English

Our intent

We aim to provide an inclusive, challenging, and engaging English curriculum that will allow all students to develop expert subject knowledge in both English Language and English Literature. We seek to stimulate intellectual curiosity within the classroom, encouraging students to make connections to the wider world and foster a love of the subject that will make them lifelong readers and confident interpreters of a wide range of texts. Through an academically rigorous, forward-thinking and research-led pedagogy, we seek to nurture inquisitive minds, develop student expertise, and give our learners the important life skills, empathy, and compassion that comes from the study of literature and language.

Curriculum and Assessment Map 2023-2024

Subject Leader:  D Beckley (2nd in Dept, i/c of KS3)  email: dplante-bekenn@kingedwardvi.bham.sch.uk

Key Learning Constructs to be developed over the academic year Scheme of Learning

Autumn Term

Scheme of Learning

Spring Term

Scheme of Learning

Summer Term

·        Identify and Explain

·        Interpret and Analyse

·        Compare, Contrast, Evaluate

·        Communicate and Relate

·        Organise and Structure

·        Explore and Imagine

Myths and Magic Part 1

 

Learning Focus: How has language and storytelling changed throughout history?

 

·        Exploring the difference between myths, legends, fairy tales and fables

·        Exploring origin myths through the Greek myth of Echo and Narcissus

·        Reading about Birmingham’s War Stone to learn about oral histories

·        Using the Greek myths of Theseus and the Minotaur and Orpheus and Eurydice to unpick heroism and foreshadowing

·        Exploring language change across the ages through Beowulf and Chaucer

·        Using Chaucer, Beowulf, The Tale of Princess Kaguya and Sindbad the Sailor as stimuli for our own creative writing

Writing for the Real World Part 1

 

Learning Focus: How can we write to engage our audience?

Reading, communicating and writing in different transactional forms, including:

·        Advertising

·        Travel brochures

·        Reviews

 

Myths and Magic Part 2

Learning Focus:  In ‘The Tempest’, how does Shakespeare shape the audience’s response to characters and events?

·        Learning about Shakespeare and Elizabethan/Jacobean theatre

·        Imagining the island through our writing and performance

·        Unpicking magic and the supernatural in the play

·        Exploring comedy in performance

·        Caliban debate: The rightful owner of the island?

·        Utopian and dystopian fiction

·        Miranda and Ferdinand: Relationship focus

·        An introduction to comedy

·        How to stage the play?

·        Exploring issues of colonialism

Poetry and Identity Part 1

 

Learning Focus: How is meaning created through poetry?

·        An introduction to analysing and evaluating poetry

·        Reading poems by a range of contemporary and 19th Century poets

·        Writing our own poems with a focus on personal identity

Writing for the Real World Part 2

Reading, communicating and writing in different transactional forms, including:

·        Broadsheets and tabloids

·        Magazine articles

·        Travel Writing

Poetry and Identity Part 2

 

Learning Focus: How is meaning created through poetry?

 

Studying and creating poetry:

·        Studying poetry on the themes of travel, nature and identity (including Alfred Lord Tennyson, Seamus Heaney, Elizabeth Brewster, John Agard, Robert Louis Stevenson, Edward Thomas, Imtiaz Dharkar)

·        Crafting and curating their own poetry projects, including excerpts from influential or favourite poems, new poems read, analysed and evaluated, and self-authored poems.

Building Humour

 

Learning Focus: How is humour created in writing?

 

 

Students will explore comedy through the parodies Peter Pan Goes Wrong and Macbeth on the Loose and create their own comic texts.

* R&R (Read and Review) Lessons

In these weekly lessons, students complete a variety of independent reading tasks while one-to-one discussions and feedback is given by the teacher on rotation.

R&R*

Reading ‘Oh My Gods’ and exploring how traditional myths are retold in modern contexts

R&R*

Reading non-fiction and exploring what real-world writing looks like

R&R*

Reading ‘The Bone Sparrow’ and exploring themes of hope and survival

Assessment Pieces

A piece of imaginative writing linked to topics studied.

This will assess how well students can choose and manage ideas in their writing.  The accuracy of their spelling, punctuation and grammar as well as their use of varied vocabulary will also be assessed.

Assessment Pieces

An analytical piece focussed on an extract from The Tempest.

This will assess how well students can identify key quotations from an extract as well as interpreting and analysing them.  Students will need to consider the impact on the audience and structure their writing into paragraphs.

Assessment Pieces

A piece of transactional writing linked to topics studied.

This will assess how well students can choose and manage ideas, structure their writing into paragraphs, use appropriate vocabulary as well as spell and punctuate with accuracy.

Key vocabulary

 

Learning forms:

fables, fairy tales, myths and legends

Learning persuasive techniques: tricolon, superlatives, anaphora, imperatives, recapping AFOREST (alliteration, facts, opinions, rhetorical questions, emotive language, similes and tone)

Revision of sentence structure: simple, compound and complex sentences, fronted adverbials, parentheses, main and subordinate clauses.

Learning theatrical terms:

ensemble, unison, duologue, soliloquy, aside and iambic pentameter

Learning new tonal terms:

sibilance, plosives, stress and intonation

New terms: byline, masthead, tabloid, broadsheet, persona, anecdote and rapport.

Learning poetic forms and structures: iambic and trochaic meter, rhythm, rhyme, ballads, Shakespearean and Petrarchan sonnets, odes, elegies and dramatic monologues

Key term: juxtaposition

 

Comedic Terms:

parody

Outside the taught curriculum Opportunities for students include:

·        Completing the Reading Challenges, organised through the Library

·        Participating in Latin club (Thursday lunchtimes, CR1), Mythology Club (Monday lunchtimes, Lab 16) or the online Creative Writing Club (classroom code: qg36s6h)

·        Taking part in Junior Debating Society (Thursday lunchtimes room 13)

·        Submitting entries for internal Creative Writing competitions (set on a termly basis) and external competitions

·        Taking part in Drama Club (Thursday lunchtimes)

·        Entering Poetry by Heart performance and Public Speaking competitions organised within school

·        Watching productions, both in school, locally, or in cinema screenings, where possible.

Suggested reading Please see our Year 7 Recommended Reading List for ideas:

Year 7 Recommended Reading List

Subject Leader:  D Beckley (2nd in Dept, i/c of KS3)  email: dplante-bekenn@kingedwardvi.bham.sch.uk

Key Learning Constructs to be developed over the academic year Scheme of Learning

Autumn Term

Scheme of Learning

Spring Term

Scheme of Learning

Summer Term

·        Identify and Explain

·        Interpret and Analyse

·        Compare, Contrast, Evaluate

·        Communicate and Relate

·        Organise and Structure

·        Explore and Imagine

The Gothic and Ghoulish

 

Learning Focus: Why do we like to read stories that make us fearful?

 

Exploring spine-chilling short stories and excerpts from both classic and contemporary novels

·        Writing to terrify, horrify and revolt (including The Monkey’s Paw, The Lottery, excerpts from Stephen King, Octavia E Butler, Richard Preston and Daphne du Maurier)

·        Exploring Monsters: The Werewolf, The Vampire and The Thing with no Name in Literature (including extracts from Dracula, Frankenstein and Jekyll and Hyde)

·        The Gothic in Literature (using excerpts from Helen Oyeyemi and Susan Hill)

·        Ghost Stories (H G Wells)

·        Unreliable and unorthodox narrators (looking at Lemony Snicket and Edgar Allen Poe)

·        The Twist in the Tale (using Roald Dahl short stories)

Transactional Unit

 

Learning Focus: How can we write to engage our audience?

