English

We deliver a challenging and engaging English curriculum that is designed to promote critical thinking, develop skills and inspire students through reading a wide range of fiction and non-fiction texts.

Our team is committed to fostering an enjoyment of literature and language through engaging with different genres, authors and eras of writing as a student goes through the key stages. Our aim is that every child leaves Sandringham confident in shaping informed opinions and sharing them, both verbally and in writing, and takes pleasure in exploring a wide range of literature. Our curriculum offer is designed to provide breadth and depth and build students’ cultural capital.

Key Stage 3

Students build on skills developed at Key Stage 2 through a thematic approach to a range of texts and topics. Grouped in mixed prior-attainment classes, lessons offer a space for students to learn and develop at their own pace. Students complete a variety of writing, reading, and speaking and listening tasks, receiving regular feedback to help them progress. In years 7 & 8, lessons are split between two which focus on a core and a single lesson on satellite texts focused on developing reading, comprehension and oracy. This enables us to take students through a broad range of both fiction and non-fiction, and for students to explore how ideas can be shaped, challenged and changed. In Year 9, students focus on developing their skills in preparation for their GCSE English Literature and English Language courses

Year 7:

Gothic – Core Text: The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
Voices from the Past – Core Text: Anthology of 19 Century extracts
Identity – Core Text: Anthology of poetry on identity

Year 8:

Coming of Age – Core text: Boys Don’t Cry by Malorie Blackman
Short stories – Core text: Anthology of short stories
Dystopia – Core text: Animal Farm by George Orwell
Relationships – Core text: Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

Year 9:

Experience – Core Text: In the Sea there are Crocodiles by Fabio Geda
Viewpoints and Perspectives – Core Text: Non-Fiction anthology from 19 Century to modern day
Gender – Core Text: Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare
Spoken Language Representation – Core Text: collection of non-fiction texts
Powerful Voices – Core Text: Anthology of Protest Poetry
Explorations in Fiction – Core Text: The Pearl by John Steinbeck

Key Stage 4

Students study for two separate GCSEs, following the AQA specifications for both English Language and English Literature. Students are also entered for the Spoken Language Endorsement: a qualification assessing speaking and listening skills that will appear on the students’ GCSE certificates alongside their English Literature and English Language results. Students follow a clear pathway through both literature and language, developing skills throughout the course which are applicable to both subjects’ examinations.

Core Texts:

An Inspector Calls, by J B Priestley
Either Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by R L Stevenson or A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
Macbeth, by William Shakespeare
Poetry Anthology: Love & Relationships, AQA Various

Students are taught in mixed prior-attainment groups for their GCSE courses. In September 2019 we made the change from teaching in sets based upon prior attainment. This was in light of research into the best outcomes for all students. This move has allowed all students to be exposed to, and benefit from, a broad exchange of ideas through discussion, and so develop a more insightful response to texts and tasks. This also gives us the ability to have even class numbers across the year group. This removes the larger ‘top’ sets which often occur. The result of this is that staff have more time for each student and are able to offer a more personalised approach to the delivery of the curriculum.

Key Stage 5

We offer A Level English Literature and A Level English Language as two separate qualifications. We deliver the OCR specification for Literature and the AQA specification for English Language.

A Level English Literature

Through studying Literature at A Level, students have the opportunity to explore a more diverse range of texts in significant detail. Students prepare for two examined papers: Paper 1 – Drama and Poetry pre-1900 and Paper 2 – Comparative and contextual study.

Exam texts studied for Paper 1:
A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen
Christina Rossetti poetry
Hamlet by William Shakespeare

Exam texts studied for Paper 2:
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter

Non-examined assessment (NEA)
The third component consists of two essays: a comparative essay and a close analysis essay.

Comparative essay texts: A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams and Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates
Close reading essay text: A Fire in my Head: poems for the dawn by Ben Okri

A Level English Language

Through studying English Language at A Level, students are given opportunities to develop skills and extend their understanding of the significance of English beyond what they will have studied at GCSE. Students are offered opportunities to develop linguistic knowledge as well as developing their independent writing skills in an area of English that they are especially interested in.

Students will follow AQA’s specification by completing two examinations and an NEA folder as outlined below:

Paper 1: Textual Variations and Representations

Paper 2: Language Variation and Change

Non Exam Assessment (NEA): Language in Action

The breadth of study includes:

Language the Individual and Society: we explore features of and ideas relating to adolescent speech, gender, accents and dialects, power and occupational language.
Language Diversity and Change: we study the main historical influences on English and explore the issues raised as English continues to evolve as a global language.
Child language development: students analyse and critically evaluate the debates surrounding the main stages of language acquisition and the ways in which we learn to communicate.
Language In Action – NEA folder:

Original Writing – students explore a written genre of English that interests them and then adopt those generic conventions to create their own original piece in that style.

Language Investigation – students choose to investigate and produce an extended analysis of an area of English that interests them.

Super Curriculum

To access the Super Curriculum for this subject please visit the Super Curriculum page HERE

How parents and carers can support learning

Students will be set regular tasks to complete at home (HBL). Parents and carers should use Google Classroom Guardian Summaries to talk through this work whenever possible. Further to this, reading with your son/daughter or, as they grow, asking them about what they are reading – both fiction and non-fiction – has significant benefits to their ability to access not just the English curriculum, but the wider curriculum as a whole. It is also a fantastic way to develop concentration and to relax after a long day at school!

Extra-curricular activities

Creative Writing Club, Miss Critchley
Youth Talks, a club developing public speaking and debate skills with students competing locally and nationally against other schools, Miss Fox
WCSQM Essay Writing Competition, (open to all year groups), Mrs Nicholls
Theatre Trips, KS4 & KS5
Attendance at university style lectures, KS5

Beyond this, students are given reading lists around units so that they can explore themes, ideas and genres further in their own time.

Useful Links

Seneca Learning is a fantastic resource which can be accessed through students’ My Sandstorm accounts:

https://senecalearning.com/en-GB/

AQA English pages where you can access specifications, past papers and mark schemes for KS4 and KS5

https://www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/english

BBC Bitesize where you can access revision pages for some of the texts and topics (including writing skills) studied at KS3 – this can support with some HBL tasks

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/subjects/z3kw2hv

University of Bristol – grammar exercises: a useful page to help all writers understand different punctuation and grammatical structures

https://www.bristol.ac.uk/arts/exercises/grammar/grammar_tutorial/page_41.htm

Sandringham School