English
The English Department is committed to fostering a love of Literature and wider reading, encouraging students to think critically and creatively, to reason, to ask questions and to explore knowledge beyond the classroom. We strive to inspire our students with a stimulating and broad approach, celebrating their locality – Tower Hamlets, and incorporating World Literature and texts across the Literary canon. While meeting the requirements of the National Curriculum, and ensuring students are rigorously prepared for their examinations, we ensure our curriculum is not limited by assessment criteria instead teaching Literature because of its inherent worth, and the body of socio historical and cultural interests beyond. We are passionate about empowering our students so they see themselves as writers and protagonists of Literature. Originality, independence and creative writing are highly valued and celebrated within the classroom. Literature is frequently used as a means of discussing current affairs and issues of gender, religion and identity in distinct historical and geographical contexts. We believe in encouraging high levels of literacy, as well as preparing students through a focus on the spoken word, both within the classroom and through range of extracurricular opportunities including literary workshops and debating opportunities. We strive to empower our students through a love of literature and language. After all, ‘‘a word after a word after a word is power’ (Margaret Atwood).
KEYSTAGE 3
KS3 Summary of knowledge and content covered across KS3, showing how learning is linked to KS2 (where applicable), and how knowledge is deepened over time to prepare students for KS4. You can also include the skills developed.
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TERM |
YEAR 7 |
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Autumn Term 1
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Theme: Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry Details
Assessment Timed essay on the novel, assessing students’ ability to make inferences and analyse language. |
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Autumn Term 2
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Theme: Shakespeare – Midsummer Night’s Dream Details
Assessment Timed thematic essay based on an extract then related out to further examples from the across the text |
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Spring Term 1
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Theme: Creative Writing – Dystopian Fiction Details
Assessment Writing a narrative/descriptive Dystopian piece based on an image to show understanding of writing skills and knowledge of the conventions of the genre |
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Spring Term 2
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Theme: WWI Poetry Details
Assessment Timed essay on a studied poem. |
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Summer Term 1
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Theme: The relevance of Media and News Details
Assessment Write a article in the style of a broadsheet newspaper on a relevant news topic |
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Summer Term 2
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Theme: British drama – Dracula (play) Details
Assessment Speaking and listening presentation |
| TERM | YEAR 8 DESCRIPTION OF UNIT AND TYPE OF ASSESSMENT |
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| Autumn Term 1 |
Theme: Wuthering Heights Abridged Details
Assessment Timed essay on the novel, assessing students’ ability to make inferences and analyse language across the text |
| Autumn Term 2 |
Theme: Shakespeare – Twelfth Night Details
Assessment Timed essay assessing ability to analyse an extract and then relate out thematically with examples from across the text |
| Spring Term 1 |
Theme: Creative Writing – (short stories) Details
Assessment To write the opening of a short story to show understanding of conventions of structure and writing skills. |
| Spring Term 2 |
Theme: Poetry from different cultures Details Exploration of a range of poetry from different cultures Assessment Timed comparison essay on two poems, one named. |
| Summer Term 1 |
Theme: Media Details
Assessment A debate and a writing to argue piece |
| Summer Term 2 |
Theme: War with Troy
Assessment In the style of an individual or group storytelling without notes. |
| TERM | YEAR 9 DESCRIPTION OF UNIT AND TYPE OF ASSESSMENT |
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| Autumn Term 1 |
Theme: Class reader – Of Mice & Men Details
Assessment Timed essay on the novel, assessing students’ ability to make inferences and analyse language across the text |
| Autumn Term 2 |
Theme: Shakespeare – Romeo & Juliet Details
Assessment Timed essay on whole play assessing students’ ability to make inferences, explore language and make links across the whole text in response to an |
| Spring Term 1 |
Theme: Writing Skills Details
Assessment Writing to describe and writing to persuade/argue timed essays. |
| Spring Term 2 |
Theme: Poetry – Comparison Details
Assessment Comparative essay on two poems, 1 named. |
| Summer Term 1 |
Theme: Reading skills fiction and non-fiction Details
Assessment Timed response to GCSE style questions on unseen fiction and non fiction texts |
| Summer Term 2 |
Theme: Unseen poetry Details
Assessment Timed response to unseen poem and comparison of 2 unseen poems. |
USEFUL WEBSITES, RESOURCES, REVISION MATERIALS AND EXEMPLAR WORK
KEYSTAGE 4
Welcome to Key Stage 4 English!
During Years 10 and 11 we cover all the content needed for your GCSE English Literature and GCSE English Language exams. Just like in Key Stage 3, we believe Reading is absolutely key to your success and we do everything we can to help you find books that you personally enjoy. Also as in Key Stage 3, we want our students to learn about literature texts from ‘the canon’ as well as to see themselves as protagonists and writers, and to read texts written by people living in Tower Hamlets.
We continue to focus on both creativity and grammatical knowledge in the teaching of writing skills. When you write about texts, we use the same academic writing format that we used in Key Stage 3, but we now have a stronger focus on the writer’s purpose and the social contexts in which the texts are written and read. By the end of Year 9, you were writing essays; in Key Stage 4, those essays will need to start from you as the critic expressing your personal viewpoint. We therefore use debates and ‘big questions’ to help students develop their evaluative skills in an enjoyable way.
