English

The English Department is committed to equipping students with ‘Language for Life’. We believe that learners should be able to communicate effectively, and it is our aim to ensure that all students leave with the skills they need for reading, writing, and speaking and listening beyond the classroom, as well as a lasting curiosity, interest, and enjoyment in English.

Intent

In English we develop students’ confidence in reading, writing and verbal communication in preparation for further education and employment. We want students to enjoy English and become resilient, ambitious, and aspirational learners. Through our choice of texts, we aim to make students aware of global issues, but also to become culturally and self-aware.

We also want to ensure that students have the high level of literacy needed to succeed in the workplace:  to read and comprehend a text at speed; to express themselves accurately and clearly in a wide range of ways, from speeches to formal letters and articles and to take an active part in discussion, presenting, listening, and questioning. Ultimately, we want students to progress and grow as learners.

Implementation

Our teaching is underpinned by:

• a rigorous and systematic approach to the teaching of reading
• the regular use of live modelling and exemplar texts to demonstrate processes, standards, and expectations
• a range of recall strategies to deepen knowledge so that it is committed to long term memory
• a need to ‘normalise error’ so that teachers can pre-empt error as part of their planning to address gaps swiftly, and students see error as a learning opportunity
• the importance of regular assessment and feedback and opportunities to improve and redraft work

Impact

The impact of the curriculum is measured in a number of ways:

• students’ understanding of the importance of British values, including democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and tolerance and respect
• students develop autonomy around their own reading choices
• more students go on to study English at higher levels
• students attain and achieve in line with expectations, monitored through a variety of quality assurance activities including lesson observations and the scrutiny of destination, attendance, and behaviour data