English Curriculum
Curriculum Intent – Content and Structure
The intended outcomes of what we teach:
| English combines the study of reading, writing, speaking, and listening. Students are exposed to a wide range of fiction and non-fiction genres and learn to produce texts for different audiences and purposes. The main aims of the English curriculum are:
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Curriculum Implementation
Curriculum Content and Sequence
Year 7
Autumn | Spring | Summer |
| Telling Tales (Narrative and The Bone Sparrow) | The World and I (Modern Poetry and Short Stories) | Journeys of Discovery (Adventure and Travel Writing) |
Year 8
Autumn | Spring | Summer |
| Power and Conflict (Animal Farm and Poetry) | Love and Relationships (Shakespeare’s Comedies and A Midsummer Night’s Dream) | Challenging Perspectives (Media, Non-fiction writing) |
Year 9
Autumn | Spring | Summer |
| Terror and Wonder (19th and 20th Century fiction and creative writing) | Visionaries (19th Century poetry and dystopian short stories) | A Voice for Change (Modern Drama - The Princess and the Hustler and Non Fiction extracts) |
Year 10
Autumn | Spring | Summer |
| Post 1914 British Drama: An Inspector Calls by J. B. Priestley Non-fiction reading and transactional writing | Shakespeare play: Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare | Shakespeare play: Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare |
Year 11
Autumn | Spring | Summer |
| 19th Century novel: The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson. Unseen 19th Century fiction and creative writing | Poetry Anthology: Time and Place Unseen Poetry: Revisit and reteach identified areas and key concepts | Revisit and reteach identified areas and key concepts |
Year 12
Autumn | Spring | Summer |
| Language: Child language acquisition - speaking grammar. Individual Variation. Mode, field, function, audience, age, occupation, regional language, power. Grammar. One lesson a week. Literature: Contemporary Poetry: (The Forward Book of the Decade) A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams. | Language: Child Language acquisition. Reading, writing Individual Variation. Power, Gender Individual Variation. Gender / technology Grammar. One lesson a week Literature: Prose: Dracula by Bram Stoker. The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters | Language: Creative Writing Coursework Preparation. Language Variation: Language Change. Weekly Language variation / Grammar revision lessons. Literature: Coursework preparation Introduce Othello / Romantics |
Year 13
Autumn | Spring | Summer |
| Language: Coursework redrafting and finalisation Language Variation: Language Change Language Variation: Regional Language Literature: Coursework: Independent Study Othello by William Shakespeare Romantic Poetry | Language: Language Investigation: Regional Language Literature: Othello by William Shakespeare Romantic Poetry | Language: Revisit and reteach identified areas and key concepts Literature: Revisit and reteach identified areas and key concepts |
The Rationale for the Content and Sequence of what we Teach
Year | Why we Teach this Content and how the Content and Sequence of Topics Benefits our Students |
Year 7 | The Telling Tales unit starts with students exploring the history of stories and storytelling including myths and legends and fairy tales, enabling students to develop an understanding of where our ideas about stories have originated as well as understanding the conventions of narrative. At the start of the Telling Tales unit, students will explore myths and legends from different cultures and counties around the world. Some of these stories will be known to students and others will be new which will give students a more rounded understanding of the similarities between traditional stories from around the world. During the second term, students will explore the theme The World and I. Within this theme, students will explore their own identity as well as reflecting on how writers explore their own identities through their writing. Students will explore a range of texts and writers linked by this theme, the main text being the short story My Polish Teacher’s Tie. Students will also study a range of poems exploring ideas about identity and the writer’s relationship with their cultural background. Students will have the opportunity to present to the class on their own cultural identity, developing their spoken presentation skills. In the Summer Term, Year 7 students will explore the theme of Journeys of Discovery. Students will develop their writing skills in this unit. The students will explore examples of Travel Writing, including the work of Bill Bryson. They will complete their own examples of travel writing and work in groups to create a travel advertisement. In addition, the students will develop their fiction writing skills, exploring the adventure writing genre. Students, again, will study models of good adventure writing and analyse the film Journey 2: Mysterious Island to absorb the conventions of the genre. The unit will culminate in the students writing their own adventure stories. |
