Darwen Vale High School

English

 

 

 

Ms Hudson

Head of English

 

Welcome to the English faculty. We are a lively and creative part of school life where students engage with a wide range of texts and ideas. Our classrooms are places of discussion, imagination and discovery where literature and language come alive. We take pride in fostering supportive environment where every students can enjoy learning and feel confident expressing themselves. We are a team of eleven specialist teachers, led by Ms Hudson, who all possess experience, enthusiastic spirit and impressive professional qualifications in a friendly, ambitious team. We endeavour to equip all of our students with the skills that they will need to be successful in the ever-changing world of the 21st Century whilst simultaneously fostering a love of the English language through reading, writing and oracy. 

 

English Curriculum:

What can a student expect from the Faculty?

  • .A rich English curriculum that exposes students to a variety of texts
    .Qualified, enthusiastic and passionate teaching staff

  • .Help, guidance and support

  • .Quality first teaching designed to challenge, inspire and ensure progression

  • .A creative and relevant course for the future

Extra-Curricular Clubs

  • .Book Club

Vision & Aims

Reading

Our students will:

>Develop an appreciation and love of reading

> Read a wide range of fiction and non – fiction texts

> Independently choose and read fiction and non – fiction for pleasure

> Read critically and be able to give a personal opinion on what has been read

> Be able to make comparisons between texts

> Be able to make predictions and speculate

Writing

Our students will:

> Write accurately, fluently, effectively and at length

> Write for a wide range of purposes and audiences

> Summarise and organise materials

> Extend their range of vocabulary, punctuation, grammatical and literary devices to enhance their creativity

> Plan, draft, edit and proof read

Speaking and Listening

Our students will:

>Speak confidently and articulate like a scholar

> Use Standard English

> Adapt talk to a variety of formal and informal situations, including discussion, debate and presenting

Key Stage 3 - Curriculum Overview

We are passionate about extending students’ knowledge of the world and using literature to open doors to that understanding. As such have created a broad and challenging curriculum. In Year 7, 8 and 9, all students follow a challenging but engaging curriculum that allows them to delve into a range of stories and authors. Our vision is that our key stage three students will move to KS4 with the academic and cultural literacy required to be educationally mobile, whatever their background. Students are guided through classic texts including Shakespeare as well as a range of poetry, contemporary novels and plays. Reading skills are taught and assessed thoroughly and in a range of interesting and often innovative ways. They are also given a deep understanding of how to use language to create effect and achieve a purpose enabling them to become expressive, creative and precise in the written word. In addition, we are committed to developing students’ oracy skills through discussion, debate and individual presentations.

Key Stage 4 - Curriculum Overview

In Years 10 and 11, students study both AQA GCSE English Language and AQA GCSE English Literature. The Literature course focuses on the appreciation of pre and post 19th Century drama and prose, and the analysis of unseen and studied poetry, which are all assessed in the final examinations. As a school, we study Blood Brothers, Romeo and Juliet, A Christmas Carol and Power and Conflict Poetry. However, students sitting their examinations from 2028 onwards will study Macbeth in place of Romeo and Juliet. 
For the English Language course, the students continue to develop their reading skills in comprehension, summary and analysis through the unpacking and analysis of unseen texts in both fiction and nonfiction. They continue to develop their ability to write for many forms and audiences in both fiction and non-fiction. They will also produce a spoken language assessment based on a subject of their choice which will be assessed separately at a pass, merit or distinction grade.

What we teach and when we teach it

 

Curriculum Map

 

 

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