Interleaved throughout each scheme are the key skills required for English language in both reading and writing. As our learners progress through Years 7, 8 and into 9, they will benefit from a building of these key skills to ensure that they are fully prepared for GCSE. All schemes are created and taught by subject experts who demonstrate a passion for language and literature. During each scheme, students demonstrate their ability in these skills and will receive specifically targeted and modelled, detailed feedback and time for reflection to progress their understanding and application of our knowledge-rich curriculum. At the end of each scheme, the students produce their best work in response to a specific question and have the opportunity to see for themselves how they have improved.

All our schemes are supported by carefully designed knowledge organisers that allow our students to access transferrable information, ready to apply it to their work.

Year 7 will study The Odyssey (dipping into the world of the Greek Gods); Shakespeare’s The Tempest (an introduction to a world of magic, treachery and love by the bard himself), and Oliver Twist (the play adaptation of the Dickens classic- introducing them to life in Victorian England).

Year 8 will study The Giver (a look into a bleak dystopian future); Poetry from Different Times and Places (creating empathy for a wide and varied range of cultures), and Noughts and Crosses (confronting the inequalities that exist in society).

Year 9 will study The Woman in Black (a gripping gothic ghost story); Shakespeare’s Macbeth (a gruesome play of witchcraft, regicide and regret), and will be introduced to a range of GCSE texts through short extracts including An Inspector Calls, Lord of the Flies, Blood Brothers and Never Let Me Go - in preparation for their move into Key Stage 4.

Students will engage with a wide range of high-quality texts as reading stimuli, exploring both creative and non-fiction writing within real-world and relevant contexts. The curriculum provides opportunities to develop higher-order reading, analytical and critical thinking skills, encouraging students to enquire deeply into themes and issues that are significant in both contemporary and historical society.

The course is designed to ensure that students become fluent, confident readers and effective writers, equipping them with the skills needed for further study and life beyond GCSE. Students will develop a secure command of Standard English, enabling them to write accurately, thoughtfully and creatively whilst analysing texts with increasing detail and sophistication.

The GCSE English Language curriculum is built around the study of demanding and engaging texts from the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries. These substantial texts challenge students through their content, structure and use of language, while also serving as effective models for their own writing. Across a broad range of genres—including literature, literary non-fiction, essays, reviews, and print and online journalism—students develop the reading, writing and communication skills necessary to become thoughtful, critical and confident users of language.

The study of English Language or Linguistics will help you understand how people communicate and assign meaning (semantics), how they do things with words (pragmatics) or how language relates to social factors (sociolinguistics), psychological aspects (psycholinguistics), or power and injustice (discourse analysis).

Studying these subjects will open your eyes to a world that has previously been hidden in plain sight. We're taking a long shot by assuming that you have seen the 1999 cult movie, Matrix – if you haven’t you really should! As one of our students said, 'Studying various aspects of language is like the awakening of the main character, Neo in The Matrix. When he swallows the red pill, he becomes aware of the false world that has been hidden from him, he learns to read ‘the code’ and understand the true nature of his world'.
Learn more about our A-Level English Language