Menu

English

Staff within the Department

Ms S Rushe- Head of Department 

BA (Hons) English Language and Literature 

Ms J. Manley – Second i/c of department/ KS5 Coordinator 

BA (Hons) English and Film Studies

Ms A. Qureshi- KS4 Coordinator 

BA (Hons) Comparative Literature

Mrs L. Dwyer – Director of Teaching and Learning

BA (Hons) English Literature; MA Victorian Studies

Ms C. McKinlay - Assistant Headteacher - Designated Safeguarding Lead

Mrs C. Rice – LLB (Hons) Law​, PGCE English, NASENCO, SENCO

Ms C. Gardner - Deputy SENCO

Mrs S. Stewart English Teacher/Sixth Form Leader 

Ms S. Drake English Teacher

Ms T. Zanka English Teacher 

Ms M Mugford English Teacher 

Ms Y Lim English Teacher 

 

English is a core (compulsory) subject at KS3 and KS4 and no wonder as the exploration and production of texts, confidence in spoken communication and the development of literacy skills are all integral to progress across the curriculum.  Beyond this, English is a fascinating subject taking pupils on a journey through functional texts to the very best of literature from across the ages.  The passion for English language and literature instilled in pupils by their enthusiastic English teachers continues at KS5 where our A Levels in Literature continues to be a popular choice. This year we have introduced a new subject, A Level English Language to give our students even more choice in the Sixth Form.

 

Curriculum

KS3

KS3 English offers lots of opportunities for students to develop their writing skills, engage in new and varied texts (both fiction and non-fiction) and explore written and spoken language.  Alongside our curriculum below we also teach literacy skills lessons to enable students to make progress in English and across the wider curriculum by improving their reading, writing and grammar skills. 

 

Autumn Term

Spring Term

Summer Term

Year 7

  • Transition Unit
  • Creative Writing and Short Stories
  • Much Ado About Nothing
  • Non-Fiction
  • The Other Side of Truth
  • Poetry
  • Preparation for exams

Year 8

  • War Poetry
  • Brilliant writers
  • Romeo and Juliet
  • Writing to Argue and Persuade
  • Of Mice and Men
  • Preparation for exams

 

Enrichment activities to do at home

  • Years 7s are part of our Accelerated Reader programme – remember to take a quiz within 2 days of reading your library book.
  • Visit http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/subjects/z3kw2hv for tips, activities and games
  • Read at least 2 non-fiction texts a week.  Have you tried articles, advertisements, newspapers, brochures, biographies?
  • Use a dictionary when you come across a new word and try to use it that day!
  • Join your local library and set yourself a reading challenge – have you read every book by your favourite author?
  • Have a go at writing an article for the school website/newsletter.

    KS4

    Our KS4 programme covers 3 years, from Year 9 to Year 11.  All students are taught both English Language and English Literature and are now following the reformed GCSE (AQA specifications 8700 & 8702 http://www.aqa.org.uk). 

    Year 9 is used to introduce pupils to the literary texts they will respond to in the final exams, as well as being an introduction to the skills they will need to tackle unseen fiction and non-fiction texts, and practise their own writing for language.  In years 10 (and subsequently 11) pupils will revisit the literature texts, study a modern text (novel, short stories or drama) and continue to practise the reading and writing skills.

 

Autumn Term

Spring Term

Summer Term

Year 9

  • Narrative Writing
  • Fiction Reading
  • Macbeth – getting to know the play and writing an exam style answer for assessment.
  • Poetry
  • Non-Fiction texts – An introduction
  • Inspector Calls - Introduction
  • Persuasive Writing and Let’s Think in English

Year 10

  • A Christmas Carol
  • Fiction Reading
  • Macbeth
  • Non-fiction Reading

 

  • Poetry
  • Creative Writing
  • Preparation for exams

Year 11

  • Inspectors Calls
  • Revision in preparation for mock exams (Language Paper 1, Jane Eyre & Macbeth)
  • Poetry and spoken language.
  • From spring half term – Revision for: language – non-fiction texts.
  • Continued exam revision – Literature and language paper.

Enrichment activities to do at home

Across the whole of KS4 it is vital that students read regularly.  Students should read in advance any texts they know they will be studying (and in Year 11 they should be re-reading all texts!) but they should also get into the habit of reading non-fiction texts as well.  These might include: newspaper articles, blogs, reviews, letters, travel writing.  A good website to find all of the above is The Guardian where you can find archives of all sorts of writing which in the past have been used as material on the actual language exam.  

