Subject Intent and Implementation

English Language

Curriculum Intent

Our English curriculum…

  • is informed by a secure understanding of students’ prior knowledge
  • effectively prepares students for the next life stage
  • offers a mixture of reading, writing and speaking & listening opportunities
  • makes meaningful links to potential career pathways
  • offers an exploration of character, setting and theme across Foundation Stage and Yr9 in order to establish a secure base for GCSE study
  • ensures that students have an understanding of key literary time periods and movements
  • is designed to include a wide variety of texts: prose/poetry/drama; old/new; male/female; white British/BAME/other cultures
  • is built around high quality texts which are also enjoyable to read and study
  • has challenge for all (regardless of prior attainment) at its heart
  • aims to develop confident readers who are able to read, understand, interpret and interrogate information presented to them in a variety of forms and settings
  • aims to develop articulate individuals who are able to write skilfully, critically and evaluatively
  • promotes creativity, stamina and resilience
  • enables teachers to exploit all opportunities to develop students’ cultural capital beyond their existing realm of experience

Curriculum Implementation

Clear expectations are in place regarding the presentation of books as a key educational resource

  • All opportunities for developing vocabulary are exploited, unpicking semantics, usage, etymology and origins as required
  • Shared reading is lively, exploratory and purposeful
  • Students receive regular practice of extended writing appropriate to their age range
  • Homework will be used to consolidate and extend knowledge and skills, as well as to promote independent reading
  • Teachers will ensure that students understand the place of each learning episode within their English learning journey
  • Academic writing is carefully developed to suit the requirements of each task rather than through the slavish use of acronyms such as PEE/PETAL
  • Academic language is used by teachers and fostered amongst students in discussion and debate.
  • Homework drives deep-learning: Revision, Re-call, Research and Reading.
  • Modelling is at the heart of all learning in English whether it be a demonstration of how to annotate a poem or how one might write a top band A Level essay introduction. 
  • Inclusive – everybody will be expected to participate.
  • Targeted – adapted and personalised based upon the needs of individuals.
  • Open and closed-ended, as appropriate to the purpose.
  • Questioning will facilitate deep-thinking where possible, stimulating high-order thinking.
  • Priority questioning of disadvantaged students.