english - learning journey & curriculum

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english literature learning journey 12 13.pdf

Cleeve English Department is proud to provide a KS3 to KS5 curriculum that transforms lives by opening the world of English Language and Literature and its richness to our students.  Our curriculum aims to engage and inspire all and helps to shape confident, articulate, world-ready students. During KS3 students are given the opportunity to study texts that reflect local heritage, a variety of cultures, diverse identities and a combination of both established classics and modern ‘classics in the making’.

Core concepts and skills are embedded in KS3, and revisited throughout Y7, Y8 and Y9, to create opportunities for skill development and to give all students a solid foundation for their KS4 studies.  Our text choices at KS4 continue to develop the depth and breadth of the KS3 curriculum and topics are driven by student voice and current issues. 

At KS5, we offer three separate A Level subjects that give students a choice of the area of creative arts and communication that they are passionate about helping to inspire futures. As a department we create opportunities for students in all year groups so that they are inspired by visiting poets, theatre companies and extra-curricular activities, reading and writing groups.  Cleeve students understand that success in English opens doors to creative and rewarding future careers.

At Cleeve we exceed National Curriculum expectations, where our students are taught to think, talk and write like a critic or writer. At KS3, students explore the letters of Edward Thomas in our ‘Representations of War’ unit to develop comparative perspectives, texts previously explored at A Level. Furthermore, our students are introduced to the concept of ‘the Troubles’ through the modern novel ‘Bog Child’ by Siobhan Dowd, coupling this with an exploration of Heaney’s poetry.

By the end of KS4, students are able to independently structure their analytical ideas into formal essays that explore authorial intent and the methods by which meaning is communicated. The ability to analyse a writer’s craft is emulated in the decisions students make in crafting their own writing.

Our KS5 students leave Cleeve having experienced challenging texts and explored their real-world impact. We teach beyond the exam specifications at A Level to ensure that all students have an undergraduate level knowledge to enable achievement of top grades.

All students are supported by quality first teaching of our curriculum by highly qualified professionals who understand that what is valuable for all is vital for some. For example, learning is planned and chunked to ensure accessibility, teacher modelling demonstrates key skills and ensures exceptional levels of progress and engagement. The modelling of core sentence types and structures is mapped into each key stage of learning so that mastery is developed incrementally.

We have a knowledge rich curriculum and provide students with high quality resources to support curriculum knowledge for independent learning. Knowledge is carefully mapped and interwoven to ensure all students meet or exceed expected outcomes. Our curriculum design involves the careful choice of texts to give students the cultural and historical capital to be better global citizens, such as ‘Coram Boy’, the Travel Writing unit, Shakespeare and a wide range of texts from the British literary canon.

At Cleeve our curriculum has been carefully mapped to ensure key skills are developed over time. At KS3, Students learn how to create ‘What?, How?, Why?’ analytical paragraphs, vital to develop critical skills and to prepare students for the challenges of KS4-5. We believe that building skills and content through schema, ensures excellence and confidence when extended writing is expected at KS4/5. Core literary concepts, such as an appreciation of the components of tragedy, are revisited in each key stage to make our students experts.

Assessment supports learning and enables teachers to closely monitor the success and needs of students over time. Our 5 in 5 quizzes are designed to interleave testing of old and new knowledge in order to support students prior to interim assessments. Interim assessments support students’ development of knowledge and confidence, creating exam-ready students and most importantly students who are passionate and skilled within our discipline.