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Vision for the Department

Our aim is to develop our pupils into confident, creative and critical readers and writers.Through a rich and varied literature curriculum, our aim is for for pupils to learn how texts are crafted in the English language. Our pupils will learn to understand and analyse how ideas are expressed in a broad range of novels, drama and poetry.

KS3 Curriculum

YEAR 7

Journey through literature: a whistle-stop tour of the chronology of English Lit. including Greek myth; Canterbury Tales; The Renaissance; The Enlightenment; The Romantics; Victorian Lit; Modernism and 21st Century writers.

Romantic Poetry, focusing on Big Six: Coleridge, Blake, Wordsworth, Byron, Shelley and Keats Investigating the power of human imagination and emotion.

Exploring divinity of the natural world as presented in Romanticism.

Analysing the way in which class and social divide is presented in Romantic poetry.

The Tempest by William Shakespeare: Colonialism; power; love.

Introduction to Shakespearean drama and language.

Context of voyage and exploration; problematising Elizabethan attitudes towards foreign lands.

Finish The Tempest by William Shakespeare; segue in to synoptic unit on other Shakespeare plays.

Roll of Thunder: a closer look at a modern classic American novel. Exploring themes of social injustice, racism and allyship. Students examine contexts of the civil rights movement and analyse the novel in light of their understanding of theme.

Finish unit on British colonial texts and segue in to persuasive writing SOW.

 

YEAR 8

Gothic fiction from the Victorian Era: Exploring gothic convention and works such as Frankenstein; The Raven; Dracula.

Synoptic unit on Political Poetry exploring how literature portrays war, ethnic identity, women, power and mental health.

Animal Farm by George Orwell: Exploration of socioeconomic divides, politics and power.

Animal Farm by George Orwell and Non-fiction Creative Writing inspired by the themes and concepts of Animal Farm.

Pupils learn how to express their opinions and viewpoints through crafted writing including through debate and class discussion.

Postcolonial Literature: Pupils examine a range of postcolonial literature, exploring the relationship between imperialism, national / cultural identity and power.

Creative writing inspired by Postcolonial Literature - descriptive, narrative and opinion-based non-fiction writing.

YEAR 9

Dystopian Fiction; exploring thematic connections between texts; exploring story structure; evaluating the effect of language; emphasis on evaluative opinion; narrative and descriptive writing.

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro; explore the modern context of the novel; examine themes of coming of age, ethics, morality and science; consider the role science and technology plays in our lives and influences the novel; consider Ishiguro’s perspectives on love and relationships within the novel. 

Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare: themes of love, hatred, power, conflict. Deeper interrogation of Elizabethan context and classical tragedy form.

Non-fiction text over time: practising non-fiction writing, exploring a range of methods to enhance writing; Examining the form and purpose of a range of non-fiction texts and styles.

GCSE Literature: power and conflict poetry cluster; themes of identity, war, psychological conflict, emotional conflict and relationships. Developing comparison skills.

 

Going beyond the National Curriculum through:

  • The Big Read
  • Read Up - Kingston
  • Author visits and talks
  • Theatre trips
  • The Globe Theatre tour and meeting the cast
  • In school Shakespearean performances
  • Drama performances and house competitions

 

More detail on the specific focus by term can be found in the links below:

Year 7

Autumn 1:

Journey through literature: a whistle stop tour of the chronology of English Lit. including Greek myth; Canterbury Tales; The Renaissance; The Enlightenment; The Romantics; Victorian Lit; Modernism and 21st Century writers.

Autumn 2:

Romantic Poetry, focusing on Big Six: Coleridge, Blake, Wordsworth, Byron, Shelley and Keats Investigating power of human imagination and emotion Exploring divinity of natural world as presented in Romanticism Analysing the way in which class and social divide is presented in Romantic poetry

Spring 1:

The Tempest by William Shakespeare: Colonialism; power; love Introduction to Shakespearean drama and language Context of voyage and exploration; problematising Elizabethan attitudes towards foreign lands

Spring 2:

Finish The Tempest by William Shakespeare; segue in to descriptive writing SOW

Summer 1:

Colonial texts: a closer look at literature written during and/or influenced by British rule of India including extracts from The Jungle Book; A Passage to India; Victoria and Abdul.

Summer 2:

Finish unit on British colonial texts and segue in to persuasive writing SOW

 

 

Year 8

Autumn 1:

Gothic fiction from the Victorian Era: Exploring gothic convention and works such as Frankenstein; The Raven; Dracula

Autumn 2:

Synoptic unit on Political Poetry exploring how literature portrays war, ethnic identity, women, power and mental health

Spring 1:

Animal Farm by George Orwell: Exploration of socioeconomic divides, politics and power

Spring 2:

Animal Farm by George Orwell and Non-fiction Creative Writing inspired by the themes and concepts of Animal Farm. Pupils learn how to express their opinions and viewpoints through crafted writing.

Summer 1:

Postcolonial Literature: Pupils examine a range of postcolonial literature, exploring the relationship between imperialism, national / cultural identity and power.

Summer 2:

Creative writing inspired by Postcolonial Literature - descriptive, narrative and opinion-based non-fiction writing.

Year 9

Autumn 1:

  • Lord of the Flies by William Golding: Post-war; power; sacrfice; masculinity.
  • Engagement and understanding of human nature.
  • Examination of the power and hypocrisies of democracy and autocracy.

Autumn 2:

  • Non-fiction 19th century extracts and comparison with 21st century: Exploration of how public attitudes towards issues have transformed across time e.g. gender roles, ecological responsibility, economic class, childhood etc.

Spring 1:

  • Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare: Themes of love, hatred, power, conflect. Deeper interrogation of Elizabethan context and classical tragedy form.

Spring 2:

  • Complete Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

Summer 1:

  • GCSE Language Paper 1: Extracts from dystopian fiction for comprehension and analysis; descriptive writing from image.

Summer 2:

  • GCSE Literature: Power and Confliect Poetry Cluster - Themes of identity, war, psychological conflict, emotional conflict, and relationships.
  • Comparison skills.
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