Though Aston's English curriculum prepares students for the demands of GCSE and A Level, it also enhances and moves beyond these examinations by enabling our learners to be:
- imaginative, articulate and reflective as well as confident and secure in their thoughts, opinions and expression;
- focused, engaging and nuanced communicators in spoken and written word;
- inspired to explore complex ideas and material; · resilient when faced with challenges; and
- sensitive to the moral, spiritual and emotional experiences prompted by the subject.
They will experience learning activities that:
- have pace and challenge;
- provide a healthy combination of independent and collaborative work;
- give them ample opportunity to speak in front of others;
- give them the time and space to write independently;
- endow them with a sophisticated vocabulary; and
- are academically rigorous and personally challenging.
Teaching staff:
- Mr C Laverty (Subject Leader)
- Mrs A Hussain
- Mr M Smith
- Miss C Williams
- Ms G Aldridge
- Miss M Abdullahi
Educational visits:
- BBC Birmingham at The Mailbox in conjunction with the BBC Young Reporter competition
- Shakespeare Birthplace Trust
- Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford
- Birmingham Repertory Theatre
- The Crescent Theatre
- Next Generation Awards at various universities
- Poetry Live
Year 7
| Summary of curriculum: |
In year 7, we ensure that students make an effective transition from primary English by introducing essay writing skills and developing extended writing by diversifying the range of forms pupils will be encouraged to adapt to. Students will learn the PETAL (Point, Evidence, Technique, Analysis, Link to focus) approach to analytical paragraphs.
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| Main topics: |
- Autobiographical writing
- Different cultures poetry
- Superheroes and Greek myths
- Scare tactics: writing in the horror genre
- BBC Young Reporter
- Public speaking
- Shakespeare stories
- Animal Farm novel study
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| How parents can support their son’s learning: |
- Students should be reading for leisure between twenty-five and thirty minutes per day; parents can check that this is happening and also use Renaissance Home Connect to view the books that have been read – they will appear on a digital bookshelf on the site.
- Pupils will also be reading a class reader every half-term which has an accompanying independent reading booklet which should be filled in chapter by chapter.
- Students could keep a journal to develop writing skills and their own writing personal style.
- Quality newspapers such as The Guardian or The Times could be purchased to enable students to familiarise themselves with non-fiction texts and develop an interest in a range of written genres such as travel, technology and politics.
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| Useful websites: |
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Year 8
| Summary of curriculum: |
Students will build on the skills learnt in year 7 and apply them in more challenging responses. Pupils will learn how to evaluate texts such as Shakespeare’s Tempest by considering a psychoanalytical critical lens and they will explore themes in the novel study that will encourage lateral thinking. The Picture Speaks a Thousand Words project uses iconic paintings to stimulate creative writing which is a pathway to how students will respond in the descriptive/narrative writing section of the GCSE English Language examination. |
| Main topics: |
- Persuasive writing
- Poetry in music
- Doctor Who radio script
- Sci-fi and dystopian literature
- Next Generation awards
- Public speaking
- The Tempest
- A Picture Speaks a Thousand Words
- The Knife of Never Letting Go, Oliver Twist or Noughts and Crosses novel study
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| How parents can support their son’s learning: |
- Students should be reading for leisure between twenty-five and thirty minutes per day; parents can check that this is happening and also use Renaissance Home Connect to view the books that have been read – they will appear on a digital bookshelf on the site.
- Pupils will also be reading a class reader every half term which has an accompanying independent reading booklet which should be filled in chapter by chapter.
- Students could keep a journal to develop writing skills and their own writing personal style.
- Quality newspapers such as The Guardian or The Times could be purchased to enable students to familiarise themselves with non-fiction texts and develop an interest in a range of written genres such as travel, technology and politics.
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| Useful websites: |
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Year 9
| Summary of curriculum: |
Year 9 English lays down important foundations for the GCSE course. Travel, satirical and review writing will challenge students to learn and apply more nuanced writing conventions and develop a sophisticated personal style. Arthur Miller’s plays will familiarise pupils with the impact of a writer’s political views on the literary text produced (in the context of his investigation by McCarthy’s un-American Committee, and the cultural context of the American Dream). The WWI poetry unit will provide context for the study of the Power and Conflict anthology at GCSE.
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| Main topics: |
- Travel writing
- WWI poetry
- Comedy writing
- Of Mice and Men novel study
- Computer game pitch
- Public speaking
- Romeo and Juliet
- Film, TV, music and computer game reviews
- The Crucible or Death of a Salesman drama study
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| How parents can support their son’s learning: |
- Students should be reading for leisure between twenty-five and thirty minutes per day; parents can check that this is happening at home.
- Pupils will also be reading a class reader every half-term which has an accompanying independent reading booklet which should be filled in chapter by chapter. The texts that students will read include To Kill a Mockingbird, Lord of the Flies, 1984, Kestrel for a Knave and Great Expectations.
