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English

"Literature adds to reality, it does not simply describe it. It enriches the necessary competencies that daily life requires and provides; and in this respect, it irrigates the deserts that our lives have already become."

(C.S.Lewis)

 "Books are the carriers of civilization. Without books, history is silent, literature dumb, science crippled, thought and speculation at a standstill."

(Barbara W.Tuchman)

Aims

The study of English involves thinking, questioning, exploring and creating. We hope that our students will become highly skilled writers and readers, who are able to understand, criticise and utilise the tools of language for a range of purposes.

We also strive, through the study of literature, to engage students in considering and exploring the world in which they live, and in understanding some of the bigger questions of life that have intrigued the human mind over all periods of literary history, from Dickens to Morpurgo; from Shakespeare to Bennett.

We also encourage our students to be keen readers, writers, speakers and thinkers; many girls take part in a wide range of related activities available in school, including creative writing competitions and workshops, debating and many more.

Staff

  • Miss Jane Glendenning - Head of English
  • Mrs Aimee Smith - Teacher of English, Year 8 Pupil Achievement Leader
  • Mrs Susan Dobson - Teacher of English
  • Miss Lisa Jackson - Teacher of English
  • Mr Jeremy Clear - Teacher of English (part time)
  • Mrs Jo Cottingham - Teacher of English (maternity leave)

Curriculum

KS3 (years 7, 8 and 9)

In years 7 and 8 girls are taught in form groups, and then set from year 9 onwards. The students are taught for one hour, three times a week. The students follow a series of schemes of work at KS3 designed to prepare them for units taught at KS4.

What your daughter may do in lessons

At Key Stage three, students will learn to write accurately, effectively and creatively in a range of styles and genres, for a range of purposes and media. Students of every year will also have the opportunity to examine a variety of texts by different authors, and are encouraged to criticise and analyse the writer's craft and the social contexts of texts, including the spoken word. Students will also learn the skills needed to become an effective speaker, be it in a group situation or as an individual. We also encourage students to be active listeners who respect and respond to other students’ ideas and perspectives. Our lessons are engaging and interactive and a place where individual expression and lively debate is welcome.

What topics your daughter will study.

Year 7

We begin the academic year with a transition unit, primarily focused on autobiographical/ biographical writing. We explore linguistic devices used by Michael Morpurgo in his writing and students apply these skills to their own writing, as well as researching figures in history and individually presenting their findings back to the class. This is an extensive unit that provides the students with a range of skills which will prepare them for the year ahead, not only in terms of language and literature, but speaking and listening skills too.

During the remainder of the academic year, students cover schemes of learning which focus on:

  • Myths and legends;
  • Poetry (with the opportunity to produce and analyse their own poetry at the end of the unit);
  • A novel (The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas or Goodnight Mr Tom)
  • Shakespeare (A Midsummer Night’s Dream)
  • The Newspaper, and the lanuguage of Media Packaging. These units incorporate both analytical and written skills linked to media texts;
  • Contemporary drama (Kindertransport or White Poppies)

Speaking and listening skills are further developed and assessed through the year.

Year 8

Year 8 begin the academic year with a transition unit which prepares the foundation for one of the GCSE English Language units they will be studying in Year 10. The scheme of learning focuses on reading comprehension and analysis of a range of media text types. We hope that by introducing the students to these skills early, they will be better prepared for the following four years of study.

Following the transition unit, students cover schemes of learning which focus on:

  • Contemporary Drama (Macbeth on the Loose)
  • Shakespeare (Much Ado About Nothing)
  • Poetry (ballads and dramatic monologues)
  • A novel (Day of Tears)
  • Persuasive writing skills
  • Language through time
  • Spoken Language - How Groups Talk: The Apprentice

Speaking and listening skills are developed throughout the year and assessed on a regular basis.

Year 9

As with Year 8, Year 9 also start with a reading skills unit. This builds on the foundations of the unit covered in Year 8 and further prepares them for the unit they will be doing in Year 10; as do the schemes listed below.

Following the transition unit, students cover schemes of learning which focus on:

  • Literary heritage. Students self select novels from a wide range available, including Emma, North and South, Little Women and A Christmas Carol. The students work in groups and explore the novels in depth, with guidance from their subject teacher.
  • Writing Skills and Spoken Language. These schemes of learning are designed to aid the understanding of the techniques involved in producing texts for both the written and spoken word. Texts covered range from reviews to transcripts.
  • Poetry from different cultures. This scheme develops the skills needed to analyse a range of poems.
  • Shakespeare. (Macbeth).
  • Contemporary Drama. The texts chosen vary and have ranged from Blood Brothers to The Crucible.
  • Speaking and Listening skills are built into the schemes of learning and assessed on a regular basis.

How your daughter’s progress will be assessed.

The main assessment points are at the end of each unit of work. These assessments will be marked by their subject teacher and will usually be written or spoken tasks assessed within the classroom. Homework and classwork is regularly marked through self/peer/teacher assessment using APP grids (located at the back of the students’ exercise books). We also award effort grades for pieces of work and merits are awarded for effort as well as high attaining pieces of work/contributions in class.

