Our curriculum intent is to have an ambitious and inclusive curriculum, that empowers our students to become life-long learners and successful global citizens.

In English Literature A Level, Students study the Genres of 'Aspects of Comedy' and 'Aspects of Social and Political Protest Writing' with a distinct philosophy centred on different ways of reading and the connections between texts. This enables our students to form a solid understanding of the literary canon and the ability to form an argument about many different texts, seen and unseen, making them skilled interpreters and autonomous readers. Through a well-sequenced curriculum, we intend to embed knowledge and skills that challenge all learners.

The elements of genre study are well embedded into lessons so that students are well-equipped with the subject specific terminology they need in order to discuss comedy and social and political writing. Reading skills are well-developed both in and outside of lessons, with independent reading, note-taking, comprehension, analysis and evaluation underpinning all lessons.

As part of our Enriched and Society-centred curriculum, students improve their Literature cultural capital by reading a wide of texts: plays, poems and novels, each with a different historical or social context. Through the critical reading provided, students also develop their insight into philosophical, historical and cultural background of our texts. We also ensure real life applications, such as stories about Afghanistan in the news when reading ‘The Kite Runner’ or about attempts to curb women’s access to birth control in the USA when reading ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’, are discussed, encouraging students to share their own opinions and to read all sources, including current media, from a critical perspective. In this way, students are enabled to engage critically with the media in their own lives.

To raise aspirations and allow our students to make informed decisions about their future, we provide subject specific careers education. For example, students act as a counsellor to give advice to the characters facing crises in ‘Small Island’; journalistic reporting skills are practised with students being given biased and unjust viewpoints to either promote or argue against when studying ‘The Kite Runner’; HR ranking tasks allow students to select the most and least suitable characters for different jobs with justified reasons when studying ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’; legal ideas are envisaged when students start to draft laws for the patriarchal societies of Gilead and Illyria (‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ and ‘Twelfth Night’); political campaigns are planned and rationalised in response to unseen texts. Our students have gone onto study degrees in English Literature and Journalism. 

Our Curriculum Maps outline our curriculum design and the development of knowledge and skills in Years 12 and 13. The curriculum is adapted to support and challenge students with different starting points, whilst remaining ambitious for all. Students are examined on the AQA Specification in A Level English Literature.

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