; pupils will also produce their own non-fiction writing as a result of their reading.

Year 10

Their journey here begins by bringing together their study of fiction and creative writing by understanding how to respond to AQA GCSE English Language Paper 1: Creative Reading and Writing. They then begin their study of GCSE Literature by reading and crafting exam responses for Charles Dickens’ ‘A Christmas Carol’. Following this, they complete their initial study of AQA GCSE Literature Paper 1: Shakespeare and the 19th Century Novel by reading and responding to Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’. They then move onto AQA GCSE English Literature Paper 2: Modern Texts and Poetry by exploring the AQA Power and Conflict poetry anthology. They finish the year by revisiting the art of rhetoric for AQA GCSE English Language Paper 2: Writer’s Viewpoints and Perspectives and their Spoken Language Endorsement.

Year 11

The final year of study begins by reading and crafting exam responses to J.B. Priestley’s ‘An Inspector Calls’ which features as part of their AQA GCSE English Literature Paper 2 examination. Alongside this we also revisit and practice non-fiction reading and comparison skills for AQA English Language Paper 2. The remainder of the term is spent revising poetry in preparation for their first set of mock examinations. Following this, teachers will craft a bespoke series of revision lessons in order to address the needs of the individual pupils in preparation for the second set of mock examinations and the final examinations in Summer.

Reading in English

In years 7-9, pupils have a designated reading lesson for reading. During this time, pupils read, alongside their English teacher, a book from the Reading Canon. Books have been carefully chosen to match need, broaden horizons and develop reading ability. Through exposure to texts that they would not necessarily have chosen before, pupils can be exposed to new vocabulary and cultural knowledge. Reading aloud significantly helps those pupils who struggle to decode words on their own and who do not have the fluency required to be able to make sense and comprehend what they are reading.  

All pupils are also encouraged to read in their own time; reading for pleasure is a key indicator of a child’s future success. Pupils across years 7-9 will have access to Sparx Reader.  Sparx Reader is an online platform that builds pupils’ reading ability through exposure to texts that are appropriate to their reading ability, with assessments to track how they engage and comprehend texts. This is set on a weekly basis and is tracked, similarly to Sparx Maths. 

Implementation of the English Curriculum

The English curriculum is taught across 3 lessons per week at Key Stage 3 and 5 lessons per week at Key Stage 4. We have an additional fourth lesson in Key Stage 3 dedicated to our reading programme. 

As part of our HART values our teaching of the English curriculum uses the clear principles of: teach, check and practice with learning that is ‘chunked’, modelled and scaffolded so that all learners can access our challenging content. An English lesson will include opportunities to develop oracy and reading as well as writing (academic and for a purpose). We ‘chunk’ and model to enable pupils to independently apply and practice the skills they are taught. We explicitly model reading techniques and use oracy to develop personal responses to the texts they are reading. Teachers follow paced plans which have been created by English leaders to ensure all content is covered and learning is sequenced over time in order for pupils to revisit and build upon their learning. We use tailored knowledge organisers with key vocabulary and concepts (subject specific, thematic and academic vocabulary) clearly identified. We use Sparx Reader both in school and for homework to develop pupils reading and vocabulary knowledge.  

Assessing the impact of the English Curriculum

Assessment in English takes many forms to enable all pupils to feel successful. We use ongoing formative assessment such as our ‘do now’ activity at the start of each lesson; low stakes quizzing; direct and cold call questioning and mini whiteboards to check for understanding and teacher circulation with live feedback during independent practice. Teachers will also assess understanding in the form of summative/end of unit assessments e.g. longer writing tasks or reading questions requiring a crafted essay style response. We also make use of United Learning’s mid-year and end of year examinations in order review the deep learning of our pupil’s knowledge and skills in an unseen context and how this knowledge is retained and developed throughout their years of study. Pupils respond to assessment by acting on feedback which can take the form of re-teaching, editing/redrafting work or additional practice using green pen. Teachers will have learning conversations about the outcomes of assessment and respond by adapting lessons and long-term plans to ensure the core knowledge is being remembered and the skills are progressing.  

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