Your daughter has an end of year and final KS3 target grade written in the inside cover of her exercise book. At any time students, parents and teachers can monitor progress by measuring the latest assessment grade against these targets. An overall progress sheet will be found in their assessment folders, which includes the assessment criteria they were measured against, their effort level, attainment grade and targets for improvement.

KS4 (GCSE)

All students will study both English Language and English Literature GCSE, and will receive two GCSE results at the end of year 11. The current examination board is Edexcel.

Students are taught in five sets and study English Language/Literature for three hours a week.

What your daughter may do in lessons

We hope that students will enjoy exploring a range of different texts and genres, including Shakespeare, poetry, drama and texts from different cultures. As well as becoming proficient and empowered writers, students will learn and develop vital reading skills such as: analysing the writer's choice of presentation, image and language; responding critically to texts; analysing how language, structure and form affect meaning; and relating texts to their social and historical backgrounds. Students also study spoken language in order to analyse commonly occurring features of the characteristics of spoken language as well as to understand the importance of context, such as regional and cultural variation, age groups, situation, place and time. Speaking and Listening is also a key area, for which students' performance is assessed across Years 10 and 11.

What topics your daughter will study.

Please see this document.

How your daughter’s progress will be assessed.

As well as practice tasks being regularly assessed against the Edexcel examination board criteria, students also complete controlled assessments throughout the two years. From September 2012 these assessments will be banked and not presented to the board until the end of Year 11.

Year 11 also undertake a mock examination held in December. In preparation for this, the term is spent on the Different Cultures texts in preparation for a mock examination in both the Literature and Language papers.

The table linked here shows you the clear progression from KS3 into KS4 in preparation for their GCSEs in English Language and Literature, which also shows us when progress is being made.

Post 16 (A Level)

English Literature A Level is a popular choice for our students, and we follow the AQA examination board (Specification B). Students are taught nine hours a fortnight. Four hours are spent with one subject teacher studying the coursework texts and the remaining five hours are spent with a different subject teacher studying texts for the examinations.

What your daughter may do in lessons

It is our firm belief that the study of Literature at this level enables our students to become skilful consumers of texts from a multiplicity of genres and literary concepts such as tragedy, feminist approaches and the Gothic. Studying Literature exposes our students to some of the greatest and most influential ideas, realities and characters of our cultural traditions. We also enjoy the flexibility and freedom of the comparative coursework option in the Upper Sixth, where students get to apply critical approaches to less canonical texts.

We aspire to develop our students into independent, critical readers and thinkers, who are able to form confident and rigorous arguments. The development of these skills is at the heart of our approach to teaching English Literature at A level.

At AS level, (Year 12) Unit 1 introduces students to the central position of narrative in the ways in which literary texts work, involving many different aspects of literary representation. Unit 2 introduces students to aspects of genre. For the first three years of this specification, tragedy is the dramatic genre to be studied; however from September 2012 this will change to comedy.

At A2 level, (Year 13) Unit 3 teaches students to develop ideas on the significance of genre. Texts are grouped within the categories: Elements of the Gothic and Elements of the Pastoral. We tend to study the Gothic option. In Unit 4, students study a wide range of texts, the different ways of reading texts and critical ideas applied with discrimination to literary texts. Currently the critical approach being studied is feminism.

What topics your daughter will study.

Unit 1: Aspects of Narrative (2 hour examination) - Texts may include: The Great Gatsby, Enduring Love, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, poems by Rossetti. Additional texts are being added from September 2012.

Unit 2: Dramatic Genres (2 pieces of coursework) – currently texts being studied are: Othello, Death of a Salesman (one piece of coursework 1200-1500 words, on each text).

Unit 3: Texts and Genres (2 hour examination) - Texts may include Macbeth, Frankenstein, Wuthering Heights, The Bloody Chamber. Texts are studied individually and also as comparisons.

Unit 4: Further and Independent Reading (2 pieces of coursework) - Students choose which texts and subject matter they wish to focus on with guidance from their subject teacher. The first piece of coursework explores a substantial text from a feminist perspective (1200-1500 words), using the AQA Critical Anthology e.g. female stereotyping in Oliver Twist.  The second piece of coursework (1500-2000 words) is a comparative essay on two substantial texts e.g. dystopian society in 1984 and Never Let Me Go.

How your daughter’s progress will be assessed.

Your daughter will be expected to complete background research and independent study which will be part of their pre-lesson preparation. The outcome of these tasks will be assessed during lessons. There will also be the opportunity to complete practice essays for both the coursework and examination components of the course. These will be formally assessed either by their peers or teachers. The examination board criteria will be used to assess these pieces. Each student will be given the criteria at the start of the academic year and will be expected to adhere to these guidelines as they produce their written work. Targets will be set by the subject teacher and students record this on their record sheets after each piece of work produced. Checking work against these targets will be done by the student/teacher following each piece of work.

