Our English curriculum is designed to develop critical readers, who can engage with and appreciate the world around them, and masters of complex, intelligent, thoughtful language. The curriculum journey from Year 7 to Year 11 is underpinned by the five power concepts: power, culture, identity, relationships and class. Pupils explore these concepts in different forms, genres and time periods, allowing them to both develop an informed, passionate voice to challenge the world around them and to value the opinions and experiences of others. 

Key Stage 3

Year 7 exposes pupils to the foundational knowledge of literary studies and builds on pupils’ knowledge of genre with three in-depth genre studies. Pupils begin their English journey with a study of Fantasy Worlds and Creatures in the Autumn term. Through this extract-based unit, pupils explore conventions of the fantasy genre; character archetypes and their presentation in the fantasy genre; narrative structure and how it can be manipulated; etymology and its power in decoding vocabulary. Pupils’ writing focus for this unit is ‘Write like a novelist’, in which pupils will focus on the following components for their writing composition: sensory language, personification, simile, juxtaposition. In the Spring term, pupils extend their knowledge of character archetypes and narrative structure to The Gothic genre. Pupils expand their knowledge of genre conventions to the gothic and track the origins and development of the gothic genre. This topic builds on pupils’ knowledge of writing components with a focus on semantic field, pathetic fallacy and metaphor in ‘Write like a short story writer’. In the Summer term of Year 7, pupils conduct a whole text study of Terry Pratchett’s Dodger in Mystery in Victorian London, drawing on their knowledge of literature in context, character archetypes and narrative structure. This enables a detailed exploration of Pratchett’s influences, characterisation, and the conventions of the mystery genre. Building on the power of the narrative voice in The Gothic, pupils explore the effect of the third person omniscient narrator; this is further developed through the study narrative voice and perspectives in further whole-text studies in Year 8 and Year 9. Pupils explore the impact of class in the Victorian era, and the prejudice faced by characters as a result of this, and will track the development of character relationships. In this unit, pupils expand their knowledge of writing forms to ‘Write like a journalist’. 

Year 8 builds on the foundation of knowledge secured in Year 7 and focuses on the key themes of culture and identity. Pupils begin Year 8 with Diverse Voices and Places; in this topic pupils explore the power of language in reflecting identity and experiences. Pupils study a range of poetry, including performance poetry, and craft their own reflective pieces. From this unit, pupils have the opportunity to compete in the Co-op Academies Trust Spoken Word competition. Pupils will both ‘Write like a poet’ and ‘Write like a travel blogger’, building on their knowledge of literary devices from Year 7 by applying them to different forms and purposes. Pupils will engage in a weekly reading lesson in which they will share a class reader centred on the themes of culture and identity. In the Spring term, pupils study a seminal literary heritage text, Much Ado About Nothing, in Representations of Relationships. Pupils develop their confidence in decoding Shakespearean language through their study of the characters and themes of the play. Pupils explore gender roles and expectations through their study of characters and applying their prior knowledge of character archetypes. Pupils build on their knowledge of text structure through an exploration of the structure of a play and conventions of a Shakespearean comedy. This topic provides pupils with the opportunity to track representations of relationships and identity over different time periods and in different cultures. Pupils' written form for this topic is ‘Write like a playwright’ in which they: craft soliloquies; develop character and setting through dialogue; effectively form and use stage directions; develop and embed motifs and symbols. Pupils end Year 8 with a novel study of Noughts and Crosses in The World We Live In. Pupils use the rich knowledge they have gained of literature, and presentations of identity and experience in literature, to form and express informed opinions about characters and their journeys. Pupils will further develop their knowledge of structure through the analysis of a dual narrative and the writer’s use of foreshadowing. Pupils will ‘Write like a Novelist’ but will focus this time on complex character development and utilising the dual narrative. 

In Year 9 pupils explore voices in literature and manipulate their own language use to convey their own voices. Pupils start Year 9 with The Art of Rhetoric in which they explore the development of rhetoric over time; influential speeches in history and modern society; the impact of rhetoric in marketing and the modern world. Pupils study themes including: discrimination, climate change, conflict, gender roles and expectations. Pupils master the components of rhetoric and will build up to crafting effective, well-structured speeches. This topic will challenge pupils to ‘Speak like a lawyer and a politician’. During this unit, pupils share a class reader once a week in which they explore themes of power and oppression. After crafting their own viewpoints, pupils study how writers’ viewpoints are portrayed through literature in Class and Injustice. Pupils study Russell’s intentions through his piece of political theatre, Blood Brothers, as well as developing their knowledge of plays and how their structure can be manipulated for effect. Pupils explore all five power concepts in this text and will ‘Write like a literary critic’ by employing their knowledge of grammatical structures. Pupils end their KS3 journey with Voices in Literature. This topic combines the whole-text study of Shakespeare’s tragedy Othello, in which pupils build on their knowledge of the hero archetype through an in-depth analysis of the tragic hero, and a range of extracts from 19th, 20th and 21st centuries in which narrative voice has been manipulated for effect.

Key Stage 4

Key Stage 4 builds on the strong conceptual and thematic frameworks developed across Key Stage 3. 

Year 10 introduces pupils to the content of the English Literature course, focusing on creating and consolidating the vast stores of conceptual knowledge pupils will need to be able to compose an effective essay response in Year 11. Year 10 aims to develop a schema, building on domain knowledge from KS3, that is profound, well-organised and highly flexible. Year 11 applies the knowledge from Year 10 and shows pupils how to analyse a writer’s craft and to think critically and form conceptualised responses. For English Language, pupils apply their knowledge of genre and reading strategies from KS3 in Year 10 in order to fully explore the writer’s choices and ideas within fiction and non-fiction extracts. They are introduced to the questions for the English Language GCSE and return to these in Year 11 in exam preparation. English Language connects with English Literature thematically with reading extracts and writing tasks being selected to build on and extend their knowledge of key themes and writers’ ideas. Pupils’ studies are divided into topics combining elements of both English Language and English Literature. Topics are structured to support pupils’ development of knowledge over time through the thematic links forged for pupils.