 

Refining skills in writing in using rhetoric and transactional forms, focusing on:

·        Reviews

·        Letters

·        Speeches

Focus on logos, pathos and ethos, using a persona in our writing and how to effectively structure our speeches.

 

Comedy Gold

 

Learning Focus: How does Shakespeare create comedy in his plays?

 

Studying Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing

·        Exploring the play through the lens of comedy

·        Researching historical contexts in relation to marriage conventions and gender roles

·        Performing and imagining comic opportunities in the play

·        Romantic comedies

·        Disguise and Deception in the play and wider Shakespearean plays

·        Endings and resolutions in comedies

Power and Conflict Poetry Unit

 

Learning Focus: How is conflict presented in poetry?

 

·        Analysing and interpreting poems on the theme of war and conflict

·        War Poetry (Wilfred Owen, Siegfried Sassoon, Tennyson, Hughes)

·        Composition, sequence and shape used in poetry

·        Looking at the human impact and tragedy of war (War Photographer, I am Vietnam)

·        Performance Poetry and debating

·        Learning to use what-how-why structures to help structure essays

Synthesis Unit: Combining Transactional and Comedy Writing – Baby Beacon

 

Learning Focus: How can we write to engage our audience?

 

·        Creating mini versions of the school magazine, the Beacon, students work on a long-form project that recaps key skills from the year.

·        This includes writing articles, parodies and satirical content

* R&R (Read and Review) Lessons

In these weekly lessons, students complete a variety of independent reading tasks while one-to-one discussions and feedback is given by the teacher on rotation.

R&R*

Students will begin to explore non-fiction through Trevor Noah’s Born a Crime before reading around the Gothic and Ghoulish genre, including Charles Dickens – A Christmas Carol

R&R*

Students will return to and finish Born a Crime before exploring more non-fiction including a number of ‘Female Voices’

R&R*

Returning to the horror genre through Darren Charlton’s ‘Wranglestone’

Assessment Pieces

A reading task based on an unseen spine-chilling story.

This will assess how well students can identify and explain key quotations from an extract.  Students will also need to interpret and analyse the impact of the text’s structure.

Assessment Pieces

Transactional task, writing for a specific purpose, audience and form.

This will assess how well students can choose and manage ideas, structure their writing into paragraphs, use appropriate vocabulary as well as spell and punctuate with accuracy.

Assessment Pieces

Extract-based analysis task on unseen poetry on the theme of war.

This will assess how well students can identify and explain key quotations from a poem.  Students will also need to interpret and analyse how the poem fits into the genre of war poetry and make links to relevant contextual information.

Key vocabulary

 

Learning new literary styles and terms:

macabre, allegory, foreshadowing, the Gothic, the Outsider, pathetic fallacy, omniscient narrator, catharsis, unreliable narrators

Learning new persuasive techniques:

rhetoric, anaphora, epiphora

Learning about media bias, proof-reading purpose, audience and form

Learning comic terms:

wit, absurd situations, visual humour, incongruity, dramatic irony, innuendo, euphemism, malapropisms, puns, farce, slapstick

Learning poetic forms: sonnet, epic poem, ode, elegy

Learning poetic terms: enjambment, caesura, end stopped lines, stress, fricatives, sibilance, rhythm, rhyme, internal rhyme, onomatopoeia, extended metaphor

Outside the taught curriculum Opportunities for students include:

·        Completing the Reading Challenges, organised through the Library

·        Participating in Latin club (Thursday lunchtimes, CR1), Mythology Club (Monday lunchtimes, Lab 16) or the online Creative Writing Club (classroom code: qg36s6h)

·        Taking part in Junior Debating Society (Thursday lunchtimes room 13)

·        Submitting entries for internal Creative Writing competitions (set on a termly basis) and external competitions

·        Taking part in Drama Club (Thursday lunchtimes)

·        Entering Poetry by Heart performance and Public Speaking competitions organised within school

·        Watching productions, both in school, locally, or in cinema screenings, where possible.

Suggested reading Please see our Key Stage 3 Recommended Reading List for ideas:

Key Stage 3 Recommended Reading List

Subject Leader:  D Beckley (2nd in Dept, i/c of KS3)  email: dplante-bekenn@kingedwardvi.bham.sch.uk

Key Learning Constructs to be developed over the academic year Scheme of Learning

Autumn Term

Scheme of Learning

Spring Term

Scheme of Learning

Summer Term

·        Identify and Explain

·        Interpret and Analyse

·        Compare, Contrast, Evaluate

·        Communicate and Relate

·        Organise and Structure

·        Explore and Imagine

Imaginative Writing

 

Learning Focus: How do writers craft compelling imaginative writing?

 

·        Exploring perspectives and personas in writing

·        Crafting characters with a focus on character archetypes

·        The rule of singularity in short stories

·        The five types of short story

·        Organising writing: looking at exposition, rising action, climax, falling action and denouement

·        How to use motifs

·        How to write for believability and creating verisimilitude

·        How to effectively create and describe setting

·        Shaping expression through showing, rather than telling

 

Nineteenth-Century Short Stories and Non-Fiction

 

Learning Focus:  How did writers respond to the tumultuous political events of this period?

 

·        Reading, comparing and evaluating a wide selection of short stories and non-fiction pieces on social issues (education, poverty, marriage, crime etc) and interests (adventure and exploration, the Gothic genre)

Discussing Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

 

Learning Focus:  How do we respond to the key themes in Never Let Me Go?

 

·        Debating ethical and social issues (cloning and personhood in particular) through a mock-trial, assessing oracy skills

·        Analysing, comparing and contrasting characters

·        Evaluating how events are structured in the novel

Studying Shakespeare’s Othello

 

Learning Focus: To what extent are the characters in Othello victims of society or themselves?

 

·        Understanding the key features of a Shakespearean tragedy, in context to tragedies across the ages (from Ancient Greek to 20th century plays)

·        Exploring critical interpretations of the play, from theatrical critics’ views to feminist and post-colonialist critics

·        Character focus on: Iago as an antagonist, with exploration of Machiavellian characters

·        Character focus on: Othello and the tragic hero

·        Analysis of motifs, symbolism and imagery in the play

·        Exploring the treatment of race and gender politics in the play

The Modern Novel

 

Learning Focus:  How does Orwell use allegory to explore corruption?

 

Studying Animal Farm by George Orwell

·        Exploring contexts, understanding the way this text works as an allegory and reading around the time period/ other dystopian literary extracts

·        Looking at propaganda and the ways leaders use words and performance to sway an audience

·        Exploring imagery and narrative methods used to engage the reader

·        Debates over key ideas in the novel

·        Consideration of structure: how do the characters develop across chapters? What clues are there in the novel?

·        Exploring Barthes’ Death of the Author theoretical approach.

* R&R (Read and Review) Lessons

In these weekly lessons, students complete a variety of independent reading tasks while one-to-one discussions and feedback is given by the teacher on rotation.