How to improve

  • Read, read, read....
  • Use the resources of the library; it contains a plethora of texts, whether for background reading/ research purposes or the sheer joy of reading. Mrs Harris can help you with any queries you have.
  • Read around the subject, especially if you are GCSE and A level students. The more awareness you have of the context, genre, and literary tradition of the texts you are studying, the greater your understanding of the issues/perspectives of the writers will be.
  • Write down and learn corrected spellings after each piece of work
  • Ask for grammar, spelling or punctuation worksheets for additional support. The department has a lot of resources that are readily available to all students.
  • Ask your teacher for support. If we don’t know you have a concern, we can’t help you. A wise man once said “it is better to feel a fool for a minute, than a fool your entire life.” So ask questions for clarification. Arrange to see your subject teacher at lunchtime/before school so you can discuss these concerns in depth but don’t leave it until the day homework is due or assessments are being completed. If you are unsure about anything, speak to your teacher at the end of the lesson so you can plan when to meet.
  • Refer back to the lessons you have studied whenever you are set homework. What we study in class needs to be applied to your homework/ongoing classwork. There isn’t a magic wand that will help you remember everything you do in lessons; you have to revise and reflect on your work in order to apply the skills/knowledge you have acquired in class.
  • Read teacher comments written in your books/folders and where relevant act on them.
  • Be proactive. If you are told that you need to update notes/character profiles/theme grids/plot summaries/tension graphs, etc. make sure you do this on an ongoing basis. All this information will be vital to your success; both in an end of unit assessment but also in order for you to understand texts being studied.
  • Ensure the targets written on your work are transferred to your assessment sheets in the assessment folders. Then follow the advice given, checking regularly on your own progress.
  • Refer to the APP grids (KS3) or your examination board assessment criteria handouts (KS4/5). These will focus your attention on the skills you need to develop.
  • Revision for examinations should be done on an ongoing basis. Think about what happens if you put a saucer under a tap and turn the tap on full; the water splashes out and very little remains in the saucer. If, however, you turn the tap on slowly and allow the water to drip, the saucer will gradually fill up and take longer to overflow. It is the same with the accumulation of knowledge; try to cram everything in at once and it just won’t be sustainable; do it methodically and you will retain it longer.
  • Discuss your lessons with your peers/parents. Telling someone about what you have studied helps you remember and retain the information.
  • The English Department works closely with two external Literacy Support staff (Ms Thane and Mr Waggott). Mr Waggott supports students with EAL difficulties and Mrs Thane supports students with issues ranging from handwriting to dyslexia. Mrs Felton also works closely with the department in her capacity as Learning Support Officer. If you feel any of these members of staff can provide you with additional support, please discuss it with your subject teacher. Likewise, if your subject teacher has recommended you have support from these members of staff make the most of this opportunity. It is not something to feel embarrassed about; they are all here to maximise your enjoyment and understanding of the subject (and indeed all your written subjects).

English opportunities out of lessons

All department members contribute actively and energetically to the life of the school, for example organising “The Beacon” the school magazine published at the end of the academic year and Junior and Senior Debating societies.

As well as these ongoing activities, we also encourage students to enter external competitions. Over two students have had their work published in the last year as part of “Mini-Sagas‟ or poetry creative writing competitions. Any competitions are advertised on the notice boards in the playroom and Sixth Form Common Room.

In the last twelve months we have also organised evening trips to the theatre as well as Activity Day trips to Stratford and The Globe Theatre. On World Book Day this year, year 8 will be working with Celia Rees, using her book Pirates! as the stimulus for their creative representation of the text through art, dance, music, creative writing or drama.

Students have also had the opportunity to compete in the Times Spelling Bee; BBC Shakespeare Off By Heart; Right Words Write On (three students were invited to London for the launch of the publication) and The Oxford Union Debating competition. Last year Celia Rees ran a creative writing workshop for twenty four students from Year 8-13 and recently ten Year 9 students took part in an Original Writing workshop at Newman University College.

English opportunities parents can provide

  • Theatre trips: this does not necessarily have to be texts we are studying. As we study a range of plays, the experience of seeing any production on stage will be beneficial.
  • Adaptations of novels/plays are often televised and can be worth watching. The BBC often has ‘seasons’ on a particular writer, which would also be useful to provide context for your daughter. Examples in the past are Jane Austen, William Shakespeare and Mary Shelley.
  • Encouraging your daughter to use the school library as well as a local library.
  • Encouraging your daughter to read newspapers and a range of non-fiction texts will be beneficial to enhance their reading/writing skills. It will also make them aware of what is happening around them and the topics that they may need to explore in an examination situation.
  • Encouraging your daughter to take part in activities being run in school and to speak to their subject teacher if they have concerns.
  • Discussing the texts your daughter is studying with them. It will help your daughter consolidate her knowledge and give her the opportunity to express her opinions on a range of different issues.   

English web links