Y10 Content Autumn

To begin their GCSE course, students will focus on their first English Literature text: Macbeth. They will consider how Shakespeare crafts characters and structures the play to impact the audience as well as his use of language choices and figurative language. We will consider how historical contextual factors such as the Gunpowder Plot, the ascension of King James to the throne as well as fear of the supernatural, witch hunts and gender stereotypes impacted the play’s production and reception. They will also consider the concept of tragedy, understanding the Ancient Greek traditions from which is stems as well as moral and social questions such as the role of fate, responsibility and pride in our decision making and what makes us human.

Students will have the opportunity to watch a range of productions and consider directors’ choices as well as taking on the role of actors and directors themselves, considering how staging, costumes and acting decisions can affect the audience’s perception of characters and events.

After half term, students will begin their study of their 19th Century Literature set text - A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens - building their analytical skills in response to short extracts and developing a critical understanding of the writer's presentation of key ideas/characters/themes across the whole text.

Spring

After Christmas, pupils will complete their study of A Christmas Carol that they began in the Winter term.

We will then begin our study of the English Language GCSE, focussing on AQA Paper 1 in which pupils respond to a fiction extract from a modern novel and complete a piece of creative writing. Pupils are encouraged to pay particular focus to their writing skills and accuracy as well as exploring how different authors craft texts using language and structural devices to impact the reader.

Students will be assessed on a complete Language Paper One and Literature Paper One in their mock exams after the Easter holidays.

Summer

Pupils will also prepare for and complete their Spoken Language Examination for which they must give a 10 minute presentation on a topic of their choice. In class, they will consider what makes and effective presentation topic, how to structure ideas and interest the audience as well as responding to questions. They will have the opportunity to watch and evaluate a range of speeches from celebrities, politicians, students and even teachers! They will record their SL assessment with their teacher and a small audience of friends before Easter.

Students will  then begin the of the AQA GCSE Poetry anthology. They will explore a number of poems, from different time periods and genres, which all present ideas about the themes of ‘Power and Conflict’. Students will begin with the themes of power, considering human’s perceptions of power and their relationship with nature and the natural world around us. They will draw on their knowledge and skills from Key Stage 3 to help them analyse, make comparisons and evaluate the poems in their contexts.

Y11 Content Autumn

In Year 11, pupils begin by revisiting Language skills, developing their analysis and comparison of non-fiction texts. Students will also focus on their transactional writing skills, adapting their writing for different purposes including letters, speeches and articles as well as considering the impact on their intended audience. This will prepare them for their Language Paper 2 which will be assessed in their mock week.

Students will also study their Modern Times text for Literature: the play Leave Taking by Winsome Pinnock. The text explores themes such as race, gender, identity, belonging and families in modern Britain and will link to the identity themed poems from the Power and Conflict Poetry anthology.

Spring

After Christmas, pupils will revise the poems first taught in Year 10 and complete their work on the poetry anthology by exploring poems that cover a range of global conflicts from the 19th century to the modern day. From Tennyson’s The Charge of the Light Brigade” to Carol Ann Duffy’s War Photographer, students will learn about differences in methods of warfare and the conditions for soldiers and civilians as well as exploring the perspective of poets, understanding the impact of propaganda and our changing sensibilities surrounding the effects of mental trauma. Their lessons will pay particular attention to making links between poems, understanding the impact of context and the importance of poets’ perspectives. They will also develop their ability to respond to Unseen Poems using the skills they have developed in their anthology study.

Pupils will also sit a Literature Paper 2 mock exam in the Spring term.

Throughout the spring term, pupils will frequently revise and revisit topics from across their KS4 study in preparation for their examinations.

Summer

Pupils are focussed on revision before sitting their four GCSE Examinations.