English is a core subject that not only develops almost tangible life skills and essential knowledge, but also supplements every other subject across the curriculum. We believe English is not just about developing our reading and writing, it is also about enhancing our ability to sympathise and empathise, it is about questioning the world we live in and our own behaviours. Diversity, the human condition, historical contexts, and social justice through writing and speech form the bedrock of our curriculum.
During Key Stage 3 students will be introduced to themes and ideas, such as conflict, possible futures, and representation. Deeply profound questions will be asked and explored with the primary goal of building thoughtful, kind, and empathetic beings who will enter into the wider world and enrich it with ideas and compassion.
Our curriculum also includes looking at media in Key Stage 3, which helps students gain an insight into a subject that is highly influential in their lives. The same themes and ideas, such as power are investigated, but with the added layer of bias, digital narrative, and the impact of coupling images with words. We feel it is our responsibility to ensure our curriculum prepares young people for life as well as empowering them with knowledge to make informed decisions.
Alongside this content students will be taught the skills needed to become better orators, debaters, and generally better communicators. This is will be achieved through numerous confidence building activities because we recognise that confidence is not something all possess in abundance, therefore we have a responsibility to help unlock the hidden potential within each student.
At Key Stage 4 students work toward a GCSE in English Language and a GCSE in English Literature. The work done at Key Stage 3 forms the foundations, which are then built upon and honed in preparation for final exams, next steps beyond school, and life beyond academia. Our curriculum ensures that the GCSE experiences feels familiar to students due to our thematic and sequenced approach, which ensures the fabric of English as a subject is embedded throughout the journey through school. Topics, such as Power and Conflict, the degradation of humanity, and hubris are applied to key texts, including Macbeth, An Inspector Calls, and poems, for example, Ozymandias.
We ensure as many opportunities for cross pollination between subject areas as possible. Much of what we do supplements all curriculum strands, but there are also those topics that allow us to work closely with particular subjects, such as History, Sociology, and Media Studies.
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