Year 8 | The Autumn Term opens with the study the novel Animal Farm by George Orwell to begin the students' exploration of the theme Power and Conflict. The students will explore how characters and narrative develops as well as developing a detailed understanding of the historical context and how this influences how the story is told. After reading Animal Farm, Year 8 will continue to explore the theme of Power and Conflict by analysing War Poetry from poets such as Alfred Lord Tennyson and Wilfred Owen as well as other poets such as Robert Browning and Percey Shelley. This will help to build students’ knowledge and understanding of key poets and poetry styles that they will revisit at GCSE. Following on, in the Spring Term Year 8 will move on to the theme of Love and Relationships. This will introduce students to Shakespeare and more specifically the conventions of Shakespearean Comedy through the play A Midsummer Night’s Dream. This will be the basis of their understanding of Shakespeare which will be revisited in Year 9 and at GCSE. The unit will have a focus on performance to support students in becoming comfortable with Shakespeare and his language. Lastly, the Year 8 students will examine the theme Challenging Perspectives. In this unit, students will study a range of non-fiction texts and develop their ability to write to argue and persuade effectively through looking at effective models. Students will analyse a articles and other non-fiction texts that express strong and persuasive arguments on controversial and debatable topics and will have the opportunity to write their own responses to these. |
Year 9 | In the Autumn Term, Year 9 will be studying the theme of Terror and Wonder. In this unit, students will explore the gothic genre through a range of 19th Century short stories and extracts. Students will gain a through understanding of the genre features which will prepare them for their GCSE course. The students will also be introduced to the features of Shakespearean tragedy through exploring Shakespeare’s Macbeth. In the Spring Term the students will explore the theme of Visionaries. Within this unit, Year 9 will be introduced to the concept of Romanticism and particularly explore the Romantic poets’ visions for society. This will help to prepare the students for GCSE poetry. In addition, students will study the Dystopian genre, exploring Ray Bradbury’s collection of short stories The Illustrated Man and his vision of the future. The students will also be given opportunities to write their own Dystopian stories. The final theme for Year 9 will be A Voice for Change. The students will explore the play The Princess and the Hustler and the historical and social context of the play. The students will also explore how different inspirational figures shared raised their voices to promote social change by studying a range of speeches by social activists throughout history and develop their evaluation skills. The students will finally explore the example of how voices were used for important social change in Apartheid South Africa, focusing on Steve Biko and analysing the film Cry Freedom.. |
Year 10 | Throughout the An Inspector Calls unit, students will read and analyse the whole of Priestley’s play Post-1914 British Drama in class. Students develop their critical style and an informed personal response, use textual references to support and illustrate interpretations and demonstrate their understanding of context and its influence 20th and 21st Century Non-fiction and Transactional Writing - this is focused on English Language: Paper 2 – Section A. In the Spring Term, our Year 10 students read and analyse Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet in class. This is building towards English Literature Paper 1 Section A – a two-part question, with the first task focused on an extract of approximately 30 lines. The second task is focused on how a theme reflected in the extract is explored elsewhere in the play. This is a closed book exam so the understanding of characters, themes, plot and context is essential. In Year 10 the students also develop their spoken language and public speaking delivery skills in the Spoken Language Endorsement. |
