What are the aims and purpose of our curriculum?

With this curriculum, we aim to develop confident, articulate and accurate readers, writers and speakers. Pupils read a diverse range of increasingly complex and deep texts, write for a wide range of purposes with technical accuracy, and have multiple opportunities to develop their spoken language capabilities.

What overarching curriculum principles inform the design of our curriculum?

Our ‘knowledge and vocabulary rich’ principle acknowledges the important role that knowledge, and vocabulary as a particularly important type of knowledge, plays in learning. We map vocabulary across the curriculum, introduce it at the most appropriate moment and review it where necessary. New vocabulary, called key words, are signalled in bold in our lessons to indicate their importance. We use keywords to teach the most important new vocabulary, but other new vocabulary is defined or glossed as they appear. We have partnered with Mrs Wordsmith to develop pupils’ narrative vocabulary. Our curriculum complements teaching pupils the knowledge they need to understand a text or topic with the space to develop their own ideas about the text or topic.

A careful and purposeful sequencing of our curriculum content underpins the design of our curriculum, ensuring that pupils are able to build on and make links with existing knowledge. Concepts are mapped across year 1 to year 11, ensuring coherence and allowing for their incremental development over time. Units often include links to different domains or topics within English, allowing for retrieval of previously taught content and demonstrating how closely linked different ideas can be. For example, technical writing developed in key stages 1 and 2 underpins writing in the secondary curriculum, but is subtly revisited and extended to meet the demands of the new year groups. Similarly, in the key stage 4 unit ‘Leave Taking’, learning draws on conceptual understanding of identity and belonging that has been taught across primary and secondary.

Our evidence-informed approach enables the rigorous application of research outcomes, science of learning and impactful best practice both in education in general and at a subject specific level. For example, the design of our resources reflects findings from Sweller’s cognitive load theory and Mayer’s principles of multimedia learning whilst our lesson design draws on Rosenshine’s [rinciples of instruction. We also draw on findings from research organisations such as the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF). At the subject level, we have drawn on ‘The Simple View of Reading’ and ‘The Simple View of Writing’ to structure how we develop the different domains of reading and writing from primary to secondary, and build expertise on top of strong technical foundations.

Our flexible approach helps schools use our resources in a way that suits their context and meets their different needs. Our curriculum can be used in its entirety or units can be selected to complement existing curricula. For instance, our ‘appreciation of poetry’ thread can be taken, adapted and implemented to provide a coherent set of poetry units in your curriculum. Our primary curriculum is carefully organised by domain so schools can use only single domains, such as handwriting, whilst continuing to use the rest of their own school curriculum. Our curriculum often provides different options so that schools and teachers can decide what knowledge is best for their pupils, for example when teaching about non-chronological reports in year 3, teachers can choose between the contexts of King Tut or Healthy Lifestyle - or teach through both. Our resources are adaptable so that, for example, teachers can easily replace models with their own live modelling, can edit or add checks for understanding, or adapt practice tasks to better reflect the prior knowledge of their pupils. At key stage 4 teachers and pupils can select a pathway aligned to the most frequently used exam board specifications for GCSE English Literature: AQA, Edexcel or Eduqas.

Our commitment to breadth and diversity can be seen in our choice of texts and authors. We are committed to showcasing incredible writing by the widest possible range of diverse authors. At primary, pupils study writers such as Joseph Coelho, John Lyons, Valerie Bloom and Ibtihaj Muhammad, as well as reading books on a wide range of cultures. At secondary, we offer GCSE Literature units on diverse texts including comprehensive resources on Winsome Pinnock’s ‘Leave Taking’ and the new diverse poetry anthologies from AQA and Edexcel, ‘World and Lives’ and ‘Belonging’. At key stage 4 teachers and pupils can select a pathway aligned to the most frequently used exam board specifications for GCSE English Literature: AQA, Edexcel or Eduqas.

Our curriculum is intentionally designed to facilitate high-quality teaching as a powerful lever to support pupils with SEND. Aligned with EEF guidance, our resources have a focus on clear explanations, modelling and frequent checks for understanding, with guided and independent practice. Lessons are chunked into learning cycles and redundant images and information is minimised and the narrative that accompanies stories and explanations are contained in a separate document, rather than on slides to manage cognitive load. We have removed reference to year groups in our resources so that they can be used when pupils are ready, regardless of their age. Our resources are purposefully created to be accessible, for example by using accessible fonts, colours with good contrast, and captions in our videos. In the core English domains such as handwriting, spelling and grammar, we focus on securing small steps to help all pupils build their confidence and accuracy in writing.