R&R*

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

R&R*

Reading Sherlock Holmes stories: The Case of the Speckled Band and The Red-Headed League

Reading The Empress by Tanika Gupta

R&R*

Students continue to work on their Reading Challenge independently and Bedrock tasks to improve vocabulary.

Assessment Pieces

A piece of imaginative writing linked to the topic studied.

This will assess how well students can choose and manage ideas in their writing.  The accuracy of their spelling, punctuation and grammar as well as their use of varied vocabulary will also be assessed.

Assessment Pieces

Reading C19th Fiction and Non-Fiction task, analysing, identifying and comparing unseen passages.

This will assess how well students can identify and explain, interpret and analyse texts as well as compare and contrast unseen C19th texts.

 

Assessment Pieces

Literature task, based on a whole-text exploration of Othello.

This is an essay task.  It will assess how well students can respond to an extract from Othello, link it to the play as a whole, and show skill in interpreting and analysing the play.

Key vocabulary

 

Learning new creative writing terms:

archetype, perspective, omniscient narrator, narrative voice, unorthodox narrator, unreliable narrator, singularity, in media res, motif, verisimilitude

Learning new tragedy terms:

tragedy, catharsis, hamartia, anagnorisis, hubris, Machiavellian, catalyst, tragic hero

Learning new terms:

Allegory, fable, satire, irony, authorial voice, cyclical narrative, foreshadowing, rhetoric, propaganda, revolutionary, Marxism, capitalist, communist, fascist, socialist, Soviet totalitarianism, corruption

Outside the taught curriculum Opportunities for students include:

·        Completing the Reading Challenges, organised through the Library

·        Participating in Latin club (Thursday lunchtimes, CR1), Mythology Club (Monday lunchtimes, Lab 16) or the online Creative Writing Club (classroom code: qg36s6h)

·        Taking part in Junior Debating Society (Thursday lunchtimes room 13)

·        Submitting entries for internal Creative Writing competitions (set on a termly basis) and external competitions

·        Taking part in Drama Club (Thursday lunchtimes)

·        Entering Poetry by Heart performance and Public Speaking competitions organised within school

·        Watching productions, both in school, locally, or in cinema screenings, where possible.

Suggested reading Please see our Key Stage 3 into Key Stage 4 Recommended Reading List for ideas:

KS3 into KS4 Recommended Reading List

GCSE English Language (1EN0 Edexcel)

Subject Leader: Ms L McKee                       email:    lmckee@kingedwardvi.bham.sch.uk

Key Learning Constructs to be developed over the academic year Scheme of Learning

Autumn Term

Scheme of Learning

Spring Term

Scheme of Learning

Summer Term

·        Identify and Explain (Lang AO1-4)

·        Interpret and Analyse (Lang AO1-4)

·        Compare, Contrast and Evaluate (Language AO1-4)

·        Communicate and Relate (Lang AO5 &6, and AO7-9 for SLE)

·        Organise and Structure (Lang AO5 and AO6; AO7-9 for SLE)

·        Explore and Imagine (Lang AO2-6)

English Language Paper 2:

Non-fiction and Transactional Writing

·     Understanding, interpreting, and analysing language, form and structure of unseen C20th or C21st texts

·     To be able to write effective texts that are suited to purpose, audience and form

·     To be able to write in a range of forms to suit a range of audiences in an engaging way, including focus this term on:

–        articles

–        speeches

·     Exploring journalistic and oratorial devices used to engage an audience and how to use these in students’ own writing

·        Reading a wide range of non-fiction extracts to build confidence in the genre

English Language Paper 1: C19th Fiction and Imaginative Writing

·    Understanding, interpreting and analysing language, form and structure of an unseen C19th text

·    To identify and interpret explicit and implicit ideas and information

·    Developing understanding of the literary canon and texts produced during the C19th, including how to work out the meaning of unfamiliar C19th vocabulary

·    To evaluate a writer’s intention, commenting on the importance of language and structure in creating meanings

·    To evaluate settings, ideas, themes and events in an unseen extract

·    To identify through inference and implied choices

·    To plan and write original narratives that are interesting and engaging

·    To be able to write effective texts that are suited to purpose, audience and form

·    To be able to structure imaginative writing for effect, considering how to manipulate reader’s interest.

·    Revision of narrative structures from Year 9, including: in media res, frame narratives, ABCD patterns, shocking statements and dialogue

·    Crafting authentic characters and settings

·    Using vocabulary selectively

·    Using sentence structure and paragraphing accurately, and for effect

Paper 2 English Language:

Spoken Language Endorsement

·      Demonstrate presentation skills in a formal setting

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

·      Use spoken Standard English effectively in speeches and presentations

 

English Language Revision Period:

Revision of Paper 1

·        Students will use some lesson time to be coached by their teachers in areas of development revising Paper 1

·        Revisiting key topics taught earlier in the course

Assessment Pieces

Students will complete a Common Assessment Task in December consisting of a transactional writing task, either an article or a speech, assessed against AO5/6 for GCSE Paper 2 Section B.

Assessment Pieces

Ongoing teacher-selected formative assessments, to include: practice exam questions/paragraphs/plans, assessing relevant skills

Assessment Pieces

Students will complete a full paper 1: Fiction and Imaginative Writing /64 in their summer examinations.

Students will also complete their Spoken Language Endorsement in July, assessed at three levels: distinction, merit and pass.

Key vocabulary

 

Some key terms, not exhaustive: Further key terms for English study can be found here: https://www.litcharts.com/literary-devices-and-terms
auditory (sound), visual (sight), kinaesthetic (movement), olfactory (smell), tactile (touch/ feeling)

alliteration

anaphora/epiphora

assonance

bias

connotation/denotation

emotive language

Ethos (an appeal to ethics)

hyperbole

imperatives/comparative/interrogative

imagery

irony

Logos (an appeal to logic)

juxtaposition

metaphor

narration, first person

narration, third person

objective information

Pathos (an appeal to emotion)

rapport

register

rhetorical question

Stream of Consciousness

subjective information

symbolism

tone

tricolon/rule of three

verisimilitude

Outside the taught curriculum ·        Students have opportunities to extend their debating and public speaking skills during the weekly Senior Debate Society (Friday lunchtimes in Room 11)

·        Participating in Latin club (Thursday lunchtimes, CR1) or the online Creative Writing Club (classroom code: qg36s6h)

·        Submitting entries for Creative Writing competitions (set on a termly basis)

·        Students can access high-quality additional materials and lectures on MASSOLIT and complete revision, where available, on SENECA. We also recommend In Our Time and other Radio 4 programmes.

·        Students are given opportunities to debate externally and speak on behalf of the school in Youth Speaks and ESU Mace debate competitions

·        Students can take part in other scheduled events, where possible (theatre trips, Poetry by Heart competition, Future Voices, Celebration of the Arts evening)

·        Students are advised to keep a writing journal to hone their transactional and creative writing skills.

Suggested reading

 

Suggested Key Stage 4 Reading List; we also strongly recommend embellishing reading to include more modern non-fiction.

Websites like Letters of Note and Speeches of Note are useful, as is daily reading of opinion-based journalism, such as the Guardian, the Times or the Independent for articles and reviews.