Year 11 | The order of the units at GCSE allows the more challenging texts to be studied later in the course, and ensures students have the skills required to access the more difficult units. Many of the texts have themes which cross over, for example class and gender divides, and ideas about secrecy, duality, and responsibility, enabling us to make links between units and to discuss themes which are important in the real world of the students. The units also connect in terms of time, style and skills, and so students study ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ before a unit on 19th Century Literature, and so have already experienced the style of writing of the extracts they will see in the exam. This is then followed by unseen poetry, which the students will find easier to approach given the unseen extract analysis. The Poetry: Time and Place unit involves students studying 15 poems in the Time and Place collection from the Edexcel anthology geared towards a response to English Literature Paper 2: Section B. Analysis skills of how language, form, structure and context of texts can create meanings and effects. |
Year 12 | Language: Students learn terminology / grammar once a week to ensure knowledge is secure in preparation for later units Students start the course with Child Language acquisition to give them a solid grounding in phonetics and the early stages of language formation which gives them building blocks to support effective data analysis as the course progresses. By also starting the course in tandem with Language Variation, which is the largest unit, students are again introduced to key concepts and theories that they will need to apply across all areas and units of the Language curriculum. Coursework introduction is left until the Summer Term as their commentary will need to include much of the linguistic analysis and application of key concepts and theories studied earlier in the year. This also allows students time to work on their coursework over the Summer Holidays and plenty of time to re-draft during the beginning of Year 13. Literature: The Year 12 Literature course begins with two aspects of the course being taught at the same time. One teacher leads with modern poetry which helps to develop students' knowledge of literary analysis and evaluation. The other teacher introduces Drama in, ‘A Streetcar named Desire’, developing their understanding of the concepts and methods appropriate for the analysis and study of theatre as well as language. Students study two texts with both teachers. A modern novel, ’The Little Stranger’, compared with a late 19th Century novel,’ Dracula’. They explore the ways in which texts relate to each other and the contexts in which they are produced and received. Coursework is split between Years 12 and 13. Students conduct independent enquiries on literature of their choice. Whilst the department offer focused support with studies around dystopian literature, students are given the choice to find their own texts which develops their independent skills as interpreters of language and context and develops the core skills of comparison. The order of the units taught from the beginning of Year 12 allows the more challenging texts to be studied later in the course, and ensures students have the skills required to access the more difficult units. |
Year 13 | Language: In Year 13 students continue to study language: context and identity. Individual variation explores the range of contexts in which language is produced and received as students explore how language changes over time. Students will apply appropriate methods of language analysis to a range of written and spoken data taken from 19th, 20th and 21st Century sources, using key language frameworks. The exam board pre-release a specific regional variation in December of the Year 13 course to be examined in May/June. Students analyse how the language of writers / speakers reflects and constructs their identity or identities. Literature: The Year 13 Literature course involves further study of Drama and Poetry. More difficult texts: ‘Othello’ and ‘Romantic Poetry’, are studied in Year 13 to allow students the opportunity to develop linguistic and literary approaches in their reading in Year 12. Studying Drama and Poetry further in Year 13 allows for a more critical interpretation and comparison of texts. |
Key Stage 4 (KS4) and Key Stage 5 (KS5) only:
What exam board/syllabus do you teach?
Why have you chosen this syllabus?
In what ways is it suited to your students?
Edexcel
The support offered is far beyond other exam boards. Pearsons organise annual HoDs conferences where they give detailed exam feedback as well as information about all the available examinations and places to look for further support. The board also offer a lot of useful CPD opportunities both remotely and in person.
For A Level it then follows on from GCSE but again with many resources and online textbooks available for students.
Teachers are familiar with this syllabus, and are able to support students in learning the curriculum and can give guidance to how the marks are awarded in the exam questions. There are a lot of student resources available.
