English

Our overriding aim in the English department is to instil a love and thoughtful appreciation of both reading and writing.

We achieve this ambition by offering our students a range of texts of the finest literary merit. With our team of subject specialists, we will provide our readers with access to the best writing, both fiction and non-fiction, across a range of genres, time- periods and contexts.

In order to provide an inspiring range of texts, we will continue to revise annually our schemes of work, responding to teacher and student feedback and introducing new texts to the flexible curriculum which we feel will build and develop the students’ prior learning and experiences, whilst remaining both accessible and suitably challenging for all our pupils, whatever their ability.

We shall read the same literary texts across our ability range, in both Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4, to foster equality of provision and opportunity. Our experienced teachers will continuously adapt the lesson plans to differentiate and meet individual needs, ensuring that all our pupils feel valued, supported and engaged.

Although we value a whole-text approach, which we believe provides our students with a memorable experience of literature, just as the writers intended, we also appreciate expanding our students’ knowledge of literature by offering them a wider field of reading by supplementing our chosen class texts with a range of stimulating and complementary extracts. We believe that our students benefit from our carefully planned progression through our curriculum with knowledge and skills clearly defined and interwoven into everyday learning.

We are incredibly proud of our local landscape and the rich literary heritage. To inspire our would-be writers, our Year 8 scheme, entitled Literature and Landscape, introduces our pupils to a range of Romantic poetry and contemporary prose extracts. Study of the poetry of Wordsworth, the diary extracts of Dorothy Wordsworth, travel literature and autobiographical writing from modern -day local authors like James Rebanks provide a beautiful and provocative range of study material.

We are aware of our geographical isolation from major cities and the wonderful variety of cultures in our metropolis. To introduce our students to the diversity of contemporary Great Britain, and the issues and concepts surrounding many young people, we have introduced fiction which sensitively introduces our pupils to contemporary life, such as The White Giraffe by Lauren St. John and In the Sea there are Crocodiles by Fabio Geda.

Our love of Shakespeare is infectious within the department and to this end, we have chosen to study a separate Shakespeare play in each of our Key Stage 3 years, culminating at the end of Year 7, with our established Shakespeare by Heart competition. We believe that this regular engagement with the drama of Shakespeare, prepares our students for the extended and analytical study of Macbeth in Year 10.

Our pupils are our best ambassadors and we aspire to create the very best communicators, readers, writers and thinkers.

Key Stage 3 English

Key Stage 3 English Curriculum Map

GCSE English Language

GCSE English Literature

GCSE English Lanuage & Literature Curriculum Map

A Level English Language

A Level English Language Curriculum Map

A Level English Literature

A Level English Literature Curriculum Map

Advice for Parents

Enrichment & Extra-curricular Opportunities

 

Get in touch.

Vicarage Hill
Keswick
Cumbria
CA12 5QB



017687 72605
admin@keswick.cumbria.sch.uk