GCSE Literature (8702 AQA)

Subject Leader: Ms L McKee                       email:    lmckee@kingedwardvi.bham.sch.uk

Key Learning Constructs to be developed over the academic year Scheme of Learning

Autumn Term

Scheme of Learning

Spring Term

Scheme of Learning

Summer Term

·      Identify and Explain (Lit AO1,2)

·      Interpret and Analyse (Lit AO1, AO2)

·      Compare, Contrast and Evaluate (Lit AO1, AO2, AO3.)

·      Communicate and Relate (Lit AO1)

·      Organise and Structure (Lit AO1, AO4)

·      Explore and Imagine (Lit AO1, AO3)

English Literature Paper 2: AQA Love and Relationships Unseen Poetry and Poetry Anthology

·       How to analyse and respond to an unseen poem

·       To develop critical views and analyse poetry in a perceptive and critical way

·       To analyse the impact of poetic methods for different readers, over time

·       To understand the relevance of social, political and literary contexts of texts on movements in Literature, like Romanticism

·       To investigate the range of methods used by poets to engage a reader, including structural devices (enjambment, stanza organisation etc) and conventions of poetic forms

·       To recognise how meanings of texts can shift over time and to investigate these meanings in the context of this text

English Literature Paper 2: The Modern Text

(Teacher choice of An Inspector Calls, Lord of the Flies, Leave Taking)

·        Investigating plot, character, theme and structure of a modern text

·        To investigate the range of methods used by authors to engage and structure a purposeful and interesting narrative

·        Exploration of the conventions of dramatic plays or modern novels, applying them to the text with confidence

·        To recognise the importance of social, cultural and historical contexts of the production of a text investigate these meanings in the context of this text

·        To develop essay writing skills, considering what big ideas to use to construct an argument, how a writer presents ideas through dramatic or narrative methods, and to engage with authorial intentions – why do they position ideas in such ways or what do they want the reader to think about through the presentation of X or Y?

 

English Literature Paper 1: Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’

·        Exploration of the dramatic construction of the play, including its structure and dramatic methods used

·        Revision of the conventions of tragedy, applying them to the play

·        Exploration of characterisation, plot and thematic concerns of the play

·        Knowledge and understanding of the contextual issues in the play, such as power and ambition, or the role of family or women

·        Knowledge and understanding of the social and historical context of life in Jacobean England, and of C11th Scotland

·        Continuing to hone essay writing skills, refining how to select big ideas, how to embed evidence and how a writer presents ideas through dramatic methods

(Students will not complete the study of Macbeth this academic year; this continues into the Autumn term, please note.)

Assessment Pieces

Students will complete a common assessment in November, completing a practice exam question in timed conditions.

Assessment Pieces

Ongoing teacher-selected formative assessments, to include: low-stakes assessments and practice essay questions/paragraphs/plans, assessing skills

Assessment Pieces

Students will complete an essay on their modern text in their summer exam assessment.

They will continue to complete practice essay questions/paragraphs/plans, assessing skills on Macbeth.

Key vocabulary

 

General Poetic Terms:

Stanza (e.g. couplet, tercet, quatrain, sestet, octave etc.), end-stopped lines, caesura, enjambment, contrast, motif, simile, metaphor, symbolism, concrete and abstract images, personification, pathetic fallacy, conceit, voice, tone, alliteration, sibilance, rhyme, rhythm, pace, meter, hard or soft consonants, plosives, relevant poetic form (e.g. elegy, sonnet (Petrarchan, Elizabethan), ballad).

 

Love and Relationships:

natural or pastoral imagery, Romantics, dramatic monologue, Petrarchan sonnet, free verse, Punglish, idiom, poet laureate, tercets, ambiguous endings, nautical or cartographical imagery, Edenic

Never Let Me Go:

Anagnorisis, Bildungsroman, dislocation, dystopian, edify, euphemism, hegemony, human condition, institutionalised, mundane, non-linear storytelling, nostalgia, othering, pastoral, transgression, unreliable narrator

The History Boys:

Farce, satire, alienation, absurd, unrequited, eccentric, retrospective narrator, breaking the fourth wall, non-linear, dramatic irony, intertextual references, euphemism, flashforwards/flashbacks, catalyst, innuendo and double entendre, apotheosis, meretricious

Lord of the Flies:

Allegorical, omniscient, democracy, civilisation, savagery, anarchy, symbolic, human nature, foreshadows, utopia, dystopia, dichotomy, hierarchy, messianic, allusion

 

An Inspector Calls:

Mouthpiece, audience surrogate, polemical, catalyst, stichomythia, domestic sphere, social expectations, climatic curtain, hegemony, pretences

 

Leave Taking:

Windrush generation, split-stage, satire, alienation, dramatic irony, patois, migration, Obeah, catalyst, matriarchal, euphemism, cynicism, foil, intergenerational conflict, displacement and dislocation, matrilineage, pioneer

Macbeth:

Five-act Shakespearean play includes: exposition, complication, crisis, resolution and denouement, tragic hero, catharsis, hubris, hamartia, anagnorisis, protagonist, antagonist, peripeteia, pathos, soliloquy, blank verse, stichomythia, aside, allegory, epithet, Divine Right of Kings, Great Chain of Being.

Additional key terms for English Literature study can be found here: https://www.litcharts.com/literary-devices-and-terms

Outside the taught curriculum ·        Students can access high-quality additional materials and lectures on MASSOLIT and complete revision, where available, on SENECA. We also recommend In Our Time and other Radio 4 programmes.

·        Students have opportunities to extend their debating and public speaking skills during the weekly Senior Debate Society (Friday lunchtimes in Room 11) or by participating in the Poetry by Heart competition

·        Participating in Latin club (Thursday lunchtimes Room 10) or the online Creative Writing Club (classroom code: qg36s6h)

·        Submitting entries for Creative Writing competitions (set on a termly basis)

·        Students are given opportunities to debate externally and speak on behalf of the school in Youth Speaks and ESU Mace debate competitions

·        Students can take part in other scheduled events, where possible (theatre trips to see texts in performance or guest lectures, Poetry by Heart internal competitions etc.)

Suggested reading

 

Suggested Key Stage 4 Reading List.

Resources to support Literature study can be found on the British Library website, in the ‘Discovering Literature’ section.

GCSE English Language (1EN0 Edexcel)

Subject Leader: Ms L McKee                       email:    lmckee@kingedwardvi.bham.sch.uk

Key Learning Constructs to be developed over the academic year Scheme of Learning

Autumn Term

Scheme of Learning

Spring Term

Scheme of Learning

Summer Term

·        Identify and Explain (Lang AO1-4)

·        Interpret and Analyse (Lang AO1-4)

·        Compare, Contrast and Evaluate (Language AO1-4)

·        Communicate and Relate (Lang AO5 &6, and AO7-9 for SLE)

·        Organise and Structure (Lang AO5 and AO6; AO7-9 for SLE)

·        Explore and Imagine (Lang AO2-6)

Paper 2 English Language:

Non-fiction and Transactional Writing

·        Understanding, interpreting, and analysing language, form and structure of unseen C20th or C21st texts

·        To compare and contrast views and perspectives when exploring non-fiction texts, particularly opinions, bias, ideas and themes through analysing voice and register, structure and language in two or more texts.

