English

At Key Stage 3, students are taught a variety of skills and topics in the areas of Language, Literature, Media and Drama. In each year, students study at least one play, novel, poet and media text. Shakespeare is studied in Year 7 and Year 9. Our Schemes of Learning are designed to develop students’ reading and writing skills, while at the same time engaging students and exposing them to a wide variety of different texts. We encourage students to be creative and imaginative in their own work. Speaking and Listening skills, through the mediums of presentations, role play and group discussions, are also practiced and assessed throughout the three years.

The English department is active in organising and running extra-curricular activities. We often have authors come to give talks about how they became authors and give readings from their books. Over the last few years we have had such varied and popular writers as Cathy Cassidy, Mary Hooper, Ally Carter, Lauren Kate and Maggie Stiefvater.

We also run the Jack Petchey Speak Out programme with Year 10 students in the Autumn term. An outside trainer comes to help the students improve their Speaking and Listening skills and the internal winners go to an external final with several other schools.

Weekly creative writing clubs, debating clubs and reading groups are run by English teachers throughout the year.

Assessment at Key Stage 3

Students will complete three formal assessments in a year. These assessments will take place during lesson time, in controlled conditions. Students will be prepared in advance by their teacher. The work will be completed on lined paper and stuck into students’ books once marked by their teacher.

A range of formative assessment will be visible in books throughout the year, including self-assessment, peer-assessment, APP and teacher assessment. Books are taken in twice in a half term.

In preparation for the rigors of GCSE assessment, students will be assessed on previously studied work in the summer examinations. They will need to learn quotations from these texts and take responsibility for revising close to the exam.

The assessed literature texts include:

• Year 7:  Identity Poetry which includes John Agard & Benjamin Zephaniah; Simon Armitage’s adaptation of Homer’s The Odyssey; The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis & Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

• Year 8: A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens; Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet Nature & Place Poetry & An Inspector Calls (Drama approach).

• Year 9: Conflict Poetry, Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, Shelley’s Frankenstein; Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie & Shakespeare’s Macbeth (Drama approach).

English is timetabled at Key Stage 4 as a single subject, taught in nine periods over two weeks. Students study a broad, challenging and exciting range of material that, for most, leads to the acquisition of two qualifications: GCSE English Language and GCSE English Literature. The exam specifications are Eduqas and OCR.

The courses are varied and allow students to make productive use of the foundational skills built through the teaching in Years 7-9. A range of units are taught over the two separate qualifications, yet the skills acquired in every unit are of use to each other. The texts and topics chosen within these units extend and stretch more able pupils while remaining accessible to all students.

The reading of core texts is complemented by the use of film, theatre and drama in the classroom enabling students a deep study of character and plot. Students are encouraged to develop a critical voice in both their verbal interactions and written work. Teaching is innovative and use of ICT is integrated through research, presentations and use of online tools to further assist and enable learning.

Students will enjoy both the depth and breadth of texts they will study, which may include R.L Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, alongside more modern novels such as George Orwell’s Animal Farm.

The keys to success in English are accurate writing, wider reading and an excellent attendance record.

Accurate Writing

Accurate writing comes from planning and proof-reading. A simple form of planning is to PAF (purpose, audience and form)

 Understanding is the first step to completing planning effectively. If your child is ‘stuck’ on a piece of work, ask to see their planning. Students should practise proof-reading written work. Without proof-reading, careless technical errors will mean a student loses marks for easily corrected spellings, capital letters and punctuation. We do not suggest that you correct your child’s work but encouraging them to read work aloud to you will help them to spot any mistakes. Offering general advice such as, “You seem to be repeating yourself there,” is also useful. It is important to remember that SPaG (spelling, punctuation and grammar) is worth 20% of the English Language qualification and 5% of English Literature qualification.

Handwriting is important in examinations. Encourage your child to check that capital case and lower-case rules are followed (e.g. Gg Hh Dd). They should also be careful to size their lettering correctly and to join up their handwriting. Recent educational research shows that, for girls, a failure to join up correctly is associated with an average drop of a whole grade in GCSE English.* This will also help students to write quickly and to avoid losing marks for technical inaccuracy because it is unclear to the assessor if they are using capital letters correctly.