Curriculum Implementation
The subject specific habits and behaviours we develop (or intend to develop) in our students
Subject Specific Habits and Behaviours | How we embed these in our students |
| Collaboration and interdependence | Paired tasks. Whole class discussion. Group discussion. Independent / group projects. How to listen effectively and provide constructive feedback. |
Academy Ethos
Academy Curriculum Intent | How our department’s curriculum content and teaching approaches reflect the whole Academy ethos |
| A Curricular and Pastoral commitment to Micah 6v8: Do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with your God. High Expectations of students’ behaviour for learning, learning progress and respect for our community. A commitment to make learning enjoyable, engaging, relevant and challenging. A commitment to develop knowledge, skills and character. Consistency and fairness in approach and routines. Excellent and developing subject knowledge which inspires confidence in students. Effective collaboration across all parts of the Academy. Highly skilled teaching which deepens understanding and stimulates curiosity. A willingness to embrace research and innovation in order to enhance the learning potential of our students. Recognising and rewarding effective use of learning habits as well as academic achievement. | As an actively inclusive department we regularly use the texts we explore reflect on justice and kindness. This includes questions of identity through poetry in Y7, issues to do with justice in society through the study of Animal Farm, gender and class in An Inspector Calls. At the heart of the department is a desire to use literature to reflect on the world and our response to the issues we face. We work together to ensure high expectations are maintained, collaborating to support with behaviour and regularly meeting to plan, mark and learn together. Use a range of teaching styles and outcomes we stimulate students to create, respond to texts and extend themselves verbally. Through trips and visitors, we encourage students to recognise the practical importance of English in daily life and for enjoyment. As we look at how characters respond to situations we reflect on moral choices. Texts such as Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde naturally lend themselves to develop skills of interpretation and raise questions of character, responsibility and moral choice. Regular meetings, an open classroom culture and a significant number of shared classes support our consistency and fairness. Master Classes, opportunity for external CPD and sessions where teachers share their expertise all give confidence to teachers and students to develop their learning. Curriculum advisors meeting with exam board advisors is an example of creativity in this area. In all English lessons/ units students are encouraged to discuss complex texts. Discussions are open and inclusive, and ideas are accepted and debated. Students are taught how to discuss and debate with each other. The English curriculum centres around texts which are stimulating, engaging and enable students to be exposed to a range of important and relevant issues. Schemes of Work are regularly updated based on strategies from professional development courses and training such as training on adaptive teaching and course from the English and Media Centre and Litdrive. Students are encouraged to research and are taught how to research using a range of sources beyond the internet, particularly when finding out about the context of the texts they are studying. English is a skill based subject which rewards students' progress in their ability to collaborate, discuss and present. This is highlighted through the annual Jack Petchey Speak Out Challenge where students rehearse speeches and some are selected to compete against other schools. |
Implementation
Academy Ethos
Micah 6v8: Do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with your God | ||||
Curriculum Content Opportunities | Curriculum Delivery Opportunities | |||
| Justice | Year 7: Autumn Term: Telling Tales- through the study of the novel the Bone Sparrow, students explore ideas of justice and injustice looking the Rohingya Crisis and the experience of refugees. Spring Term: The World and I- Students explore poetry and short stories about the theme of identity and have the opportunity to discuss some of the struggles people may face when they feel they have multiple identities and cultures in poems like ‘Search for My Tongue’ and the short story ‘My Polish Teacher’s Tie’. These discussions develop students’ sense of personal identity, empathy and belonging.
Autumn Term: Power and Conflict- Discussions about justice are a huge part of our Power and Conflict unit. Firstly, Animal Farm’ deals with ideas of injustice and gives students the opportunity to recognise how these have changed over time, and the way that historical injustices might impact upon society today. In addition, students will study war poetry and discuss whether war is justifiable. Summer Term: Challenging Perspectives- Students will study non-fiction texts which explore challenging ideas in persuasive ways and will have the opportunity to discuss if they feel these opinions are justified or even just.
Autumn Term 1: ‘Animal Farm’ deals with ideas of injustice and gives students the opportunity to recognise how these have changed over time, and the way that historical injustices might impact upon society today. Autumn Term 2: Dystopian Skills for Writing features texts that focus on injustices, prejudice, and segregation. They ask students to consider how current injustices might impact on the future. Spring Term: Romantic Poetry as a movement is one of fundamental ideals of justice, fairness, and equality. Summer Term 1: Human Rights - students promote justice in their own speeches, considering a range of injustices from around the world. Summer 2: Introduction to Tragedy centres mainly around ‘Macbeth’, who faces justice for his actions at the end of the play.
