English
The English Curriculum at SVHS meets, and in some cases exceeds, the requirements as set out in the National Curriculum for English.
Our aim is to deliver a curriculum which is knowledge rich, and has been developed with an understanding that knowledge and skills are interlinked. This broad, and deep, curriculum is designed to bring meaning to the world around our students and to develop our students as thinking human beings, who empathise with the people around them.
At the centre of our curriculum is communication: through a strong focus on oracy, our students will be given the knowledge and skills to become great speakers, so that they can express themselves effectively and therefore ‘stand shoulder to shoulder’ with all in society. Our focus on literacy, and on reading high quality texts, will enable students to effectively interpret the world around them, along with inspiring an enjoyment of reading for pleasure. Students will also develop the knowledge and skills to write effectively for a range of different purposes, including for real world contexts. Students will also be taught to write accurately and fluently, enabled by a secure understanding of spelling, punctuation and grammar.
In order to develop the cultural capital of our students, they will read and study a wide range of fiction and non-fiction texts, in depth, including the Literary canon and contemporary works of prose, drama and poetry. Students will study examples of the best that has been written in Literature, taught in context to deepen the understanding of the reasons for, and impact of, great Literature. This will encourage students to become courageous enough to decode and analyse unfamiliar texts. This development of cultural capital will be supported by further enrichment opportunities offered to our students, such as theatre trips.
The curriculum is also designed so that students are building on their knowledge from year to year, and are revisiting this knowledge so that it becomes part of their long- term memory. Alongside this, the skills the students learn will develop in sophistication as they progress through the curriculum. This will prepare students for their GCSE examinations, but also for study and life beyond GCSE.
Excellence Statement
An excellent student in English will be a passionate reader who has a genuine love for literature in order to appreciate the complex structure of a wide range of texts from across five centuries. This student will be able to sustain a convincing conceptualised response to both implicit and explicit meanings of an extensive range of challenging texts – including unseen texts. Being able to generate and illustrate perceptive opinions on sophisticated themes and ideas is not only key to creating influential and inspirational texts, but also allows young people to be able to have an informed individual perspective and be able to interrogate world issues that are communicated across a range of media. An excellent student will acquire and craft ambitious and original vocabulary to meet the needs of a competitive world, whilst maintaining the highest level of technical accuracy, as they creatively adapt writing styles and tones for a range of purposes and audiences. This will enable them to confidently articulate their views and opinions through written and spoken word, allowing them to communicate professionally in future careers.
Qualification and Revision Websites
AQA GCSE English Language
AQA GCSE English Literature