English Curriculum

“Words are sacred. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones, in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.” Tom Stoppard

Rationale:

English allows pupils to explore profound ideas about humanity and the world we live in. It empowers pupils to understand and reflect upon experiences beyond their own, promoting values of tolerance and empathy.  At NPCAT, our English curriculum provides pupils with the opportunity to read and discuss the best that has been thought and said about the world. Our rich, academic and varied English curriculum is designed to take pupils beyond their existing experiences and interests in order to develop truly outward facing, global citizens. Through the English curriculum, we provide high quality memorable teaching and learning that leads to excellent pupil progress and attainment. It is a curriculum based around powerful, memorable and well-structured learning opportunities that hook children into learning for the rest of their lives.

English is recognised as a core subject because the knowledge and skills delivered underpin and complement learning across the curriculum. English encompasses the study of culturally-enriching literature as well as the writer’s craft in a broad range of texts, and pupils develop their knowledge of historical, social and literary contexts alongside linguistic techniques and conventions. We believe that the curriculum time given to English in our schools allows the development of high standards of language and literacy so that students communicate their ideas, views and emotions with increasing fluency and confidence, whether in writing or speech.

We want all of our pupils to develop a love and passion for reading through reading a wide range of fiction and non-fiction, in particular whole books. With this in mind, we have selected texts that have literary merit to add to pupils’ ‘cultural capital’. Our chosen texts also promote a critical appreciation of the ‘canon’ whilst also serving to introduce pupils to writers from a range of cultural backgrounds. Pupils’ acquisition and command of vocabulary are key to their learning and progress across the curriculum. They will be taught how to make links between known and new vocabulary in order to develop their vocabulary acquisition, as we believe this is fundamental to academic success.

Intent:

Why is the study of English important? 

We believe that it is the breadth of our English curriculum that enables students to become literate and critical in their approach to language. English is a subject where analysis, reflection and creativity are essential, and these skills are valued greatly in further education and employment. Furthermore, English develops the ability to argue coherently and cogently, analyse language in a critical way and explore its nuances and implications. We are committed to delivering an English curriculum that inspires and empowers every pupil.

We aim to create the very best communicators, readers, writers and thinkers. The functions of literature and language is to enable pupils to lead the best possible lives, which we believe is at the forefront of our curriculum. Through English Language, we seek to provide students with the language capacity to navigate and succeed in courses of their own choosing, as well as inspiring those pupils who wish to pursue more language-based careers, such as writing, journalism, education. Through English Literature we seek to develop pupils’ ability to think deeply about humanity, and to discover the riches of their Literary Heritage and local area, whilst developing the critical faculties to evaluate the ideas and the craft in these texts. We will challenge pupils to think, act and speak like those working in the field would:

• to read like writers
• to write like readers
• to speak like orators

Implementation:

The KS3 English curriculum is designed as a spiral curriculum that revisits and builds upon key skills and concepts over three years. It focuses on the four key language skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing, and is carefully sequenced to allow students to make steady progress. In essence, pupils will become confident, culturally aware readers, writers and orators when they begin KS4.

Year 7:

Over the course of Year 7, pupils will study a range of texts to help them explore the identity of a range of influential writers or characters from the world and also local areas to help them uncover their own identities and where they fit in this world. Pupils will then explore some Greek mythology in the first half of spring term, as well as some local legends so they can discover the impact on the area they live in. Pupils will then study a Shakespeare text: ‘Much Ado About Nothing’, which again is crucial at this time as they will begin to explore Shakespeare’s context, in particular the Elizabethan era and patriarchy, which will link to other texts studied further in their curriculum. In the summer term, pupils will explore poetry of the natural world. Here they will explore the Romantic Movement and how Romantic writers were influential with their poetry.

Year 8:

Over the course of Year 8, pupils will study a range of texts that will be from unfamiliar contexts to help them discover the injustices influential writers felt passionate to write about to help pupils discover more about the world around them. In the Spring term, pupils will discover and explore poetry from different cultures, which will encourage enjoyment and empathy for a range of cultures. The knowledge and skills taught in this unit will enable students to make links with the poetry anthology unit at GCSE. Next pupils will study another Shakespeare play, which will be Macbeth. The study of Macbeth will make a natural transition into the study of gothic literature and then the play of Frankenstein. Pupils will be able to study how the gothic, through an anthology of texts, emerged from the Romantic Movement (which they studied in Year 7) to become popular during the Victorian period.