Poetry Anthology Collection: London and Nothing’s Changed both discuss prejudice and inequality. Romeo and Juliet: In the play, characters often take justice into their own hands, with terrible consequences. Students are encouraged to consider how justice could have been delivered differently. Jekyll and Hyde: As with ‘Romeo and Juliet’, Jekyll’s (Hyde’s) eventual fate can be seen by some as a lack of justice for his behaviour, as he doesn’t have to face consequences. An Inspector Calls: This text holds justice and responsibility as its central themes, delivering the message that we are all one body, responsible for one another’s well-being, and that those who behave selfishly in society should face justice for their actions. Key Stage 5 (KS5): A Level Literature: ‘Othello’ centres around ideas of injustice and prejudice, and encourages students to consider whether the characters in the play are treated justly, and how unjust treatment effects actions. Romantic Poetry as a movement is one of fundamental ideals of justice, fairness, and equality. | Justice demonstrated through our teaching values, allowing all students to have a voice. We use effective differentiation so that we allow all students to feel successful regardless of ability. We are actively engaged in reviewing texts for the curriculum at KS3 to ensure that we are positively representing diversity and inclusion so that all students feel like the syllabus is relevant to them and their experience.
During the Power and Conflict unit students discuss and debate the concept of ‘just war’ and consider if they and the poets feel war is justifiable. They consider whether poets are pro or anti-war and whether they feel the wars were justified.
In our study of Animal Farm students are giving the opportunity to discuss the features of a fair and just society versus a dictatorship. Within the Dystopia unit students have the opportunity to write their own dystopian text where they can reflect on, highlight, and exploit real injustices. The Human Rights unit allows students to explore how different groups used speeches to fight for justice and write their own speeches to call out current social injustices.
All students are encouraged to have a voice in our Key Stage 4 lessons. Debates and discussions take place regularly, with appropriate behaviour being demonstrated in order to ensure all students feel heard, and can be challenged in a constructive, respectful manner. Challenging subjects, particularly those involving ideas about morality and fairness, and discussed openly. We use effective differentiation so that we allow all students to feel successful regardless of ability.
Promoting social justice in the English Literature A-level classroom is at the core of what we teach. We help students develop the critical thinking, collaboration, and self-reflection skills necessary to foster a better society. All students’ voices, opinions and ideas are valued and respected. The texts studied in A level Literature all reflect the importance of social justice. | ||
| Kindness | Year 7: Autumn Term: Telling Tales - At the start of the year, students explore myths and legends from different cultures around the world. Students are often struck by the realisation that many of these stories are very similar to each other and to other stories they know which helps students to build empathy and understanding. Students also study the novel The Bone Sparrow which focuses on the story of a Rohingya boy living in a detention centre. Students are encouraged to evaluate how kind they feel the treatment of the characters is and many finish the unit feeling very impassioned about this very current human rights issue. Spring Term: The World and I - Students explore texts exploring cultural identity and are encouraged to do so with maturity, respect and kindness. While exploring these texts, students often discuss stories about their own identities and each student gives a speech at the end of the unit on their personal identity. Students are expected to listen respectfully and show kindness to each other. Year 8: Autumn Term: Power and Conflict- During the study of Animal Farm, students explore extreme political views and discuss which are most beneficial for the inhabitants of the farm. The characters represent worldly views of people in society pushed to extremes; students critically engage with the ways they interact with each other and discover why kindness is so important. Spring Term: Love and Relationships- Studying the different kinds of relationships in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream opens opportunities to discuss if the relationships are positive or not and whether characters are treating each other with kindness. Year 9: Autumn 1: Animal Farm - Students explore extreme political views and discuss which are most beneficial for the inhabitants of the farm. The characters represent worldly views of people in society pushed to extremes; students critically engage with the ways they interact with each other and discover why kindness is so