What subject specific principles inform the design of our curriculum?

Pupils regularly read a range of text types as a group and independently, have frequent opportunities to develop personal responses to texts, and build their background knowledge, tier 2 vocabulary and fluency to support comprehension.

Our lessons support the development of reading competence and independence. We use our lessons to ensure pupils have the background knowledge and vocabulary they need to access a text, and we give pupils the space, structure and support to develop their own ideas in response to a text. Throughout the reading and explanation sections of lessons, there are frequent discussion points to help pupils form and refine their ideas.

Writing for a range of purposes, expressing creativity and building writing stamina are developed alongside a deep understanding of grammar, sentence construction, disciplinary writing and underlying spelling patterns.

Our writing curriculum explicitly teaches pupils the grammar knowledge, handwriting competence and spelling rules to make them confident and accurate technical writers. This reduces cognitive load so pupils are able to write with more creativity and freedom. Building technical competence is paired with frequent writing practice throughout the curriculum, but the balance between them shifts over time. We prioritise opportunities for pupils to write with freedom so they develop their writing personality.

Frequent opportunities to develop the components of spoken language are included throughout the curriculum, and each lesson gives pupils multiple opportunities to talk and express their opinion.

Speaking is at the heart of our curriculum. There are opportunities for pupils to express their views and develop their ideas through talk. Throughout all domains, there are tasks with spoken language outcomes. We have deliberately moved away from a model where the final task in an English lesson is always a writing task. We also have a ‘developing spoken language’ domain that includes lessons and units on debate, presentations and performance to help build pupils’ competence and confidence.

Text choice represents a diverse range of voices, backgrounds and cultures so the curriculum provides windows and mirrors to all pupils.

We have included writers and books from a diverse range of cultures and backgrounds, and deliberately chosen GCSE text options that focus on under-represented groups. From year 1 to year 11, our curriculum includes texts that will be windows for some pupils and mirrors for other pupils.

There is a single pathway through the resources that is ambitious for all pupils by offering a low floor and high ceiling in each lesson.

We do not split our resources into different ability groupings. Instead, all pupils can follow the same pathway through the curriculum no matter what their starting point is. We have carefully written questions and designed tasks to ensure it is possible for all pupils to attempt them. We expect teachers to adapt the lessons: support and scaffolding can be added or removed depending on the needs of pupils in the context.

How does our curriculum reflect the aims & purpose of the national curriculum?

There are seven aims of the English national curriculum. First, pupils need to ‘read easily, fluently and with good understanding’. Reading high-quality texts is the cornerstone of our curriculum, and throughout our lessons pupils practise reading to develop their fluency and understanding. As the curriculum develops, pupils read increasingly challenging texts and think about them in more complex ways.

Next, pupils should ‘develop the habit of reading widely and often, for both pleasure and information’. Our curriculum encourages broad reading habits. In our primary ‘developing reading preferences’ and ‘book club’ units, pupils explore their reading habits and look at different recommended texts based on genre preferences. At secondary, pupils read a wide range of text extracts during key stage 4 English language units: units such as ‘Read around the world’ and ‘Books that changed my world’ are explicitly designed to build pupils' reading culture and awareness so they read more for pleasure.

Thirdly, pupils need to ‘acquire a wide vocabulary, an understanding of grammar and knowledge of linguistic conventions for reading, writing and spoken language’. Keywords are listed at the beginning of all lessons, and are then repeated throughout the lesson to ensure important vocabulary is embedded. We also have a ‘vocabulary’ thread at primary to group the units that are only focused on vocabulary development. Similarly, grammar teaching is a key feature of the entire curriculum: at primary, we have units that teach grammar discreetly; at secondary, explicit grammar instruction is embedded within wider writing units. Across our curriculum, pupils also study units focused purely on reading or spoken language, and during these units they develop their understanding of the corresponding linguistic conventions.