·        To be able to write effective texts that are suited to purpose, audience and form

·        To be able to structure transactional writing for effect, considering how to manipulate reader’s interest.

·        To be able to write in a range of forms to suit a range of audiences in an engaging way, including focus this term on:

–        letters, both formal and informal

–        reviews

–        obituaries

·        Using vocabulary selectively

·        Reading a wide range of non-fiction extracts to build confidence in the genre

Paper 2 English Language:

Non-fiction and Transactional Writing

·        Understanding, interpreting, and analysing language, form and structure of unseen C20th or C21st texts

·        To evaluate settings, ideas, themes, and events in an unseen extract

·        To evaluate a writer’s intention, commenting on the importance of language and structure in creating meanings

·        To identify and interpret explicit and implicit ideas and information

·        Using sentence structure and paragraphing accurately, and for effect

·        To be able to write effective texts in a range of forms to suit a range of audiences in an engaging way, including focus this term on:

–        textbook entries

–        autobiographies

–        travel writing

English Language Revision Period:

Revision of all modules completed so far

·        Students use lesson time to be coached by their teachers in areas of development.

·        Revisit key topics taught earlier in the course

Assessment Pieces

Students will complete a Common Assessment Task in the November exam session with a transactional writing task, assessed against AO5/6 for GCSE Paper 2 Section B.

Additional assessments may be made of Q7a and b) style questions, or other areas of focus, by teachers.

Assessment Pieces

Students will sit a Common Assessment Task in February/March for Language Paper 2 Section A, assessing reading skills; further assessments may be made of Q1-7b style questions, or other areas of focus, by teachers.

Assessment Pieces

Ongoing assessments completed in topics of student’s choice. 1 piece per week’s allowance.

Key vocabulary

 

Some key terms, not exhaustive: Further key terms for English study can be found here: https://www.litcharts.com/literary-devices-and-terms
alliteration

anaphora/epiphora

anecdote

assonance

bias

connotation/denotation

emotive language

hyperbole

imperatives/comparative/interrogative

imagery

irony

juxtaposition

metaphor

narration, first person

narration, third person

objective information

rapport

register

rhetorical question

subjective information

symbolism

tone

tricolon/rule of three

Outside the taught curriculum ·        Students have opportunities to extend their debating and public speaking skills during the weekly Senior Debate Society (Friday lunchtimes in Room 11)

·        Participating in Latin club (Thursday lunchtimes, CR1) or the online Creative Writing Club (classroom code: qg36s6h)

·        Submitting entries for Creative Writing competitions (set on a termly basis)

·        Students can access high-quality additional materials and lectures on MASSOLIT and complete revision, where available, on SENECA. We also recommend In Our Time and other Radio 4 programmes.

·        Students are given opportunities to debate externally and speak on behalf of the school in Youth Speaks and ESU Mace debate competitions

·        Students can take part in other scheduled events, where possible (theatre trips, Poetry by Heart competition, Future Voices, Celebration of the Arts evening)

·        Students are advised to keep a writing journal to hone their transactional and creative writing skills.

Suggested reading

 

Suggested Key Stage 4 Reading List; we also strongly recommend embellishing reading to include more modern non-fiction.

Websites like Letters of Note and Speeches of Note are useful, as is daily reading of opinion-based journalism, such as the Guardian, the Times or the Independent for articles and reviews.

GCSE Literature (8702 AQA)

Subject Leader: Ms L McKee                       email:    lmckee@kingedwardvi.bham.sch.uk
Key Learning Constructs to be developed over the academic year Scheme of Learning

Autumn Term

Scheme of Learning

Spring Term

Scheme of Learning

Summer Term

·      Identify and Explain (Lit AO1, 2)

·      Interpret and Analyse (Lit AO1, AO2)

·      Compare, Contrast and Evaluate (Lit AO1, AO2, AO3)

·      Communicate and Relate (Lit AO1, AO4)

·      Organise and Structure (Lit AO1, AO4)

·      Explore and Imagine (Lit AO1, AO3)

English Literature Paper 2: Completing Macbeth (see Y10 Summer Curriculum Map) and Unseen Poetry

·        How to analyse and respond to unseen poems with confidence

·       To develop critical views and analyse poems in a perceptive and critical way

·       To analyse the impact of poetic methods for different readers, over time

·       To understand the relevance of social, political and literary contexts of texts on movements in Literature, like Romanticism

·       To investigate the range of methods used by poets to engage a reader, including structural devices (enjambment, stanza organisation etc) and conventions of poetic forms

English Literature Paper 1: The Nineteenth Century Novel (Teacher choice from Great Expectations, Frankenstein, Jekyll and Hyde)

·        Investigating plot, character, theme and structure of a C19th text

·        To investigate the range of methods used by authors to engage and structure a purposeful and interesting narrative

·        To recognise the importance of social, cultural and historical contexts on the production of a text and to relate these to characters, settings and ideas

·        To recognise how meanings of texts can shift over time and to investigate these meanings in the context of this text

·        To have a secure understanding of the range of relevant contexts in relation to this text

·        To understand and investigate where this text ‘sits’ within the canon of literature.

·        To refine essay writing skills, considering what big ideas to use to construct an argument, how a writer presents ideas through narrative methods, and to engage with authorial intentions

English Literature Revision Period – Revision of all modules completed so far

·      Students to use lesson time to be coached by their teachers in areas of development.

·      Revisit key topics taught earlier in the course

Assessment Pieces

Students will complete both 27.1 and 27.2 unseen poetry questions in November/December, in exam-conditions.

Assessment Pieces

Students will complete an assessment in February/March, on their nineteenth-century texts and Macbeth, in exam-conditions.

Assessment Pieces

Ongoing assessments completed in topics of student’s choice. 1 essay per week allowance.

Key vocabulary

 

Love and Relationships:

natural or pastoral imagery, Romantics, dramatic monologue, Petrarchan sonnet, free verse, Punglish, idiom, poet laureate, tercets, ambiguous endings, nautical or cartographical imagery, Edenic

General Poetic Terms:

Stanza (e.g. couplet, tercet, quatrain, sestet, octave etc.), end-stopped lines, caesura, enjambment, contrast, motif, simile, metaphor, symbolism, concrete and abstract images, personification, pathetic fallacy, conceit, voice, tone, alliteration, sibilance, rhyme, rhythm, pace, meter, hard or soft consonants, plosives, relevant poetic form (e.g. elegy, sonnet (Petrarchan, Elizabethan), ballad)

Frankenstein:

framed narrative, epistolary fiction, galvanism, Romanticism, the Sublime, the Age of Enlightenment, transgression, doppelgänger, Gothic / Gothic Outsider, hubris.

The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde:

Gothic, duality, epistolary, sublime, uncanny, hubris, social expectations

 

Great Expectations:

bildungsroman, serial/periodicals, autobiographical, retrospective narration, narrative tension, cyclical narrative, gothic setting, character doubles, post-Industrial Revolution Victorian social structures

Additional key terms for English Literature study can be found here: https://www.litcharts.com/literary-devices-and-terms
Outside the taught curriculum ·        Students can access high-quality additional materials and lectures on MASSOLIT and complete revision, where available, on SENECA. We also recommend In Our Time and other Radio 4 programmes.