important. Autumn 2: Dystopia (Skills for Writing) explores the worst aspects of human interaction. Students write creatively to replicate this style while considering the kindness represented by the heroes of these stories. Spring 1: Poetry over time captures an optimistic and natural view of life in contrast to the Industrialisation that surrounded the Romantic poets. Students are encouraged to take a stance on avoiding suffering and creating a kinder world. Spring 2: News writing students are shown examples of fake news and bias and are guided to seek the value of journalistic integrity and human kindness in news and the media. Summer 1: Human Rights - this unit explores the legal entitlements for all, which inherently are not kindness, but rights. However, the refusal of these rights around the world reflects a lack of human kindness which is something we want our students to engage with critically, effectively, and vocally. Summer 2: Tragedy features an exploration of tragic conventions and their origins. Kindness is taught through the moral lessons brought about by these dramas and the downfall of their featured heroes (who make the switch from kindness and honourability to tyrannical unkindness). KS4: Romeo and Juliet: Tragedy features an exploration of tragic conventions and their origins. Kindness is taught through the moral lessons brought about by these dramas and the downfall of their featured heroes. Jekyll and Hyde: Kindness and consideration of how we treat others is considered when discussing the protagonist and his actions throughout the story. KS5: Through studying the Drama unit students explore the pattern of a Greek Tragedy and are taught to recognise that it is not the hero’s fatal flaw that brings about their downfall, but the actions of unkind people working against them. Both Othello and Streetcar Named Desire emphasise the need for kindness and empathy in society. Prose: Dracula and The Little Stranger both focus on the repercussions of class divide in society. Students recognise the importance of kindness to others, regardless of class, or where you originated from. | Throughout Key Stage 3 (KS3), we promote kindness through our curriculum delivery. For example, by studying the novel The Bone Sparrow, students explore the kindness or unkindness of the characters’ behaviour. This interactive approach allows students to reflect on their own practice of kindness as well as how to create more opportunities for it in their daily lives. The World and I unit (Year 7), the Challenging Perspectives unit (Year 8) and Tragedies units (Year 9), students listen to each other's speeches showing each other kindness and respect. In all units, students are encouraged to peer assess each other's written work, taking each others’ feelings into consideration when offering WWW and EBI feedback.
A Level teachers create a learning environment that enables thoughtful discussions with an appreciation of a variety of opinions and perspectives. When focusing on the need for kindness we can draw from conversations about real-world issues that affect students’ everyday lives. Students need to engage critically with these issues. One such issue is mental health. In A Streetcar Named Desire, Blanche is portrayed as suffering from serious mental problems after having endured a lot of pain and hardships in her past. In the last scene when the doctor comes to take away Blanche she says, “Whoever you are—I have always depended on the kindness of strangers” In modern times, we still fail to fully understand the concerns surrounding mental health which has led to negative consequences. Students are taught the importance of being kind to themselves and others. | ||
| Humility | Year 7: Autumn Term: Telling Tales - When exploring myths and legends from around the world students discuss and debate different ideas about their beliefs and are encouraged to listen respectfully and with humility. Students are also humbled by learning about the Rohingya Crisis and the experience of refugees when reading the novel The Bone Sparrow. Spring Term: The World and I - My Polish Teacher’s Tie explores themes of acceptance and identity and learning to understand the perspective of others. When students present on their own identity as well as listening to others, they are encouraged to be humble and learn from each other. Summer Term: Journeys of Discovery - This unit students to explore the theme of humility through various extracts about physical, emotional, or spiritual journeys from different types of text. Students have an opportunity to demonstrate humility when working as a group to present their own travel advert. Year 8: Autumn Term: Power and Conflict - Humility, unfortunately, is not a quality that is demonstrated by many of the characters in Animal Farm. Throughout the unit we explore the characters that do have this quality and those who don’t and the consequences of this. Humility is a valued, yet often overlooked, characteristic in the novella. We also explore historical examples of tyrannical leadership and therefore