Pupils also need to ‘appreciate our rich and varied literary heritage’. Our curriculum covers a broad range of classic texts from across our literary heritage, teaching five Shakespeare plays, learning about multiple romantic poets, and reading classic Victorian stories such as ‘Sherlock Holmes’ and ‘A Christmas Carol’. Our curriculum also includes modern examples of our rich and varied literary heritage, such as Andrea Levy’s ‘Small Island’, Elle McNicoll’s ‘A Kind of Spark’, Drew Daywalt’s ‘The Day the Crayons Quit’ and Winsome Pinnock’s ‘Leave Taking’.

Next, pupils need to ‘write clearly, accurately and coherently, adapting their language and style in and for a range of contexts, purposes and audiences’. Pupils start developing their confidence in this in primary, and then become increasingly confident with it as they move through secondary. We prioritise pupils developing their writing clarity and accuracy so they can later adapt it for different contexts. At primary, pupils study grammar, handwriting and spelling in discrete units and threads so that they have a strong foundation of clarity and accuracy. Pupils also study units in areas such as non-chronological reports and speech writing to help them build their writing agency and vary their writing for different contexts.

Pupils also need to ‘use discussion in order to learn; they should be able to elaborate and explain clearly their understanding and ideas’. Discussion is embedded throughout the curriculum and lessons: we use a discussion symbol to indicate key opportunities for discussion in lessons, and we have included a high percentage of tasks that have spoken outcomes. Outside of its role in all lessons, we have a ‘developing spoken language’ thread to help build pupils’ accuracy and confidence in spoken language: at primary, we have at least two dedicated spoken language units per year group; at secondary, we have at least one.

Finally, the curriculum needs to ensure pupils ‘are competent in the arts of speaking and listening, making formal presentations, demonstrating to others and participating in debate.’ This aim is covered extensively in the ‘developing spoken language’ thread mentioned above, as well as in other parts of the curriculum. From primary onwards, pupils learn the foundations of speaking and listening, before being introduced to presentation skills as well as debate. These are then picked up again in secondary as pupils practise more formal debate conventions and develop all the skills needed to give confident presentations.

What teaching time does our curriculum require?

Our curricula for key stages 1-3 are designed for 36 weeks of curriculum time across the school year which leaves time for other activities both within and beyond the curriculum such as assessments or school trips. At key stage 4, year 10 also has 36 weeks of curriculum time, but year 11 has only 26 weeks (approximately 2 terms) to recognise that schools will not be teaching new content in the run up to the GCSE exams.

In our primary English curriculum for key stages 1-2, the number of lessons we provide per year varies due to the changing nature of the subject. In year 1, we provide around 4 lessons per week to allow time for your phonics programme. This increases to over 6 lessons per week in year 2, and over 7 lessons per week in years 3 to 6. Our resources are designed to be taught by domain, so separate time in your timetable needs to be set aside for grammar, spelling, handwriting and reading, writing and oracy lessons. The set up of each class is different, so we recommend adapting the curriculum to fit into the shape of your class or school cadence.

In our secondary English curriculum we provide four lessons per week in key stage 3, and five lessons per week in key stage 4. In key stage 4, our curriculum has been designed to teach three lessons of English Literature per week and two lessons of English Language per week. We recommend teaching one fiction and one non-fiction English Language lesson per week. However, the curriculum can also be taught with consecutive units of English Literature and English Language. We think schools are in the best place to make informed decisions about what works for their particular context.

We use threads to signpost groups of units that are linked around a particular topic or concept. We use the term thread, rather than vertical concepts, themes or big ideas, because it helps us to bring to mind the visual concept of a thread weaving through the curriculum.

Modern literature strand 1: identity, belonging and community

Modern literature strand 2: power, control and oppressive regimes

Our threads help teachers navigate our English curriculum by identifying and mapping important concepts in English teaching. At primary, we have threads for the domains of handwriting, spoken language, vocabulary, spelling and grammar. Knowledge and skills within reading and writing are broken down into narrower threads, such as ‘Traditional tales’ and ‘Reading and writing texts that inform’.

At secondary, our threads are selected to indicate connections by period, concept or theme. This includes threads such as ‘Exploring the gothic’ and ‘Shakespeare and the outsider’. ‘Modern Literature strand 1’ and ‘Modern Literature strand 2’ are two threads that link to GCSE outcomes.