Pupils are also given a copy of a recommended reading list for KS4 pupils so they could be reading for pleasure from this – it all helps!

KS5

We currently teach A Level English Literature and A Level English Language.

Year 12 and Year 13 follow the OCR specification for Literature 

 Literature

Autumn Term

Spring Term

Summer Term

Year 12

  • Transition Unit: Introduction to A Level English Literature.
  • Study for the Shakespeare and Poetry pre-1900 paper: ‘Hamlet’ and poetry by Christina Rossetti.
  • Study for the Drama and Poetry post-1900 paper: Tennessee Williams’s ‘Streetcar Named Desire’ and introduction to the Gothic genre focusing on approaches to unseen texts and study of Angela Carter’s ‘The Bloody Chamber.’
  • Continuing study of set texts and preparation for mock exam.
  • Revision for AS exam.
  • After exams: preparation for two NEA (non-examined assessment) essays which make up 20% of the A Level grade.
  • Essay 1: Critical analysis of ‘Streetcar Named Desire’.
  • Essay 2: Comparative essay using Carol Ann Duffy’s anthology ‘The World’s Wife’ and Monica Ali’s novel ‘Brick Lane’.

Year 13

  • Continuation of work started at the end of Year 12 on the two non-examined assessment essays.  (20% of the A Level)

 

  • Study of Webster’s ‘Duchess of Malfi’ and comparison with the poetry of Christina Rossetti.

(20% of the A Level)

 

  • Students focus on how to respond to an unseen gothic text as well as studying Shelley’s ‘Frankenstein’ which they will compare with Carter’s ‘Bloody Chamber’. (40% of the A Level)
  • Continue study of Webster’s ‘Duchess of Malfi’ and comparison with the poetry of Christina Rossetti.

(20% of the A Level)

 

  • Students return to study of Shakespeare’s ‘Hamlet’ with particular emphasis on close reading of extracts. (20% of the A Level)

 

  • Preparation for mock exams

Revision of set texts and consolidation of skills in approaching an unseen text.

 

Year 12 and Year 13 follow the AQA specification for Language 

For English Language 'A' Level, we follow the AQA specification.

Language

Autumn Term

Spring Term

Summer Term

Year 12

  • Course Introduction Writing Skills
  • Textual variations and representations
  • Children’s language development
  • Methods of language investigation
  • Language Diversity and Change
  • Language Investigation
  • Methods of language analysis

Year 13

  • Language discourses
  • Methods of language investigation
  • Original Writing
  • Methods of language investigation
  • Revision for examinations

ENGLISH AND LITERACY WEBSITES

We subscribe to Doddle. Remember to log in to: www.doddlelearn.co.uk with the login details your teacher gives you.  You will find tasks that have been assigned by teachers and additional activities.

General English and literacy websites

BBC Bitesize: http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/subjects/zt3rkqt

Grammar: http://www.englicious.org/

Daily grammar blog: http://dailygrammarlessons.blogspot.co.uk/

http://www.channel4learning.com/sites/waywithwords/index.html

Themed reading activities to complete (reading skills and sentence skills)

http://web2.uvcs.uvic.ca/courses/elc/studyzone/570/pulp/

http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/

For EAL pupils and parents

https://www.britishcouncil.org/english/kids-teens

Newspapers

https://www.theguardian.com/uk

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/

http://www.independent.co.uk/

A Level pupils:

https://www.englishandmedia.co.uk/e-magazine/ - ask your English teacher for our login details

https://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/?gclid=CO2hrvPa3s0CFVQ_GwodkpEO6A

Thinking of doing A Level?

http://www.ocr.org.uk/Images/180149-anthology-of-texts-paper-1.pdf

Enrichment Activities and Trips

There are a range of clubs running throughout the year so make sure you check your form’s bulletin board.

Clubs

Trips and Events

Scrabble Club

Year 7 Trip to the Globe Theatre

Book Club

Year 8 BBC News Report

Ealing Borough Spelling Bee competition

Year 9 Debate Competition

Jack Petchey Speak Out Challenge

Year 10 A Christmas Carol Theatre Production

 

Year 11 Poetry Live Trip

 

Year 12 Trip to Globe Theatre and a writing workshop at Keats House in Hampstead.

 

 

Career Paths

Editor

Solicitor

Journalist

Script writer

Web designer

Actor

Teacher

Advertising

Speech and language therapist

Playwright

Lawyer

Civil Service Worker