*(David Barnett, Jane Galbraith, Caroline Roaf, & Sue Rutherford, Ford Williams School, Oxford Road, Thame, Oxon OX9 2QA)

Wider Reading

It is important for students to develop their taste for reading in Key Stage 4 by reading many different types of text as this will not only help to enrich their vocabulary, but it will also assist them in crafting narrative prose for the Language paper. Some students let their private reading drop under pressure of homework, but it is important to recognise the wealth of benefits that reading for pleasure brings to students’ literacy and communication skills. Please continue to encourage your child to read novels, poems, magazines and newspapers. Although plays can be read, watching in a theatre or on screen is a more enjoyable and engaging way to experience drama. Please keep sharing the books you enjoy with your child, talking about what they read and watch and reminding them to visit a public library. The library at LPGS was recently voted one of the top ten secondary school libraries in England; there is an excellent selection of appropriate fiction and non-fiction available there too. Our librarians can recommend books to your child. A suggested reading list will be distributed by English teachers to Year 10 classes.

One examination set text is provided in Year 10 which students may keep. It is the OCR Anthology ‘Towards a World Unknown’. Other examination and assessment texts should be purchased when required. Having their own copy of a text will enable students to annotate and underline passages, which will in turn, support them during revision.

Exam and Assessment Information

All exam papers for English and English Language are now closed book examinations. Students will be expected to use quotation and references to their studied text in their answers.

Course Description:

This course places the emphasis on language and literature being interconnected and mutually supportive disciplines. It allows students to develop as independent, confident, reflective readers and writers. Students will explore the relationship of language and literature through a wide range of reading opportunities of both literary and non-literary texts. There are opportunities for students to craft their own writing for different purposes and audiences. Importance is placed on literary and linguistic frameworks of analysis and terminology to deconstruct texts for exploration of how they create their effects on the audience. An exciting element of the course is that it allows students the opportunity to explore texts from a wide range of cultures such as Chinua Achebe’s classic tragedy ‘Things Fall Apart’. Additionally, the course has a stronger focus on contemporary writing than the literature course allowing students to study texts ranging from Gillard’s iconic speech to the Australian parliament to graphic novels and music reviews.

Skills Required:

This course requires students to be keen readers of novels, plays and poetry. They need to be interested in analysing language and style across a range of texts. In comparison with A-Level English Literature, this course requires students to be interested in developing their own writing as well as responding to the writing of other authors.

Method of Assessment:

Students are studying towards three examinations and two ‘Independent Study’ pieces of coursework worth a total of 20%:

Component 1: Non-Fiction and Spoken Texts – 16 % of total marks.
Component 2: The Language of Poetry and Plays – 32 % of total marks.
Component 3: ‘Reading as Writer’ and ‘Writer as Reader’– 32% of total marks.
Component 4: Independent Study – 20% of total marks.

Progression:

This course will provide students with the necessary skills to continue study in this subject at a more advanced level. It is an interdisciplinary subject and therefore supports applications in any Arts/Humanities/Social Science based degree courses. Equally it can work as an effective companion for the scientific disciplines at A-Level because it develops students’ critical thinking, a skill in many subject areas.

Course Description:

English Literature remains overwhelmingly popular among the wider offer of English Syllabi. It is a well-established course, recognised by Higher Education Institutions. The subject is valued for its interdisciplinary content where students are invited to discuss and research the social, historical and cultural contexts of their texts. Texts may include Atwood’s ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ and Shelley’s ‘Frankenstein’, where students are invited to compare the texts considering their shared Science Fiction genre. Aspects of tragedy are explored with Shakespeare’s ‘Othello’/‘Hamlet’ and Tennessee Williams’ ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’. In keeping with the Prose and Drama components, students are invited to explore poetry from different times by studying ‘Poems of the Decade’ (post-2000) and Donne’s ‘Metaphysical Poetry’ (pre-1900). The coursework component, where students compare two texts of their choice, begins during the summer of Year 12.

Skills Required:

Typically, an A-Level student must undertake independent reading and value the importance of wider reading. Students must be willing to read around texts they are studying in class and know that a lot of reading is required outside of the classroom. Students should enjoy reading and discussing what they have read in an open and inquiring way, bearing in mind the historical, cultural and social contexts of texts. They should also feel reasonably confident about expressing their ideas in writing.

Method of Assessment:

All students will sit an A-Level examination for this subject at the end of Year 13, marking the end of the course. Students will study a total of 4 components:

Component 1: Drama – 30 % of total marks.
Component 2: Prose – 20 % of total marks.
Component 3: Poetry– 30% of total marks.
Component 4: Coursework – 20% of total marks.

Progression:

English Literature A-Level is the traditional foundation for any university course involving literary studies. As success depends on the ability to argue an opinion convincingly, supporting your ideas with textual evidence, English Literature A-Level is also a good foundation for other Arts and Humanities degrees or careers. Equally it can work as an effective companion for the scientific disciplines at A-Level because it develops strong skills of critical thinking, applicable for any subject.