SubjectsEnglish

Our Curriculum Intent

Our curriculum has been designed to ensure that all students can: 

• become inquisitive and curious learners;  

• excel academically;  

• form and articulate their ideas in a mature and respectful way.

Reading is prioritised within English Curriculum where students are fully immersed in full texts from Year 7 onwards and are encouraged to read critically from the start; making judgments about and asking questions of the texts that they study. Alongside this, our Academy vision, inspired by John 10:10, is an essential component in the decisions we make in for the curriculum, choosing texts and tasks wherever possible that can help to bring the vision to life every day in the classroom.

The curriculum is ambitious and broad ensuring all students have the knowledge, skills and confidence to move effectively to the next stage of their education. With this in mind, all students will study a range of literature genres: plays (including Shakespeare), poetry, short stories, graphic novels and full novels to improve enjoyment and confidence in reading. We are continuously developing our English curriculum, including through work with our local primary schools, to guarantee that it is relevant, challenging and inspiring; at present have our most diverse curriculum to date including texts from other cultures, classic works from the English Cannon and modern Young Adult fiction. Students will also be exposed to texts that will elicit discussion and promote effective speaking and listening skills to help build confidence in all students regardless of their starting point.

Inclusivity is key in our curriculum design; we intend for all students to be able to access and be challenged by their lessons, regardless of ability or SEND need to ensure they leave with the knowledge and skills to be able to succeed in life. With this in mind, the chosen topics are differentiated throughout Key stage 3, with each band having a different text to study. The curriculum is adapted and designed to maximise progress for all, offering support and increased independence as appropriate through extension and foundation schemes of work.  Due to the lack of tiers in the GCSE examination for English, all students have the potential to achieve highly in the subject and are well prepared for this through Key stage 3 in which all assessments are GCSE style.

Implementation

Students are grouped by ability from Year 7 following the completion of their Key stage 2 Standard Attainment Test and in English we also run a baseline assessment early in Year 7 to ensure that initial set allocation is the most appropriate for each and every student. Students in the Foundation band have extra lessons in English which are primarily focused on improving reading age through extra time with Accelerated Reader and Lexia.  

In Key stage 3, our curriculum is in line with the National Curriculum and is coherently planned and sequenced to allow students study a wide curriculum with some depth. Assessments are carefully planned to be challenging enough to build resilience without disengaging students with SENDs. Regardless of band, all students will study full texts and be assessed at the end of each cycle with a GCSE style question/s. All students in Key stage 3 are enrolled onto the Accelerated Reader Programme to help close gaps between chronological and reading ages and to inspire a love of reading for all.  

In Key stage 4, all students work on the GCSE content for both English Language and English Literature. Over the course, students will study the Literature texts and the skills needed for English Language, which build on the work done at Key stage 3. Students are assessed regularly through full mock examinations to ensure we understand at all times where students are and what needs improvement.   

In Key stage 5, we offer English Literature A-level at present but do have the skills and passion in the department to run English Language and Literature A-level which we have successfully in the past. In both of these cases, Year 12 is content heavy, with Year 13 focusing on coursework and then revision. We also teach retake English Language GCSE for those students who require it. 

As a lead department for literacy and in line with the Academy’s literacy policy, each cycle allows students to regularly read aloud, write extensively and independently and has a planned example of speaking and listening ranging from drama based in-role tasks to formal discussion and presentation. Teachers in the department consistently mirror good examples of speaking, listening, reading and writing to become models for the students. Students have appropriate levels of literacy when they leave for the next stage of their development- be it further education, employment or training. They understand the requirements for their chosen path and have the knowledge and skills to be successful on it. 

Cycles 1 to 4 each have a specific focus for study which could be primarily based on reading, writing, speaking and listening or a combination of skills and begin with a pre-knowledge check to gauge students’ understanding of the topic before beginning the scheme in earnest; this ensures that teachers are able to adapt lessons/ information as appropriate to maximise learning time. Each scheme of work is skill based and built around the assessment completed in assessment week. Each cycle also has a planned mid-cycle assessment to check progress intermittently during the cycle. The final week of each cycle is used to consolidate learning from earlier in the year to help students remember the longer term content ready for the End of Year Examinations which all year groups are subject to. In the final term of each year, students will complete these examinations which will combine aspects of all the learning completed over the year. 

Remote education is well integrated within the course and is something that all colleagues in the department are comfortable delivering. The sessions are well implemented and in line with what is happening in the classroom to avoid any students being disadvantaged by it.  

We offer a range of extra-curricular activities in English, some specific to year groups such as Year 7 Creative Writing and Poetry Slam and Debating for Key stage 4 and Key stage 5 in collaboration with RE department. Others including The Carnegie Shadowing Group is open to students in all years and is becoming more popular each year. We also aim to increase students’ cultural capital through regular theatre trips. 

Impact 

The quality of teaching within the department is rated as consistently good and outstanding. We have a consistent approach to learning and assessments throughout the team and work collaboratively to ensure the best practice is shared. We regularly review ourselves and each other against the teaching standards to minimise complacency and instil a culture of consistent improvement.    

Assessment is used well in English; our mid and end-of-cycle assessment results are used systematically to check understanding and gaps in knowledge which are then used to inform future teaching helping to maximise progress. GCSE results have improved significantly in recent years and are now in line with National Average. A-level results are also improving and we are very proud of our students who go on to study English or journalism at degree level.