Download the Curriculum Statement here
Academic year 2022-23
OUR RATIONALE
We have planned our curriculum with two aims in mind. Firstly, we want to provide units of learning that will not only engage students, but that will provide them with a sense of cultural capital and an awareness of the world around them. Our main priority is for students to enjoy the subject. We want to engender a love of literature, develop assuredness in how they use language and a confidence in interpreting how others use language across written and spoken platforms. We aim to inspire a lifetime of reading and writing for pleasure. As a team, we believe in the power of reading and our intention is to expose students to this power. Reading allows us to understand others and their lives and become more empathetic.
We are also conscious that English is a core subject and that students will need to slowly build knowledge and skills that will enable them to develop as students of English Language and English Literature. Our curriculum is sequenced so that key ideas (like what a tragedy is or what features poets use) are reinforced over time. KS3 students build their understanding of key concepts over the whole KS3 course of study; not just within one term or year. The skills they need to apply when exploring these concepts are also developed over time. Each unit of study hones a limited number of reading and writing skills so that students can build confidence.
What are we studying?
YEAR 7
Term 1 – 6
Year 7 will begin their five year learning journey studying texts that introduce them to characterisation, theme and genre. The texts studied are stepping-stones to the key exam texts studied in Y10 and Y11.
In Term 1 students will explore Greek Mythology, considering themes of morality, equality, democracy and the art of story-telling. As they move through the year they continue their analytical exploration, focusing on Conflict Poetry, Romeo and Juliet, Frankenstein and a range of non-fiction texts.
Assessments will focus on reading and writing skills across the year and test understanding of key concepts that students need to remember.
OTHER INFORMATION
Students will have opportunities throughout the year to enrich their textual studies with extracurricular trips and workshops. In Term 1 they will participate in a Greek Mythology workshop provided by The Story Museum in Oxford.
YEAR 8
Term 1 – 6
Year 8 will study a range of fiction and non-fiction texts that focus on issues of apocalypse and humanity, enabling them to strengthen their communication skills, deepen empathy and improve creativity.
The texts studied build on the Y7 texts and are stepping stones to the key exam texts studied in Y10 and Y11. The texts studied are, War Poetry, Shakespeare, A Monster Calls, A View from a Bridge and a range of fiction and non-fiction texts that explore what it means to be human.
Assessments will focus on reading and writing skills across the year and test understanding of key concepts that students need to remember.
OTHER INFORMATION
Students will have opportunities throughout the year to enrich their textual studies with extracurricular trips and workshops.
YEAR 9
Term 1 – 6
Year 9 will focus on texts that have crime as a central theme, as this is a common theme for many of their key Y11 exam texts and will therefore help them prepare for the deep thematic analysis required at KS4
The texts studied build on the Y8 texts and are stepping stones to the key exam texts studied in Y10 and Y11. In Term 1 students will study Of Mice and Men and will explore themes of crime, class, gender and discrimination. Later on in the year they explore creative writing inspired by image, Blood Brothers, Poems from other Cultures, Othello and propaganda writing.
Assessments will focus on literature and language exam skills and test understanding of key concepts.
OTHER INFORMATION
Students will have opportunities throughout the year to enrich their textual studies with extracurricular trips and workshops.
YEAR 10
Term 1 – 6
Y10 begin the exam pathway and all texts and skills studied are those vital for their exam success in Y11.
In Term 1 students will study either Shakespeare’s Macbeth and will explore themes of revenge, loyalty, love, hate, gender, tragedy, conflict, religion and Science. As the year progresses students will study A Christmas Carol, Language exam skills and An Inspector Calls. The year ends with students sitting their Spoken Language Endorsement exam.
Assessments will focus on literature and language exam skills.
OTHER INFORMATION
Every five lessons a student-led revision lesson will be delivered.
Students will hopefully have the opportunity to experience a live performance of the texts (depending on the situation with Coronavirus).
OTHER INFORMATION
Weekly student-led revision lesson delivered.
YEAR 11
Term 1 – 6
Y11 will start the year by focusing on their poetry anthology for the Literature Paper 2 exam, which explores poems with themes of power and conflict. Students have 15 poems to explore in total.
The anthology includes the following poems: Ozymandias, London, The Prelude, My Last Duchess, The Charge of the light Brigade, Exposure, Storm on the Island, Bayonet Charge, Remains, Poppies, War Photographer, Tissue, The Emigree, Checking out me History and Kamikaze.
Assessments will focus on literature and language exam skills.
OTHER INFORMATION
Every five lessons a student-led revision lesson will be delivered.
Every other week they will have an after school intervention session
Students will hopefully have the opportunity to experience a live performance of the texts, depending on the Coronavirus restrictions.
WEBSITES
CONTACT DETAILS
Head of Subject: Sophie Duncan
soduncan@wykhampark-aspirations.org
HOW DO WE ENSURE EVERYBODY LEARNS?
Our curriculum is suitably challenging and allows for students to master high end skills, so English staff work hard to adapt their lessons so that everybody can succeed. We know that some students struggle with how to put their ideas down on paper, so we provide writing scaffolds if needed. We know that reading Shakespearean texts is difficult for some, so we use film or stage adaptations to engage students. We know that some students may give up when faced with a challenge ,so we give them verbal support and feedback to encourage them to be more resilient and keep writing.
HOW ARE WE PLUGGING ANY POST COVID GAPS?
It would be remiss of us to ignore the impact of Covid 19 on how students approach their learning in English. Our subject entails extended writing and independent reading. Both will have been avoided by a number of students during lockdown learning. We worry that students will have found quick answers online (and not had to read through texts they found challenging) and we know a number of students submitted work that was less developed.
Alongside this, students may have gaps in knowledge if they participated less well online. Our Y11 students may have missed some of the reading of their GCSE literature texts so we have provided intervention and extra materials on our Google Classrooms to combat this. Year 10 students may have missed some lessons where we studied persuasive techniques and explored non fiction, so we are prioritising a unit on Language Paper 2 and exploring non fiction. KS3 students may have missed units exploring specific literary genres or forms so we have used homework tasks and our recap to retain tasks at the start of lessons to check knowledge and clarify misconceptions. We have also ensured that key vocabulary that enables deeper understanding of those genres or forms is explicitly retaught in other connected units.
THE ENGLISH TOOLBOX
Everything you need to be successful in English:
- An ability to explore explicit and implicit information in a variety of fiction and non-fiction texts
- Reading for pleasure – good readers make good writers!
- Practice using PEAS to help structure your responses
- Write Creatively
KEY VOCABULARY
- PEAS
- Language
- Structure
- Technique
- Context
- Inference
- Denotation
- Connotation
- Analysis
- Evaluation
- Exploration
Should you have any other questions or want to find out more, please contact Shileen Green, Vice Principal on: sgreen@wykhampark-aspirations.