·        Students have opportunities to extend their debating and public speaking skills during the weekly Senior Debate Society (Friday lunchtimes, Room 11) or representing the school in ESU MACE and Oxford Schools’ competitions

·        Participating in Latin club (Thursday lunchtimes CR1) or the online Creative Writing Club (classroom code: qg36s6h)

·        Submitting entries for Creative Writing competitions (set on a termly basis)

·        Students can take part in other scheduled events, where possible (participating in internal and external Poetry by Heart competitions, going on theatre trips to see texts in performance where possible, or guest lectures etc)

Suggested reading

 

Suggested Key Stage 4 Reading List, though students may like to prepare for future A Level study using our selected KS5 Reading List

Resources to support Literature study can be found on the British Library website, in the ‘Discovering Literature’ section.

A Level English Literature (AQA 7717BB)

Subject Leader: Ms L McKee                       email:    lmckee@kingedwardvi.bham.sch.uk

Key Learning Constructs to be developed over the academic year Scheme of Learning

Autumn Term

Scheme of Learning

Spring Term

Scheme of Learning

Summer Term

·   Identify and Explain (Lit AO1,2,3)

·   Interpret and Analyse (Lit AO1, AO2,AO3)

·   Compare, Contrast and Evaluate (Lit AO1, AO2, AO3, AO4)

·   Communicate and Relate (Lit AO1, AO5, AO4)

·   Organise and Structure (Lit AO1, AO5)

·   Explore and Imagine (Lit AO1, AO4, AO5)

Students have two teachers for their A level study. Each teacher will take students through a different aspect of the course.

Paper 1: Aspects of Comedy – Wider AO4 Comedy Genre and Shakespeare’s ‘The Taming of the Shrew’

 

Students study and learn the generic conventions of comedies, with exploration of how texts develop across the centuries and decades. Using an array of texts, from ancient Greek plays and middle English poetry in excerpts from Aristophanes’ Lysistrata and Chaucer’s The Wife of Bath, up to modern day satire, autobiographies, and screenplays, including Fight Club, Small Island, Richard Curtis and Nora Ephron scripts, students explore how comedy responds to socio-political movements, moral shifts and cultural trends. Students produce presentations to help build communication skills on movements such as Restoration Comedy, Theatre of the Absurd and Comedy of Manners to build their knowledge of the genres.

Students then explore Shakespeare’s ‘The Taming of the Shrew’, looking particularly at how the text operates within the comedic genre. They build confidence and expertise in analysing dramatic methods and are able to communicate and relate their ideas with increasingly perceptive ideas on the texts as the term progresses. They will be:

●       Studying comedy texts through subgenres and identifying key conventions, whether a text is a classic romantic drama, a satire, a comedy of manners etc.;

●       Investigate the settings for the comedy, both places and times;

●       Identify the journey towards knowledge and happiness for the protagonists, often in relation to their love interest, their mistakes and misunderstandings along their journey, moments of unhappiness and ultimate sense of joy;

●       Investigate the role of the comic villain, or rival, who directly affects the fortune of the hero or heroine;

●       Notice patterns in the exposition and resolutions in comedies;

●       Investigate how the behaviour of the hero or heroine affects primarily themselves and perhaps one or two others;

●       Developing skills in constructing and structuring assured essays that explore and initiate strong lines of debate

Paper 2: Elements of Social and Political Protest

 

Students will be studying a range of texts within the Social and Political Protest tradition.

During this first term they will study:

Unseen Social and Political Protest texts, across a range of genres and time periods, and ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ by Margaret Atwood.

 

Whilst studying these texts, particular attention will be drawn to:

●       the type of the text itself, whether it is a post-modern novel, science fiction, satirical poetry, historical and political drama

●       the settings that are created as backdrops for political and social action and the power struggles that are played out on them. Both places (real and imagined) and time settings will also be significant here

●       the specific nature of the power struggle, the behaviours of those with power and those without, those who have their hands on the levers of power

●       the pursuit of power itself, rebellion against those with power, warfare

●       the workings of the ruling political classes

●       corruption, conspiracy, control

●       the connection of the smaller world to the larger world

●       the focus on human organisation: domestically, in the workplace, in local and national governments

●       gender politics and issues of social class

●       the structural patterning of the text, how political tensions are heightened and perhaps resolved

●       the way that language is used in the worlds that are created

●       the way that political and social protest writing is used to comment on society, particularly the representation of society in these historical periods

●       ultimately how political and social protest writing affects audiences and readers, inviting reflection on our own world.

Students have two teachers for their A level study. Each teacher will take students through a different aspect of the course.

 

Paper 1: Aspects of Comedy – Shakespeare’s ‘The Taming of the Shrew’ (continued)

Students will continue their investigation into Shakespeare’s play, looking particularly at how it operates within the comedic genre. They will be completing further study on:

·   the significance of human folly, trickery and gullibility

·   identifying the use of complex plotting and sub-plots

·   evaluating the way that language is used to heighten the comedy, particularly wit and linguistic play

·   the way that comedy draws attention to itself

Paper 2: Elements of Social and Political Protest

 

Students will continue to study a range of texts within the Social and Political Protest tradition.

During this first half term, they will complete their study of ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ by Margaret Atwood.

 

Non-Exam Assessment Preparation – Applying Critical Theories and Prose Study

Students will study literary critical theories and be encouraged to read a range of texts through this lens.

Students will learn how to apply the following theories to a prose novel or short story collection:

–         Marxism

–         Feminism

–         Post-Colonialism

–         Narrative theory

–         Literary Value and the Canon

After selecting their prose texts, students create and select their own investigation question which is supported by the teacher.

Non-Exam Assessment Preparation – Applying Critical Theories and Prose Study – (continued)

Students will study literary critical theories and be encouraged to read a range of texts through this lens.

Students will learn how to apply the following theories to a prose novel or short story collection:

–         Marxism

–         Feminism

–         Post-Colonialism

–         Narrative theory

–         Literary Value and the Canon

After selecting their prose texts, students create and select their own investigation question which is supported by the teacher.

Paper 1: Aspects of Comedy – 1c Preparation

 

Students study and prepare for section 1c in Paper 1, starting their exploration of ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ by Oscar Wilde

Paper 2: Elements of Social and Political Protest

 

Students will be studying a range of texts within the Social and Political Protest tradition.

During this term they will commence their study of William Blake’s ‘Songs of Innocence and Experience’

Assessment Pieces

Students will be assessed on an Unseen 1a Political and Social Protest Writing essay in November/December.

Assessment Pieces

Students will be assessed on a Paper 1 1a The Taming of the Shrew essay in February.

Assessment Pieces

Completing first draft of NEA Assessment 1 – Prose essay of 1250-1500 words, using a critical lens to investigate a novel or collection of short stories

Students will be assessed formally during the end of Year 12 examination series on Paper 1: The Taming of the Shrew 1b essay question and Paper 2: 2b The Handmaid’s Tale essay questions

Key vocabulary

 

Key terms for English Literature study can be found here: https://www.litcharts.com/literary-devices-and-terms
Outside the taught curriculum ·   Students have opportunities to extend their debate and public speaking skills during the weekly Senior Debating Society (Friday lunchtimes in Room 11) and on behalf of the school in Youth Speaks and ESU MACE competitions

·   Members of Year 12 can work as part of the much-loved, award-winning Beacon magazine, either as editors, designers, artists, or writers.

