English Language & Literature KS4

Aims:

To promote an interest in reading and literature including texts from the literary canon such as Shakespeare.
To develop students’ reading comprehension and textual analysis of both fiction and non-fiction texts.
To enable students to write for different purposes and audiences.
To enable students to produce clearly structured and technically accurate written work.
To develop confidence in oral work so students express their opinions in formal, standard English.

Content:

Year 9

Year 10

Year 11

Key texts – classic modern fiction such as ‘Of Mice and Men’, Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’, Victorian/Gothic fiction based on extracts from classic texts, war poetry from the GCSE anthology.

Key texts – classic modern drama such as ‘An Inspector Calls’, poems of power and conflict from the GCSE anthology.

Key texts – classic pre-twentieth century fiction such as ‘Jekyll and Hyde’

Key skills – building confidence towards GCSE skills (see year 10 skills).

Key skills – writing to describe/narrate and writing to explain/argue/persuade; accuracy in spelling, punctuation and grammar; reading for information and inference; analysis of the language and structure of both fiction and non-fictions texts; comparison of texts; understanding of the writer’s views and intention.

Key skills – revision of all the key skills for the GCSE examinations.

Key assessment details:

In Years 9 and 10 students will be assessed regularly using GCSE examination-style tasks. There will be formal assessments at the end of each unit of work. In Year 10, students will sit a past GCSE English Language paper. Students will also complete a formal speaking and listening assessment involving a presentation to the class for their spoken language award; this is assessed by classroom teachers. In the autumn term of Year 11, students will sit a formal mock examination based on past papers in English Language and English Literature. Students will also practise essay writing skills through regular extended responses to exam style questions and examination set texts.