• To develop and enhance pupils’ reading, writing and communication skills.
• To arouse an interest and enthusiasm for literary texts from the pupil’s own and other cultures.
• To encourage good spelling, the accurate application of rules of grammar and well structured writing in continuous prose.
• To develop oral communication skills that will facilitate informed discussion as part of a group, and that will enable logical argument and debate on a variety of issues.
• To promote an understanding of the link between writer and audience.
• To encourage an understanding of our cultural heritage through an appreciation of changing language as well as literature of the Past.
• To encourage an understanding of our society and cultural roots in all its diversity, thus giving a sense of identity and an appreciation of a multicultural background.
• To develop an appreciation of literature as it has developed through the ages.
• To develop qualities of self-discipline, confidence and independence gained through the ability to express thought and feeling clearly and logically while understanding a reasoned argument that might challenge previous convictions.
• To encourage the use of libraries as resource centres as well as places of recreation.
• Above all we hope that pupils will …

GCSE ENGLISH

AQA (SEG) Syllabus Number 3701 (B)

This is a two year course which works in conjunction with the English Literature course. It involves oral and written skills.

Coursework will be undertaken throughout the two years and contributes to 40% of the final result. The coursework components are Speaking and Listening Skills (20%) and Written Skills (20%).

Four pieces of written work must be submitted in the coursework folder. These are as follows:

1. Personal writing - explore, imagine, entertain

2. Personal writing - inform, explain, describe

Written responses to:

3. A Shakespeare Play

4. Prose

The Written Examination accounts for 60% of the final result.
There will be two papers.

Paper 1 - 30% of marks. Time 1 hour 40 minutes
Written Paper: Foundation and Higher Tier
Section A
One question testing reading and response to pre-released media texts and one question testing reading and response to an unseen non-fictional text. (15%)
Section B
One question testing writing in response to the 'triplet' argue, persuade, advise.
(15%)
Paper 2 - 30% of marks. Time 1 hour 30 minutes
Written Paper: Foundation and Higher Tier
Section A
One question testing reading and response to pre-released and unseen poetry from different cultures. (15%)
Section B
One question testing writing in response to the 'triplet', analyse, review, comment.
(15%)

GCSE ENGLISH LITERATURE

AQA Syllabus Number 3711

This is a two year course which works in conjunction with the English course.

Coursework will be undertaken throughout the two years and contributes to 30% of the final result.

Three pieces of work must be submitted which include one response to drama, one response to poetry and one response to prose.

Coursework texts will be different from those studied for the examination. One of the three pieces must demonstrate an understanding of literary tradition. A different piece must show appreciation of social and historical influences and cultural contexts. One of the three pieces must explore relationships/comparisons between texts.

The Written Examination accounts for 70% of the final result. One drama, one poetry and one prose text will be studied. Examination texts will be different from those studied for coursework. Candidates may take copies of the texts studied into the examination. From 2005, these texts must be clean/unannotated. There will be one paper, 2 hours 15 minutes in length, including reading time. Examination questions require analysis and evaluation of texts and one question on each text refers to a particular section of the text.

ENGLISH LANGUAGE - FORM I

TERM 1
Story telling and creation myths
Science fiction writing
Fantasy
Nouns and punctuation
Poetry, stories, pictures, sounds, patterns and poetic techniques
Nouns, verbs and adverbs

TERM 2
Plays, play script, reading and performing a script
Stage sets
Shakespeare and stage directions
Accents
Apostrophes
Direct speech
Editing

TERM 3
Reading habits
Reading and writing instructions
Informative writing
Persuasive writing
Writing a leaflet
Media texts
Autobiographies
Dialect and Standard English
Sentences and paragraphs
Adjectives and adverbs

ENGLISH LANGUAGE - FORM II

TERM 1
Poetry, limericks, ballads, riddles, shapes, haiku, sounds and poetic techniques
Verbs
Synonyms
Old English
Diaries
Letters
Reports
Settings and atmosphere of texts
Horror stories
Non-standard English and dialect
Direct and reported speech
Nouns

TERM 2
Media texts
Magazine articles
Non-fiction texts
Handwriting
TV commercials
Travel writing
Letters
Adjectives and adverbs
Sentences
Video reviews
Summarising and note-taking

TERM 3
Greek theatre and play script
Plays and the Bible
Mystery plays
History plays
Shakespeare's theatre
Medieval English
Prefixes, dialogue and reported speech

ENGLISH LANGUAGE - FORM III

TERM 1
Poetry, revision of metaphors and personification
Poetry, images, feelings, stories, sound and shape
Imperatives
Articles and Demonstratives
Suffixes
Biographical writing
Radio Commercials and radio script
Conjunctions, parenthesis, hyphens, colons and semi-colons

TERM 2
Surveys and spreadsheets
Letter Writing
Suspense in plays
Screen plays
Film script
Radio plays
Quotation marks
Shakespearian verse

TERM 3
Different cultures
The Short Story
The Mini Saga
Sentences, clauses and phrases
Active and passive voice
Multi media texts
Crime Stories

ENGLISH LITERATURE - FORM I

TERM I
Island of the Blue Dolphins, S.O'Dell
Village by the Sea, A. Desai

TERM 2
Walkabout, J. Vance Marshall

TERM 3
Poetry
Wheels, C. MacPhail

ENGLISH LITERATURE - FORM II

TERM 1
Goodnight Mr Tom, M. Magorian

TERM 2
My Family and Other Animals, G. Durrell

TERM 3
A Midsummer Night's Dream, W. Shakespeare
Narrative poetry

ENGLISH LITERATURE - FORM III

TERM 1
Twelfth Night, W. Shakespeare
Pygmalion, G.B. Shaw

TERM 2
War Poems, ed. Christopher Martin

TERM 3
To Kill a Mockingbird, H. Lee

GCSE SYLLABUS

TERM 1
Lord of the Flies, W. Golding
An Inspector Calls, J.B. Priestley

TERM 2
Romeo and Juliet, W. Shakespeare

TERM 3
Persuasion, J. Austen

TERM 4
Best Words, Pre 1900 Poets

TERM 5
Best Words, Post 1900 Poets