Some threads are phase specific whilst others span primary and secondary. Domain threads tend to be primary only because the isolated teaching of grammar, spelling and handwriting normally concludes in primary school. Our ‘Developing spoken language’ thread for example, weaves across primary and secondary, mapping how pupils gain increasing knowledge and skill over both phases.

Recommendations from subject specific reports

How does the curriculum address and enact recommendations from subject specific reports (e.g. EEF guidance reports & Ofsted Research Review)?

Recent EEF guidance and the Ofsted subject report for English have advocated the importance of explicitly teaching and extensively practising the building blocks of literacy to ensure pupils have the working memory capacity to focus on fluency and creative ideas in their reading and writing. Our curriculum fully embodies these recommendations by providing comprehensive grammar, spelling and handwriting resources. We also break complex written tasks down into manageable small steps that can be taught, practised and learnt so that pupils are able to focus their working memory on writing creative original ideas fluently.For example, in the year 3 unit ‘The Man on the Moon: narrative writing’, pupils develop their narrative writing by mastering each part of the narrative journey in isolation: pupils spend multiple lessons on opening, build-up, climax and resolution writing so that they develop a more coherent understanding of the key elements of narrative writing.

How does the curriculum deal with elements that arise from the specific needs of the subject?

How do our primary and secondary English curricula differ?

Despite a number of important similarities, primary and secondary English differ significantly in emphasis. At primary, pupils' learning is organised across the domains of handwriting, spelling, grammar, vocabulary, and reading, writing and oracy. At secondary, all these domains are combined because while at primary pupils are still building their word-reading and transcription skills, at secondary it is presumed that the majority of pupils have developed these competencies.

How did you choose the texts in the curriculum?

Text selection is the most challenging aspect of English curriculum design. There are near-infinite possibilities and combinations that can form a high quality English curriculum. Our text selection has been drawn from the expertise in our curriculum partners, Fox Federation and Twyford CofE Trust. We chose texts to reflect the full range of life in the United Kingdom, and attempted to represent all backgrounds, regions and cultures, whilst also giving pupils a firm grounding in the history and traditions of English Literature.

What books are featured in the curriculum?

‘A Superhero Like You’ by Dr. Ranj Singh

‘The Three Billy Goats Gruff’, traditional

‘The Magic Porridge Pot’, traditional

‘Five Little Ducks Went Swimming One Day’, traditional

‘Zim Zam Zoom’, ‘Firework’, ‘Splish! Splash! Splosh’, ‘BEwARe’ by James Carter

Twyford Church of England Academies Trust

Secondary English Curriculum

Secondary

English

Appreciation of poetry

Developing fiction writing

Developing spoken language

English Language GCSE

Exploring the Gothic

Nineteenth century literature

Non-fiction reading and writing

Shakespeare and the outsider

Modern text: first study

In 'Animal Farm: The Pigs and Power', pupils develop a clear understanding of the plot, main characters and themes of the novella. In the second exploration unit, 'Animal Farm: Barriers to Leadership', pupils undertake more nuanced analysis of the pigs grasp for power.

Modern text: first deep dive

In 'Lord of the Flies', pupils explore how power corrupts and destroys communities. 'In Animal Farm: The Pigs and Power', pupils focus on how power corrupts the pigs, leading to the downfall of their utopian dream.

'Lord of the Flies'

Animal Farm: the pigs and power

In 'Macbeth: Lady Macbeth as a Machiavellian Villain', pupils focus on the role that Lady Macbeth plays in the downfall of her husband. In 'Macbeth: A Tragic Hero', pupils become more critical of Macbeth's own decisions, evaluating whether he could be considered a tragic hero.

Macbeth: a tragic hero

In 'Othello', pupils explore the role that Desdemona played in her husband's downfall. In 'Macbeth: Lady Macbeth as a Machiavellian Villain', pupils analyse the impact of Lady Macbeth's manipulation.

