English
Curriculum Intent Statement
We all think and communicate using the English language, and in many respects language controls our engagement with the world.
English at Clyst Vale focusses on creating enthusiastic and flexible communicators who can create and understand messages and their multiple layers of effect. We will read and write for pleasure, to engage with the modern world and in order to connect with writers’ experiences from the past. By mastering English our learners can share and shape the world around them.
Our KS3 curriculum focuses on the mastery of clearly specified objectives which are pursued until they are achieved through continued practice and consolidation. Key concepts are explored in depth to allow our learners the time and focus to truly grasp skills and employ them independently. KS3 also uses a spiral curriculum model as students will revisit the same concepts throughout the key stage, with each encounter increasing in complexity and reinforcing previous learning. Those who do not reach the required levels will be provided with additional tuition, peer support, small group discussions, or homework to enable their progression.
The overarching KS3 concepts for English at CVCC are:
- Comprehension – reading a range of fiction and non-fiction texts accurately.
- Understanding a range of reasons why people write – be able to draw connections between a writer’s purpose, personal experience and their message.
- Understanding how a writer makes a series of crafting choices when they write and be able to use crafting choices within a learner’s own writing.
- Understanding the effects of language – be able to explore how writers manipulate the effects and subtle messages created through their choice of words and use of literary techniques.
- Clear and confident communication – write and talk accurately using a range of vocabulary, punctuation and structures to create desired effects. Understanding how purpose, audience and form impact on communication choices.
- Exploring the world – through reading and writing about a wide range of texts to develop an appreciation for the people, places and experiences of our world. Enhancing cultural capital.
Our KS4 curriculum builds on the conceptual understanding fostered in KS3 and once again revisits learning skills over the 20 months of study. Students will be encouraged to see the cross-over of skills between GCSE literature and language and understand that assessment objectives are examined recursively across the two courses.
Proficiency in English is a key factor in our learners’ ability to successfully control their lives when they leave us. It is our duty to ensure that they understand how vital it is to their future economic and social wellbeing.
Your ability to use and to interpret language has a direct influence on your ability to control your life.
Developing the perceptiveness and sophistication of reading skills, and nurturing the range and command of spoken and written English, are the key aims of the English Department at Clyst Vale. The teachers in the Department endeavour to deliver lessons in a creative and engaging way for all students whatever their ability. We aim to pass on our passion for English and we hope that it will continue into adulthood for our students.
Throughout their time with the English Department, students will be expected to read regularly across a broad range of texts and genres.
In Year 7 and 8 the focus is placed on improving the technical accuracy of writing, developing a critical vocabulary that enables students to explore how writers achieve particular effects, and on encouraging them to become more self-aware and mature as creative writers.
In Y9 students are encouraged to develop skills that will be required at GCSE. They will analyse a variety of literary and non-literary texts and craft relevant responses to them. Establishing these foundations in Y9 enables students to make a smooth transition to GCSE in Y10 and 11. All students are taught English up to the end of Year 11.
Students may choose to study English at A Level, and there is a good blend of those who will continue studying English at university and those specialising in other subjects who recognise the importance of refining their analytical skills and the precision of their expression. Those who study English at Post 16 find it richly rewarding to read more challenging texts and to approach these from different theoretical perspectives. Throughout the two year course students are taught to think conceptually about texts, theories and the relationships between them.
There are many opportunities for students to enhance their study of English whilst at Clyst Vale. These include trips to the theatre, drama workshops, visits from writers, BBC School Report, public speaking and the College Newspaper.
Read 2 Learn
Read 2 Learn is 
a course run for year 7 with the aim of instilling a real passion for literature.
Teachers of the course come from many different departments across the school and bring their love of reading to their teaching. The course begins with a library induction and each teaching group is timetabled to visit the library for one lesson every fortnight. All students read ‘Wonder’ by R.J.Palacio in the first half term using a differentiated scheme of work, as groups are broadly set at the start of year 7 and then reset at half term into clear ability groups, based on ability data from primary schools, a National Reading Test, and teacher assessment. They then can read challenging but ability and age-appropriate fiction, chosen by their teachers from a wide-ranging stock of great reads. Texts that are available to Read to Learn classes include Silverfin (Charlie Higson), Trash (Andy Mulligan), Kensuke’s Kingdom (Michael Morpurgo), Millions (Roddy Doyle)…and many more!
Read to Learn is also an opportunity to support Literacy across the curriculum. Teachers mark written pieces such as book reviews, diary entries and plot summaries according to an adapted top sheet from the English department. This focuses on the students’ ability to use vocabulary, sentence types and grammar structures in an interesting and correct way. In order to support Literacy, the Read to Learn team pilot Literacy initiatives before they are ‘rolled out’ across departments, and are currently working on a spelling strategy that will be evaluated and shared with the whole staff once the pilot is complete.