·   Students in Year 12 may attend Lit Soc on Tuesday lunchtimes in room 11. At Lit Soc, students are provided opportunities to go beyond the curriculum and explore new and niche areas of literature. Guest speakers and a rotation of teachers lead sessions, capitalising on areas of interest, with a book club element each half term.

·   Students can get involved in Creative Writing club virtually with multiple competitions offered each term, both internally in House competitions and externally (Google Classroom code qg36s6h)

·   We run a Latin club on Thursdays in CR1, learning the language and challenging the idea that it is ‘dead’!

·   Students can take part in other scheduled events (such as activity days or theatre trips, and students may create their own extra-curricular clubs, such as a Sixth Form Book Club or running Junior Debating)

·   We also have opportunities to enter Poetry by Heart and other essay writing competitions

Suggested reading

 

Our full guidance for the course is available in the A Level English Literature Handbook, which all students are issued with. This includes recommended radio programmes and podcasts, a longer reading list, specifications, technical terms and useful phrases for essays.

Wider reading on all modules is highly recommended. The A Level Reading List is coded to help identify texts within the genres of comedy and social and political protest. Wider reading on literary criticism (namely Marxism, Feminism, Post-Colonialism, Eco-Criticism) is also encouraged; further details on the NEA can be found here: NEA Reading List

A Level English Literature (AQA 7717BB)

Subject Leader: Ms L McKee                       email:    lmckee@kingedwardvi.bham.sch.uk

Key Learning Constructs to be developed over the academic year Scheme of Learning

Autumn Term

Scheme of Learning

Spring Term

Scheme of Learning

Summer Term

·   Identify and Explain (Lit AO1,2,3)

·   Interpret and Analyse (Lit AO1, AO2,AO3)

·   Compare, Contrast and Evaluate (Lit AO1, AO2, AO3, AO4)

·   Communicate and Relate (Lit AO1, AO5, AO4)

·   Organise and Structure (Lit AO1, AO5)

·   Explore and Imagine (Lit AO1, AO4, AO5)

Students have two teachers for their A level study. Each teacher will take students through a different aspect of the course.

Paper 1: Aspects of Comedy – 1c Preparation

 

Students study and prepare for section 1c in Paper 1, completing their exploration of ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ – Oscar Wilde and commencing their study of ‘Emma’ – Jane Austen.

Students will investigate both Austen’s novel and Wilde’s play, looking particularly at how they operate within the comedic genre. They build confidence and expertise in analysing dramatic and narrative methods created by writers, and are able to communicate and relate their ideas with increasingly perceptive ideas on the texts as the term progresses. They will be:

●  Studying comedy texts through subgenres and identifying key conventions, whether a text is a classic romantic drama, a satire, a comedy of manners etc.;

●  Investigate the settings for the comedy, both places and times;

●  Identify the journey towards knowledge and happiness for the protagonists, often in relation to their love interest, their mistakes and misunderstandings along their journey, moments of unhappiness and ultimate sense of joy;

●  Investigate the role of the comic villain, or rival, who directly affects the fortune of the hero or heroine;

●  Notice patterns in the exposition and resolutions in comedies;

●  Investigate how the behaviour of the hero or heroine affects primarily themselves and perhaps one or two others;

●  Developing skills in constructing and structuring assured essays that explore and initiate strong lines of debate

Paper 2: Elements of Social and Political Protest

Students will be studying a range of texts within the Social and Political Protest tradition.

During this first term they will study:

William Blake’s ‘Songs of Innocence and Experience’ and start looking at Khaled Hosseini’s ‘The Kite Runner’.

Whilst studying these texts, particular attention will be drawn to:

●  the type of the text itself, whether it is a post-modern novel, science fiction, satirical poetry, historical and political drama

●  the settings that are created as backdrops for political and social action and the power struggles that are played out on them. Both places (real and imagined) and time settings will also be significant here

●  the specific nature of the power struggle, the behaviours of those with power and those without, those who have their hands on the levers of power

●  the pursuit of power itself, rebellion against those with power, warfare

●  the workings of the ruling political classes

●  corruption, conspiracy, control

●  the connection of the smaller world to the larger world

●  the focus on human organisation: domestically, in the workplace, in local and national governments

●  gender politics and issues of social class

●  the structural patterning of the text, how political tensions are heightened and perhaps resolved

●  the way that language is used in the worlds that are created

●  the way that political and social protest writing is used to comment on society, particularly the representation of society in these historical periods

●  ultimately how political and social protest writing affects audiences and readers, inviting reflection on our own world.

Non-Exam Assessment Preparation (Poetry Study)

Students will complete the study of literary critical theories and be encouraged to read a range of texts through this lens. Students will learn how to apply the following theories to a poetry collection:

–         Marxism

–         Feminism

–         Eco-Criticism

–         Post-Colonialism

–         Narrative theory

–         Literary Value and the Canon

After selecting their poetry texts, students create and select their own investigation question which is supported by the teacher.

Students have two teachers for their A level study. Each teacher will take students through a different aspect of the course.

 

Paper 1: Aspects of Comedy – 1c Preparation

 

Completing the study of ‘Emma’ – Jane Austen and starting revision of Shakespeare’s ‘The Taming of the Shrew’

 

Paper 2: Elements of Social and Political Protest

 

This term focuses on the delivery of Khaled Hosseini’s ‘The Kite Runner’, looking at approaches to 2b style essay debate questions.

The focus will draw together in the second half of the term to 2c essays, applying knowledge and understanding of all social and political protest texts studied (‘The Handmaid’s Tale, Blake’s ‘Songs of Innocence and of Experience’ and ‘The Kite Runner’) SPP texts (HMT, KR and Songs of Innocence and Experience)

 

Non-Exam Assessment Preparation (Poetry Study)

Students will complete and submit their first draft of their poetry NEA, and following discussion with their NEA supervisor, they will redraft this for submission around early April

Paper 1: Aspects of Comedy

 

Revision of all sections of Paper 1.

 

Paper 2: Elements of Social and Political Protest

 

Revision of all sections of Paper 2.

Assessment Pieces

·   Completing final draft of NEA Assessment 1 – Prose essay of 1250-1500 words, using a critical lens to investigate a novel or collection of short stories

·   Students will complete multiple additional essays, including a timed conditions’ Blake 2b essay during this time, as per teachers’ requests

Assessment Pieces

·   Submitting first drafts and final drafts of NEA Assessment 2 – Poetry essay of 1250-1500 words, using a critical lens to investigate either a poem of length (1000 lines roughly) or a collection of poems (15-20 recommended)

·   Exam assessments: a 1a Shrew extract-based question,  and a 1c Comedy Texts essay, exploring ‘Emma’ and ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ – Assessment 2

·   Exam assessments: a 2a Unseen Political and Social Protest Writing essay and a 2b essay from a choice of The Kite Runner or Blake – Assessment 3

Assessment Pieces
Key vocabulary

 

Key terms for English Literature study can be found here: https://www.litcharts.com/literary-devices-and-terms

 

Outside the taught curriculum ·   Students have opportunities to extend their debate and public speaking skills during the weekly Senior Debating Society (Friday lunchtimes in Room 11) and on behalf of the school in Youth Speaks and ESU MACE competitions

·   Students in Year 13 may attend Lit Soc on Tuesday lunchtimes in room 11. At Lit Soc, students are provided opportunities to go beyond the curriculum and explore new and niche areas of literature. Guest speakers and a rotation of teachers lead sessions, capitalising on areas of interest, with a book club element each half term.

