English
Course Overview
English is a core subject, studied by all students in Year 7 to Year 11 and chosen by Sixth Form students to study at A level and, in some cases, at degree level.
In Years 7-11, English is broken down into three areas: Reading, Writing and Speaking and Listening. As a skills-based subject that is central to all human interaction, we place a high value on English at Charles Darwin School. English staff are passionate about their subject and work hard to create thoughtful, considerate, creative, analytical, articulate students with a love of Literature.
As well as reading, research and some writing tasks, ‘learning homework’ tasks in English at KS3 will focus on the spelling and meaning of critical vocabulary and terminology. At KS4, ‘learning homework’ tasks will focus more on learning key quotations. Help at home with testing and revising is really valuable with these learning homework tasks. In addition, there is an English teacher on duty in the library most lunchtimes and we are always happy to support students with any English homework.
Key Stage 3
At KS3 students have seven lessons split into five Scheme of work lessons and two reading lessons. During Scheme of work lessons students will cover a thematic curriculum that covers areas such as segregation, power and conflict, different culture poetry, gothic literature, heroes and villains and many others! Each theme has been specifically chosen to cover areas that help students build a better understanding of the world around them, the history of cultures, relationships and how we communicate. Ultimately, we want our students to be better human beings and use these areas of study to hopefully embed empathy, curiosity and critical thinking.
Within each term of study, students develop their reading comprehension and writing skills through Shakespeare, poetry, fiction, non-fiction - all laced with development of the spoken word. We want to help students build better sentence form, vocabulary and imagination, but we feel oracy is a major building block of this.
During reading lessons, students study class readers from more diverse fiction and produce work around this. Much of our focus in these lessons is reading and being curious – discussing, questioning, building confidence around reading and wanting to read more. We utilise the school library as part of this.
Key Stage 4
At KS4 students will study a range of texts across AQA English Literature and Language. A Christmas Carol, An Inspector Calls, Romeo and Juliet and Power and Conflict poetry are focused on during their two years of study, with a range of extracts from fiction and non-fiction to build confidence in their English Language. They complete four exams across their studies at GCSE: two 1hour 45 minutes exam for English Language, one 2 hour exam and one 2 hour 15 minutes exam for English Literature.
Key Stage 5
A level courses offered in English are English Literature A level (OCR specification H472) Both have a good take up and great results!
Why choose the subject?
- It’s the key to all human interaction.
- It’s essential for most jobs/careers.
- It will help you develop key skills in essay writing, structuring and analysis, which you can use in other subjects/areas.
- A grade of 6 or above in one of the English GCSEs is required to study English Literature A level in the Sixth Form.
- And finally, because a love of literature will give you a wealth of joy and insight for life!
Common Questions
Q. When do I study English?
A. From Year 7 to Year 11 and into Sixth Form if you wish
Q. How many English lessons will I have across two weeks?
A. 7 in Key Stage 3; 9 or 10 in Key Stage 4 and 5
Q. How many GCSEs will I study for in Key Stage 4?
A. Two separate GCSEs: English Language (AQA) and English Literature (OCR)