All of year 7 take part in ‘Readathon’ as part of the Read to Learn course from October half term until Christmas; a sponsored reading scheme raising money for cancer charities. This has been a great success and a real incentive to read, and in our first two years we have raised over £600 through this scheme.
KS3 Curriculum Plan
Please use the link below to view the KS3 Curriculum Plan
Assessment Objectives:
English Language GCSE:
Reading
A01: Identify and interpret explicit and implicit information and ideas. Select and synthesise evidence from different texts
A02: Explain, comment on and analyse how writers use language and structure to achieve effects and influence readers, using relevant subject terminology to support their views
A03: Compare writers’ ideas and perspectives, as well as how these are conveyed, across two or more texts
A04: Evaluate texts critically and support this with appropriate textual references
Writing
A05: Communicate clearly, effectively and imaginatively, selecting and adapting tone, style and register for different forms, purposes and audiences. Organise information and ideas, using structural and grammatical features to support coherence and cohesion of texts
AO6: Candidates must use a range of vocabulary and sentence structures for clarity, purpose and effect, with accurate spelling and punctuation.
English Literature GCSE:
AO1: Read, understand and respond to texts. Students should be able to: maintain a critical style and develop an informed personal response. Use textual references, including quotations, to support and illustrate interpretations
AO2 Analyse the language, form and structure used by a writer to create meanings and effects, using relevant subject terminology where appropriate
AO3 Show understanding of the relationships between texts and the contexts in which they were written
AO4 Use a range of vocabulary and sentence structures for clarity, purpose and effect, with accurate spelling and punctuation
KS3 Reading List
Recent Releases
Samantha Alexander – Racing Start
David Almond – Counting Stars
Neil Arskey – Playing on the Edge
Malorie Blackman – Dangerous Reality
Lauren Brooke – Heartland
Meg Cabot – The Princess Diaries
Eoin Colfer – Artemis Fowl
Trevor Colgan – The Stretford Enders
Susan Cooper – King of Shadows
Gillian Cross – Tightrope
Jamila Gavin – The Track of the Wind
Adele Geras – Watching the Roses
Anna Halam – Dr Franklin’s Island
Frances Mary Hendry – Chains
Kevin Crossley Holland – At the Crossing Places
Anthony Horrowitz – Point Blanc
Catherine Macphail – Bad Company
Sue Mayfield – Blue
Margaret McAllister – Ghost at the Window
Ishbel Moore – Daughter
Philip Pullman – The Amber Spyglass
Celia Rees – The Witch Child
Louis Sachar – Holes
Marcus Sedgwick – Witch Hill
Paul Shipton – The Man Who Was Hate
Suzanne Staples – Shiva’s Fire
Robert Westall – The Stones of Muncaster Cathedral
Benjamin Zephania – Refugee Boy
Have you considered Audio Books?
J K Rowling – Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
David Almond – Heaven Eyes
Kevin Crossley Holland – The Seeing Stone
Alex Rider series – Anthony Horowitz
Award Winners
David Almond – Skellig
Rachel Anderson – Paper Faces
Malorie Blackman – Hacker
Tim Bowler – Shadows
Gillian Cross – Wolf
Berlie Doherty – Dear Nobody
Anne Fine – Flour Babies
Frances Mary Henry – Chandra
Philip Pullman – The Amber Spyglass
Robert Swindells – Stone Cold
Sue Welford- The Night After Tomorrow
By Royal Command – Charlie Higson
Old Favourites
Louisa M Alcott – Little Women
Charles Dickens – A Christmas Carol
Ann Holm – I am David
Laurie Lee – Cider With Rosie
Arthur Ransome – Swallows and Amazons
J.R.R.Tolkein – The Hobbit
Sue Townsend – The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole
Key Stage 3 Classics
Jane Austen – Pride and Prejudice
Charlotte Bronte – Jane Eyre
Charles Dickens – Great Expectations
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle – The Hound of the Baskervilles
William Golding – Lord of the Flies
Ernest Hemingway – The Old Man and the Sea
Robert Louis Stevenson – Treasure Island
Jonathan Swift – Gulliver’s Travels
H.G. Wells – The Time Machine
Lord of the Flies – William Golding
Easy Reads
Ros Asquith – The Teenage Worrier’s Panick Diary
Stephen Elboz – Ghostlands
Leon Garfield – Mr Corbett’s Ghost
Adrian Henri – Spooky Poems
Knife & Packer – Teachers: The Naked Truth
Dav Pilkey – The Captain Underpants Extra Crunchy Book of Fun
Jacqueline Wilson – The Dare Game
Dianna Wynne Jones – Howl’s Moving Castle
Film & TV Books
Gillian Cross – The Revenge of the Demon Headmaster