·   Students can get involved in Creative Writing club virtually with multiple competitions offered each term, both internally in House competitions and externally (Google Classroom code qg36s6h)

·   We run a Latin club on Thursdays in CR1, learning the language and challenging the idea that it is ‘dead’!

·   Students can take part in other scheduled events (such as activity days or theatre trips, and students may create their own extra-curricular clubs, such as a Sixth Form Book Club or running Junior Debating)

·   We also have opportunities to enter Poetry by Heart and other essay writing competitions

Suggested reading

 

Our full guidance for the course is available in the A Level English Literature Handbook, which all students are issued with. This includes recommended radio programmes and podcasts.

Wider reading on all modules is highly recommended. The A Level Reading List is coded to help identify texts within the genres of comedy and social and political protest. Wider reading on literary criticism (namely Marxism, Feminism, Post-Colonialism, Eco-Criticism) is also encouraged; further details on the NEA can be found here: NEA Reading List

We also recommend:

Beginning Theory – Peter Barry; Aspects of the Novel – EM Forster; The Norton Anthology of English Literature; The Norton Anthology of Literary Criticism

Further information

  • Ms L McKee (Head of Department)
  • Mrs D Beckley (Second in Department
  • Ms E Gallagher
  • Ms T Whybrow
  • Miss J Morrison (PAL Year 9)
  • Miss K Ghag
  • Miss R Begum
  • Mr M Puzey
  • Mrs M Bates (on maternity leave)

There are many ways parents can help support their child in their English studies.

  • We recommend using their Google Classroom as their first port-of-call if they are struggling; the schemes of learning available there will help to refresh their knowledge of topics and additional class materials should supplement understanding, where available.
  • For KS4 and KS5, students will have a separate exam-focused Google Classroom too, where they can access a wealth of past papers, revision resources, additional tasks, and exemplar responses.
  • At KS3, students will have Read and Review Lessons (R&R); as part of these, teachers will have one-on-one discussions with students. We encourage parents to discuss their child’s targets from these R&R sessions with their child to help support them outside of the classroom.
  • In Years 8 and 9, students can help boost their literacy skills through additional work on Bedrock Learning.
  • Students can access high-quality additional materials and lectures on MASSOLIT and complete revision, where available, on SENECA. Please see ‘Useful Links’ for further support resources.
  • Students can update notes/character profiles/theme grids/plot summaries/tension graphs for texts studied. They should make sure to do this on an ongoing basis.
  • Naturally, we strongly recommend reading. It opens new experiences, introduces new vocabulary and allows your child to explore far beyond their own worlds. As well as being relaxing, studies show that reading is the most beneficial activity to support learning and development across the whole curriculum. Aim for 30 minutes a day to help build strong habits and stamina.
  • We also encourage parents or guardians to consider reading the texts their child is studying to help share their experience and to help them discuss it with more confidence. Reading the same article with your child would also be a good way to open discussion. You might like to use ‘Agree, Build, Challenge’ model to push interesting thought.
  • We would appreciate parents and guardians supporting their child in completing the Library’s Reading Challenges and reminding your child to make use of the school library, as well as their local library. There is a wealth of eBooks available through the school’s library portal and audio books too can be sourced through local Birmingham libraries, using the Libby
  • Where possible, taking your child to see a theatrical production is a wonderful and enriching experience.
  • An encouraging nudge to your child to take part in activities being run in school is advisable to help them get the most from their time at school.

Opportunities for students include:

  • Completing the Reading Challenges, organised through the Library. More information can be found through Ms Harris, the School Librarian, or your child can simply ask their English teacher for further details.
  • Participating in Latin club (Thursday lunchtimes, CR1), Mythology Club (Monday lunchtimes, Lab 16) or the online Creative Writing Club (classroom code: qg36s6h)
  • Taking part in Junior Debating Society (Thursday lunchtimes, room 13, Y7-9) or Senior Debating Society (Friday lunchtimes, room 11, Y10-13). Students are given opportunities to debate externally and speak on behalf of the school in Youth Speaks, ESU Mace, Oxford Schools debate competitions, within Foundation competitions, and in the ESU Public Speaking competition too.
  • Submitting entries for internal Creative Writing competitions (set on a termly basis) and external competitions.
  • Taking part in Drama Club (Thursday lunchtimes)
  • Entering Poetry by Heart performance competitions organised within school, or entering for the Birmingham Young Poet Laureate independently.
  • Watching productions, both in school, locally, or in cinema screenings, where possible.
  • Students can access high-quality additional materials and lectures on MASSOLIT and complete revision, where available, on SENECA. Please see ‘Useful Links’ for further support resources.
  • Students are advised to keep a writing journal to hone their transactional and creative writing skills.
  • In Sixth form, students may create their own extra-curricular clubs, such as a Sixth Form Book Club, or running Junior Debating. Year 12 students are also eligible to apply to become a part of our Beacon magazine team, where students create, design and edit their own printed magazine. This has been a literary tradition in the school since 1913 and has won multiple awards, including Best Magazine at the Shine Media Awards.

English is a versatile subject that is marketable in the majority of career areas. It is one of the most popular subjects studied by our aspiring medics and lawyers. English graduates often go on to careers where communication and effective written English are valued. The subject does offer a wealth of possible career paths.

With a qualification in English, you could pursue careers in writing, journalism, publishing, law, teaching, advertising, business, accounting, finance… the list goes on!

We strongly recommend using the following resources to extend and enhance students’ understanding of texts studied and skills in English:

  • MASSOLIT – short video lectures by top academics. All students in Years 10 and above have access to a log in for this.
  • BBC Skills-wise – for useful resources for reading and writing skills.
  • BBC Teach – useful Key Stage 3 and 4 resources.
  • British Library – they have excellent resources on nineteenth-century texts, like this video series, in particular.
  • Letters of Note or Speeches of Note hold some of the world’s most famous, interesting, and funny letters and speeches. This is useful for boosting confidence with transactional writing, alongside reading regular opinion-based journalism, such asthe Guardianthe Times or the Independent for articles and reviews.
  • Seneca can be used by students to test their knowledge of texts and help learn quotations and key information.
  • Poetry Foundation have a wonderful selection of poetry to enrich your child’s knowledge; the Poetry by Heart website is also an excellent place to source age-appropriate poetry.
  • We also recommend In Our Time and other Radio 4 programmes.
  • BBC Sounds podcast series – useful for Key Stage 4 students studying English Literature.
  • The Globe Theatre have some interesting Shakespeare-related videos on their YouTube channel, and the RSC Learning Zone has excellent resources too on each of Shakespeare’s plays.
  • Students can use study guides available through the school library to enrich their understanding of texts studied, or access websites like LitCharts for further help.
  • Students can use Reading Lists produced by the English Department to extend their reading; these vary across our Key Stages and links can be found in the relevant Curriculum Maps for their specific year group.
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