English

English

English is the subject at the heart of teaching and learning. Language enables students to communicate, to question, to understand and to progress. Because of this, teachers in the English department believe we have a responsibility to ensure that our provision for students at Alder is of the very highest standard.

There are eight full time teachers of English including an Assistant Headteacher and the SENCO. We are all passionate about the subject and aim to inspire students to share in our love of language and literature. Teachers in the English department are committed to working hard in order to achieve the best for our students. This is reflected in our excellent GCSE results year on year.

We believe that our English curriculum is incredibly exciting. Through the development of Reading, Writing and Speaking and Listening, young people are introduced to critical methods and ways of thinking which will stay with them for the rest of their lives. It is our aim to create schemes of work and activities that have ‘real life’ relevance and develop key skills that will be essential in adulthood.

 

KS3 Curriculum

 

KS4 Curriculum

At Key Stage 4, we follow the AQA syllabus for GCSE. Our aim is that all students leave Alder with a recognised qualification in English Language and in English Literature. All assessments now take the form of terminal examinations. To prepare for the English Language qualification, students are exposed to a range of Non-Fiction and Fiction texts and learn how to write creatively and to show viewpoint. In preparation for their English Literature examination, they study 15 poems from the AQA Power and Conflict Anthology, a 20th century text (An Inspector Calls), a Shakespeare play (Romeo and Juliet), and a 19th century text (Frankenstein).

 

Enrichment and Extra Curricular

To enrich the curriculum, we organise trips to theatres, libraries and cinemas. The library is open for students at lunch time every day, and a Year 11 book club runs once a fortnight. Intervention and revision classes are run by all members of the department, at lunch times, after school and during the holidays.

 

Online Resources

There are several apps/websites that we recommend for revision outside of the classroom, particularly for our KS4 students:

Litcharts – www.litcharts.com

Bitesize – www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize

.