Phillipa Pearce -_Tom’s Midnight Garden
Paul Ruditis – Sabrina, The Teenage Witch
Who Wants to be a Millionaire? (Junior Challenge)
Making Robot Warriors From Junk
Planet of the Apes
Here Be Monsters – (Buffy. The Vampire Slayer)
Non-Fiction
David Burnie – The Kingfisher Illustrated Animal Encyclopaedia
Terry Deary – Horrible Christmas (Horrible Histories)
Neil Grant – The Oxford History of the World
Eileen O’Brien – Internet Linked Introduction to Music
Chris Powling – The Book About Books
Lesley Sims – A Visitor’s Guide to Ancient Rome
Space: Earth: Bugs (Marshall Minis)
Touching the Void Joe Simpson
Multicultural Books
John Agard – Get Back Pimple
Lynne Reid Banks – One More River
Rosa Guy – The Friends
Bette Greene – Summer of My German Soldier
Esther Hautzig – The Endless Steppe
Beverley Naidoo – No Turning Back
Morton Rhue – The Wave
Hans Pieter Richter – Friedrich
Barbara C. Smucker – Underground to Canada
Robert Swindells – Smash
Mildred Taylor – The Road to Memphis
James Watson – Ticket to Prague
KS4 Curriculum
| English Language | English Literature | ||
| Sets 1 – 7 | English Language GCSE 9 – 1
Exam Board Edexcel |
Sets 1 – 6
|
English Literature GCSE 9 – 1
Exam Board Edexcel |
| Set 8 | Entry level certificate in English
Exam Board AQA |
||
Presentation on new Language and Literature GCSE courses
KS4 Reading List
To enhance students vocabulary and engagement with the written word, we have created a list of books that may be suitable for wider reading at KS4
This is a list of texts that have been influential to a number of teachers at school- male and female.
The Rachel Papers – Martin Amis (Fiction)
Mother Tongue – Bill Bryson (Non-Fiction)
A Brief History of Britain – Andrew Marr (Non-Fiction)
1984- George Orwell (Fiction)
Wild Swans- Jung Chang (Fiction)
Chaos- (About Chaos Theory) -James Gleick (Non-Fiction)
Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency (Fiction)
Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy- Douglas Adams (Fiction)
The Time Traveller’s Wife- Audrey Niffeneger (Fiction)
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night- Mark Haddon (Fiction)
Catch 22 – Joseph Heller (Fiction)
To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee (Fiction)
The Catcher in the Rye – J D Salinger (Fiction)
Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad (Fiction)
Long Walk to Freedom- Nelson Mandela (Non-Fiction, autobiography)
Roots – Alex Haley (Fiction)
The Bookseller of Kabul- Asne Seierstad (Fiction)
Dreams from my Father -Barack Obama (Non-Fiction, autobiography)
Of Mice and Men- John Steinbeck (Fiction)
The Book Thief -Markus Zusak (Fiction)
Birdsong-Sebastian Faulks (Fiction)
Sophie’s World- Jostein Gaarder (Fiction)
Lord of the Rings – JRR Tolkein (Fiction)
The Belgariad – David Eddings (Fiction – 10 books in series)
The Colour Purple- Alice Walker (Fiction)
A Streetcar Named Desire- Tennessee Williams (Fiction)
The Lovely Bones- Alice Seabold (Fiction)
Eat, pray, love- Elizabeth Gilbert (Fiction)
Prime of Miss Jean Brodie- Muriel Spark (Fiction)
Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen (Fiction)
Frankenstein- Mary Shelley (Fiction)
The Other Hand- Chris Cleve (Fiction)
Never Let Me Go- Kazuo Ishiguro (Fiction)
The First 15 Lives of Harry August- Claire North (Fiction)
Moriarty- Anthony Horowitz (Fiction)
KS5 Curriculum
AQA A Level English Literature spec A
The new A Level consists of three units delivered over two years:
Love through the Ages
40% of A-Level
3 hour examination (3 essays)
This focusses on three texts; Shakespeare, poetry and prose and will involve comparative analysis.
Texts in Shared Contexts
40% of A-Level
2.5 hour examination (2 essays and one critical analysis of an unseen text)
This is the study of 3 texts; prose, poetry and drama from pre 1900 and post 2000.
Independent Critical Study: Texts across Time
20% of A-Level
Coursework
This is comprised of two components:
A comparative critical analysis of two texts (one of which must be pre 1900)
An extended essay and bibliography
Typical texts on offer in the course would be:
| Drama | Poetry | Prose |
| Othello* | Up the Line of Death | Regeneration |
| A Doll’s House* | Scars upon My Heart | Wuthering Heights |
| A Streetcar Named Desire | Feminine Gospels* | Birdsong |
| Oh! What a Lovely War | AQA post 1900 Anthology | Atonement |
| Top Girls | Remember | Jane Eyre* |
| Journey’s End | Ae Fond Kiss | The Great Gatsby |
| The Taming of the Shrew | Sonnet 116 | The Handmaid’s Tale |
| The Winter’s Tale | To His Coy Mistress | The Color Purple |
| The Help* | ||
| Yellow Wallpaper* |
*current choices