the benefits of humility. War Poetry explores humility through discussions about the individual within a national/international war effort. Humility is demonstrated through students discussing their different interpretations of the poems. Summer Term: Challenging Perspectives- Students will be exposes to controversial and challenging points of view in a range of articles which use effective persuasive speeches. Students will need to show humility when seeing the merit in these texts as well as being able to debate with these ideas in a mature manner. Year 9: Autumn Term: Humility, unfortunately, is not a quality that is demonstrated by many of the characters in Animal Farm. Throughout the unit we explore the characters that do have this quality and those who do not and the consequences of this. Humility is a valued, yet often overlooked, characteristic in the novella. We also explore historical examples of tyrannical leadership and therefore the benefits of humility. Spring Term: News writing encourages students to be humble as they explore news stories and techniques that they may not agree with and have the opportunity to discuss reasons for this in a fair manner. Summer Term: Human Rights involves students delivering planned speeches regarding a specific controversial or debated area. Humility is demonstrated in their listening skills as they have to appreciate the value of what those around them are saying and be able to share their own ideas comfortably while cultivating an open attitude towards criticism. KS4: In our study of the Romeo and Juliet unit, students explore Tragedy and are taught to understand that the self- recognition of how the tragic hero’s fatal flaw helps to create redemption and a sense of catharsis for the audience. In order to be a hero, a character must recognise their self- centred and sometimes arrogant behaviour. We consider the messages that Shakespeare sought to explore in the play. Through the study of An Inspector Calls, students learn about how the theme of collective responsibility and the character of the Inspector aim to teach us about humility. KS5: Through the study of the Drama unit students explore Tragedy and are taught to understand that the self recognition of the tragic hero’s fatal flaw helps to create redemption and a sense of catharsis for the audience. In order to be a hero, a character must recognise their self centred and sometimes arrogant behaviour. Both Othello and Streetcar Named Desire emphasise the need for self awareness and humility. | Humility is demonstrated through our teaching values, as students are expected to listen to each other’s ideas and work together to discuss texts. As teachers we also model our own learning process, acknowledging if students come up with interpretations that we ourselves had not considered - this shows humility and a willingness to learn. As a department, we encourage students to consider different perspectives and viewpoints in the verbal and written work and in fact reward the ability to do this in students’ essays throughout all key stages. A Level teachers create a learning environment that enables thoughtful discussions with an appreciation of a variety of opinions and perspectives. When focusing on the need for kindness we can draw from conversations about real-world issues that affect students’ everyday lives. Students need to engage critically with these issues. One such issue is mental health. In A Streetcar Named Desire, Blanche is portrayed as suffering from serious mental problems after having endured a lot of pain and hardships in her past. In the last scene when the doctor comes to take away Blanche she says, “Whoever you are—I have always depended on the kindness of strangers” In modern times, we still fail to fully understand the concerns surrounding mental health which has led to negative consequences. Students are taught the importance of being kind to themselves and others.
Humility is demonstrated through our teaching values, as students are expected to listen to each other’s ideas and work together to discuss texts. As teachers we also model our own learning process, acknowledging if students come up with interpretations that we ourselves had not considered - this shows humility and a willingness to learn. As a department, we encourage students to consider different perspectives and viewpoints in the verbal and written work and in fact reward the ability to do this in students’ essays throughout all key stages.
Humility encourages open- mindedness, inspiration and strong collaboration skills. Promoting humility in the English Literature A-level classroom is at the core of what we teach. When you are humble you are more able to consider other perspectives. We help students develop collaboration, and self-reflection skills necessary to develop humility. All students’ voices, opinions and ideas are valued and respected in class discussions. The texts studied in A level Literature all reflect the importance of humility. | ||
Please click here to access the full English curriculum document.