English Language
Autumn 1
Year 10
Functional Skills English: Speaking and Listening/Reading
Students will work toward achieving their Level 1 Functional Skills qualification, as a stepping stone towards GCSE English Language.
Year 11
Explorations in Creative Reading
Students will learn the skills and exam technique needed for Paper 1 Section A (Fiction Reading).
Autumn 2
Year 10
Power and Conflict Poetry
Students will study poetry from AQA’s ‘Power and Conflict’ poetry cluster.
Students will prepare to answer one comparative question on one named poem printed on the exam paper and one other poem of their choice. This is a closed book exam.
Poems: Kamikaze (Garland), Storm on the Island (Heaney), Charge of the Light Brigade (Tennyson), Bayonet Charge (Hughes), Exposure (Owen), The Prelude (Wordsworth)
Year 11
Speaking and Listening, and Explorations in Creative Writing
Students will prepare and deliver a short, spoken presentation followed by a Q&A session for their GCSE English Language Spoken Language endorsement.
Following this, students will study ‘Explorations in Creative Writing’ to prepare for GCSE Paper 1 Part B (Fiction Writing).
Spring 1
Year 10
Spoken Language Study: The History of the English Language
Students will undergo an investigation of the origins, tradition, and development of spoken language.
They will find out about the history of English, the nature of Standard English against accent and dialect, the differences between spoken and written language, and consider the nature and philosophy of communication.
Year 11
Reading: Viewpoints & Perspectives
Working towards GCSE Paper 2 Part A (Reading Non-Fiction), students will learn the skills and exam techniques needed to evaluate and compare writers’ viewpoints and perspectives in unseen texts.
Spring 2
Year 10
Shakespeare: Twelfth Night
Students will explore the context of Shakespeare’s life and contemporary theatre through an introduction to Twelfth Night. Students will gain knowledge of the Globe Theatre, staging, costume, and comedic techniques. They will also learn about the historical context of women and Puritanism in Elizabethan England.
Year 11
Writing: Viewpoints & Perspectives
Students will work towards GCSE Paper 2 Part B (Writing Non-Fiction Texts). Students will learn to write for a specified purpose, audience and form, where they give their own perspective on a theme.
Summer 1
Year 10
Gothic Creative Writing: Arlington Manor
Students will be supported in writing at length, producing a piece of sustained creative writing inspired by the genre of Gothic literature. This will develop students’ ability to plan, draft, edit and proofread their writing.
Year 11
Exam Revision
Summer 2
Year 10
An Introduction to Poetry
Students will experience an introduction to poetry and begin to explore the use and effect of a range of poetic conventions and techniques using familiar children’s poetry.
Poems studied could include: How to Eat a Poem (Merriam), Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening (Frost), and The Sun has Long Been Set (Wordsworth).