- Students could keep a journal to develop writing skills and their own writing personal style. Another resource that stimulates interesting creative writing responses are the 642/712 Things to Write About books available on Amazon.
- Quality newspapers such as The Guardian or The Times could be purchased to enable students to familiarise themselves with non-fiction texts and develop an interest in a range of written genres such as travel, technology and politics.
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| Useful websites: |
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Year 10
| Summary of curriculum: |
The majority of the GCSE content will be taught in year 10 with several opportunities built into the curriculum for students to demonstrate progress. At the beginning of a unit, pupils will be guided on how to respond to various demands of the GCSE tasks. They will then have a mid-point assessment to address misconceptions or issues with particular assessment objectives before having an end of unit test to determine a predicted GCSE grade.
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| Main topics: |
- Creative writing (English Language, Paper 1 Section B)
- Power and Conflict poetry
- An Inspector Calls
- Spoken language
- The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
- English Language, Paper 1 Section A preparation
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| How parents can support their son’s learning: |
- There are now a range of assessment materials online that students can attempt at home.
- Parents wanting to invest in revision materials should consider workbooks over guides as active learning is the most effective approach to preparing for examinations. The English department offer parents the opportunity to purchase CGP revision materials at a better than half price discount in September/October in years 10 and 11.
- Students should continue to read between 25 and 30 minutes per day.
- They should aim to read a combination of fiction and non-fiction texts. It is recommended that they should read quality newspapers such as The Guardian and The Times to familiarise themselves with the type of texts used in the English language examination.
- Students could keep a journal to develop writing skills and their own writing personal style. Another resource that stimulates interesting creative writing responses are the 642/712 Things to Write About books available on Amazon.
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| Useful websites: |
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Year 11
| Summary of curriculum: |
In year 11, students will be afforded the opportunity to refine their GCSE responses. With the majority of content taught in year 10, students will be in a position to respond to extracts by referring to the wider text. There will be an onus on essay and response structure in order to target assessment objectives and work within tight time constraints.
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| Main topics: |
- Writing to argue, persuade and advise (English Language, Paper 2 Section B).
- Macbeth
- English Language, Paper 2 Section A.
- Unseen poetry.
- Revision of year 10 content and refining of examination technique.
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| How parents can support their son’s learning: |
- There are now a range of assessment materials online that students can attempt at home.
- Parents wanting to invest in revision materials should consider workbooks over guides as active learning is the most effective approach to preparing for examinations. The English department offers parents the opportunity to purchase CGP revision materials at a better than half-price discount in September/October in year 11.
- Students should continue to read between twenty-five and thirty minutes per day. They should aim to read a combination of fiction and non-fiction texts. It is recommended that they should read quality newspapers such as The Guardian and The Times to familiarise themselves with the type of texts used in the English language examination.
- Students could keep a journal to develop writing skills and their own writing personal style. Another resource that stimulates interesting creative writing responses are the 642/712 Things to Write About books available on Amazon.
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| Useful websites: |
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Year 12
| Summary of curriculum: |
During year 12, we ensure that students make an effective transition from GCSE English to the demands of A Level by modelling how to respond to tasks focusing on elements of tragedy. The curriculum aims to enable students to write confidently on methods employed by writers and to embed quotations to demonstrate perceptive understanding of the whole text. Students will also learn to apply a range of critical lenses including Marxist, feminist and post-colonial viewpoints.
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| Main topics: |
- Elements of tragedy: Othello, Richard II and The Great Gatsby.
- Applying Marxist, feminist and post-colonial critical lenses.
- Independent prose coursework.
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| How parents can support their son’s learning: |
- Parents may wish to invest in support materials such as the AQA English Literature B textbook edited by Adrian Beard and published by Oxford University Press; however, it should be noted that the resource is no substitute for the notes taken and essays completed by students.
- Parents could also listen to and read essays to give advice on style and clarity.
- Parents could take their son to the theatre or cinema to see adaptations of studied texts, other works by studied authors and/or plays or films in the crime and tragedy genres.
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| Useful websites: |
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Year 13
| Summary of curriculum: |
In year 13, students will submit both their prose and poetry independent coursework studies and they will focus primarily on elements of crime fiction in the first term. After the February half-term, students will revise content studied in year 12, refine their examination technique and hone areas that may still require attention.
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| Main topics: |
- Independent poetry coursework
- Elements of crime fiction: unseen response; the selected poems of Crabbe, Browning and Wilde, When Will There Be Good News? and The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
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| How parents can support their son’s learning: |
- Parents may wish to invest in support materials such as the AQA English Literature B textbook edited by Adrian Beard and published by Oxford University Press; however, it should be noted that the resource is no substitute for the notes taken and essays completed by students.
- Parents could also listen to and read essays to give advice on style and clarity.
- Parents could take their son to the theatre or cinema to see adaptations of studied texts, other works by studied authors and/or plays and films in the crime and tragedy genres.
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| Useful websites: |
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