Year 9:

Over the course of Year 9, pupils will be given opportunities to explore a range of texts and influential writers to enable them to feel empowered to use their own voices to make an impact on the world around them. They will begin their study in the autumn term exploring the text: “A Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time” to inspire them to develop their own writer’s craft from Year 7 and Year 8. They will then move onto an introduction of Dickens, where they will develop their understanding of Victorian context from their study in Year 7 and Y8. In the spring term, pupils will move onto an introduction of: ‘An Inspector Calls’, where there will be extracts from: ‘Things A Bright Girl Can Do’ interwoven through the scheme so pupils can explore and understand the Suffragette movement and how this impacted women at the time. This will then lead into Edwardian society and how Priestley was influenced to write his play: ‘An Inspector Calls’, which will be one of the GCSE texts studied. Pupils will then explore how to use their voice, using a range of non-fiction texts and a collection of influential speeches from: ‘No one is too small to make a difference’. This will equip our pupils with the necessary skills to develop a mature voice and practise writing a range of persuasive and provocative pieces of texts.

Year 10 and Year 11

At Key Stage 4, the English curriculum builds on the foundations of KS3, aiming to deepen pupils’ competence and sophistication in spoken and written communication. The focus is on mastery in the four skill areas (listening, speaking, reading, writing), and preparing pupils thoroughly for the AQA GCSE English Language and Literature exams.

Year 10 will begin their GCSE study by exploring a range of fiction texts to prepare for Language Paper 1 and to help recap analytical skills, using the PEEL structure, which are crucial skills needed to help them succeed in their GCSE study. There will also be opportunities in the classroom for class discussions to help enrich pupils and support them to regain their confidence in the classroom. Pupils will then study their GCSE Literature texts: Power and Conflict Poetry, Romeo and Juliet, A Christmas Carol and An Inspector Calls. Years 7-9 will have built the foundations for these texts through their study of context for various literature texts and time periods that contribute to the literature timeline. Studying the literature texts in Y10 will also alleviate the pressure in Year 11 and give them enough time to prepare and practise exam questions in preparation for their GCSEs.

Key Assessment objectives:

AO1 • Identify and interpret explicit and implicit information and ideas • Select and synthesise evidence from different texts

AO2 • Explain, comment on analyse how writers use language and structure to achieve effects and influence readers, using relevant subject terminology to support their views

AO3 • Compare writers’ ideas and perspectives, as well as how these are conveyed, across two or more texts

AO4 • Evaluate texts critically and support this with appropriate textual references

AO5 • Communicate clearly, effectively, and imaginatively, selecting and adapting tone, style and register for different forms, purposes and audiences • Organise information and ideas, using structural and grammatical features to support coherence and cohesion of texts

AO6 • Candidates must use a range of vocabulary and sentence structures for clarity, purpose and effect, with accurate spelling and punctuation. (This requirement must constitute 20% of the marks for each specification as a whole.)

AO7 • Demonstrate presentation skills in a formal setting

AO8 • Listen and respond appropriately to spoken language, including to questions and feedback to presentations

AO9 • Use spoken Standard English effectively in speeches and presentations

Impact: What will you know and understand from your study of English? 

• Know and experience a diverse selection of poetry, prose and drama from the literary canon and wider sources, including extracts, short stories and whole texts.
• Know and understand the conventions involved in reading and writing
• different texts.
• Understand how to manipulate language for effect, for example, to persuade.
• Develop an appreciation of how writers are influenced by the world that surrounds them through a growing awareness and understanding of social and historical context.

 What enrichment opportunities do we offer in English? 

We endeavour to promote a love and passion for English by ensuring our pupils have a wealth of enrichment opportunities. We offer a range of activities for pupils to get involved in, including the spelling bee competition, reading challenges, writing competitions, poetry writing and entry to the Catenians Regional Public Speaking competition.  All of our competitions and challenges are underpinned with promoting a love of reading, as books are always given as prizes. We also enter external competitions and are intrinsically involved with Trust-wide activities. Our schemes of learning embed skills and knowledge to equip our pupils to be successful in these enrichment activities. We believe these activities also give our pupils opportunities to speak publicly in front of large audiences to support the development of confident speaking and listening skills.

How can the study of English support students beyond school? 

English provides a strong foundation for any job or profession that involves communication, writing and/or literary knowledge. These include advertising and marketing, writing and journalism, law, teaching, performing arts, government, linguistics, foreign languages, media and design. Careers in the sciences, engineering, technology and maths also need English and in fact any profession that requires analytical thinking, strong verbal and written communication, imagination or creativity can draw on the key skills acquired whilst studying English.