Your post-16 pathways will require you to use your English GCSE skills in different ways. Some of you will go on to study English Literature, where you will use your critical, evaluative and analytical skills – but these skills can also be applied when studying other subjects like Law and Politics. Most of you will use the writing skills you develop with us in any job you do. However, even more than a fulfilling career, we want you to take with you a love of reading and writing. If you’re still writing the odd poem when you’re in your sixties, we’ll have done something right!
KS4 OVERVIEW AND ASSESSMENTS
| KS4 | Autumn Term 1 | Autumn Term 2 |
Spring Term 2 |
Spring Term 2 | Summer Term 1 | Summer Term 2 |
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| Year 10 | Macbeth | Language Paper 1 | AQA Love and Relationships Poem | Language Paper 2 | An Inspector Calls | Spoken Language |
| Year 11 | A Christmas Carol | Language Paper 1 | Literature Paper 2 | Language Paper 2 revision | GCSE exams | GCSE exams |
EXAM BOARD AND WEIGHTINGS
AQA English Literature GCSE, AQA English Language GCSE (includes Spoken Language NEA which is assessed separately).
ENRICHMENT OPPORTUNITIES AT KEYSTAGE 4
In the past, we've had theatre companies visit, attended workshops at the Globe, and watched a livestream national production of Shakespeare.
KEYSTAGE 5
Welcome to Key Stage 5 English!
During Years 12 and 13 we cover all the content needed for your English Literature A Level exam. At KS5 you will build on the analytical and writing skills developed in KS3 and KS4 and extend them beyond our primary texts to engage in literary critical debates.
At KS5 English Literature A Level we intend that our students:
- develop analytical, reflective, creative, and independent writing skills.
- nurture an intellectual curiosity for all things literary.
- advance their passion for reading and theatre through exposure to wide ranging literature including plays, novels, poems and short stories across time, culture, genre and beyond the examination criteria.
- are supported, challenged and equipped for the future through a strong focus on context and how literature relates to their worlds.
At KS5 GCSE resit we intend to:
- re-equip and reinvigorate students with the mastery and love of language and communication, (both critiquing and creating it), that they will need for their futures.
Most importantly, we want you to develop and sustain your love of reading and writing. As George R.R. Martin wrote: ‘A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies . . . The man who never reads lives only one.’ We have a KS5 book club, which introduces you to a diverse range of challenging texts which reach beyond your exam’s criteria, and plans for a poetry-writing group next year. Our English literature students go on to many different careers in journalism, law, research, education, politics, philosophy, human rights activism, writing, publishing and theatre to name a few, but we hope that all of them will be voracious readers for the rest of their (thousand) lives.
KS5 OVERVIEW AND ASSESSMENTS
| KS4 | Autumn Term 1 | Autumn Term 2 |
Spring Term 1 |
Spring Term 2 |
Summer Term 1 |
Summer Term 2 |
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| Year 12 | Othello/The Great Gatsby | Feminine Gospels/Love Poetry/ The Handmaid's Tale | Unseen Poetry/Unseen Prose | The Bloody Chamber/The Picture of Dorian Gray | Othello/The Great Gatesby/Love Poetry |
Feminine Gospels/The Handmaid's Tale NEA workshops |
| Year 13 | Feminine Gospels/A Streetcar Named Desire | Othello/The Handmaid's Tale and A Streetcar Named Desire | NEA academic writing. Exam preparation |
Revision Exam preparation |
Revision Exam preparation |
Revision Exam Preparation |
EXAM BOARD AND WEIGHTINGS
AQA A
- Paper 1 Love through the Ages
- Paper 2b Texts in Shared Contexts
- NEA
ENRICHMENT OPPORTUNITIES AT KEYSTAGE 5
In the past we have had theatre workshops, trips to see speakers on Feminism in the workplace, Trips to the British Library and the national Theatre Studios. We also have a KS5 book club and English Ambassadors scheme.
USEFUL WEBSITES, RESOURCES, REVISION MATERIALS AND EXEMPLAR WORK
AQA AS and A Level English Literature Subject Content
WHO'S IN THE TEAM?
Ms. N. Dhinsa, Head of English Faculty
Ms. H. Owen, Teacher of English / LP for Assessment for Learning
Ms. F. Conway, Teacher of English
Ms. D. Kleovoulou, Teacher of English
Ms. G. Miller, Teacher of English/ KS3 Co-ordinator
Ms. S. Brennan, Teacher of English/Head of Year
Ms. S. Yasmin, Teacher of English/ Acting Head of Year 11
Ms. S. Patel, Teacher of English
Ms. A. Rashid, Teacher of English
Ms. R. Garvin, Teacher of English/KS5 Co-ordinator
Ms. S. Branch, Teacher of English
Ms. S. Benson, Teacher of English
Ms. E. Steel Emily, Teacher of English
Ms. C. Prince, Teacher of English/Deputy Headteacher
Ms. E. Lamb Eleanor, Second in Charge of English and KS4 Co-ordinator (maternity leave)