'Othello'

'Macbeth': an exploration of Act 1, Scenes 1-4

'Macbeth': An exploration of Act 1, Scenes 5 to 7

'Macbeth': an exploration of Act 2, Scenes 1 and 2

'Macbeth': an exploration of Act 2, Scenes 3 and 4

'Macbeth': an exploration of Act 3, Scenes 1 to 3

'Macbeth': an exploration of Act 3, Scenes 4 to 6

'Macbeth': an exploration of Act 4, Scenes 1 to 3

'Macbeth': an exploration of Act 5, Scenes 1 to 5

'Macbeth': an exploration of Act 5, Scenes 6 to 9

Exploring the opening of ‘Macbeth’

The witches in Act 1, Scene 3 of ‘Macbeth’

The presentation of the witches in Act 1, Scene 3 of ‘Macbeth’

The presentation of Lady Macbeth in Act 1, Scene 5 of ‘Macbeth’

The relationship between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth in Act 1, Scene 7 of ‘Macbeth’

Lady Macbeth’s character development across Act 1 of ‘Macbeth’

How does Lady Macbeth undermine Macbeth in Act 1 of 'Macbeth'?

Exploring the relationship between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth in Act 1, ‘Macbeth’

Exploring Act 2, Scene 2 of ‘Macbeth’: characterisation and foreshadowing

Exploring the presentation of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth in Act 3 of ‘Macbeth’

Act 3, Scene 4, ‘Macbeth’: Macbeth’s fears, and Lady Macbeth’s diminishing power

Lady Macbeth's feelings of guilt in ‘Macbeth’ 

Lady Macbeth's role in the downfall of Macbeth in 'Macbeth'

Evaluating the character of Lady Macbeth in ‘Macbeth’

Planning an analytical essay about Lady Macbeth in ‘Macbeth’

Writing an analytical essay about Lady Macbeth as a Machiavel in ‘Macbeth’

‘Macbeth’: exploring evidence and including context in an essay on Lady Macbeth

Macbeth: Lady Macbeth as a machiavellian villain

Nineteenth century text: first study

In 'A Christmas Carol: Scrooge's redemption, pupils trace the way Scrooge changes across the text as a result of his interaction with the ghosts. In 'A Christmas Carol: a ghost story', pupils  examine the use of gothic tropes in more detail and in particular the use of the supernatural and the ghosts, which allow the past to interrupt the present and even future. 

Nineteenth century text: first deep dive

In 'Victorian Childhood', pupils read a number of non fiction extracts about the suffering of poor children and campaign for better laws to protect them as part of a persuasive speaking role play. In 'A Christmas Carol', pupils learn about Dickens as a social campaigner and the way in which he wrote the novella to encourage people to help the poor. 

Sherlock Holmes: short stories

A Christmas Carol: Scrooge's redemption

In 'Jekyll & Hyde: Detective Fiction', pupils explore how Stevenson uses the conventions of gothic fiction to expose key themes such as secrecy and concealment. In 'Jekyll and Hyde: Gothic Fiction', pupils build on this to explore how gothic texts are often concerned with hidden and illicit desires. 

In 'Sherlock Holmes: Short Stories', pupils explore the ways in which victims and villains are portrayed, evaluating whether some villains are portrayed more sympathetically than others. In 'Jekyll and Hyde: Detective Fiction', pupils examine the ways in which Stevenson uses and subverts the conventions of detective fiction both to build suspense and to critique Victorian society.

Jekyll & Hyde: duality and evil

Poetry anthology: first study

In 'Edexcel Belonging Poetry', pupils compared the language, form and structure of a variety of poems connected by the themes of culture and identity. In 'Edexcel Belonging Poetry continued', pupils work on making more nuanced comparisons between poems.

Poetry anthology: continued study

In 'Single Poet Study: Maya Angelou', pupils explored how Angelou uses her poetry to present strong relationships to people and place. In 'Edexcel Belonging Poetry', pupils analyse how a variety of different relationships to culture and place have been presented across time.

Comparing poetry from the First World War

'Belonging'

In 'Edexcel Conflict Poetry', pupils compared the language, form and structure of a variety of poems connected by the themes of power and conflict. In 'Edexcel Conflict Poetry continued', pupils work on making more nuanced comparisons between poems.

In 'A World at War: Poetry', pupils explore how poets present the atrocities of World War One through their poetry. In 'Edexcel Conflict Poetry', pupils analyse how a variety of different wars have been presented through poetry.

'Conflict'

In 'Non-Fiction: Crime and Punishment', pupils analyse the language choices of authors in non-fiction texts. In 'Non-Fiction: Changing Views', pupils compare language choices in non-fiction texts.

Non-fiction: changing views

In 'Perspectives on Gender', pupils read challenging pre-20th century, non-fiction texts. In 'Non-Fiction Crime and Punishment', pupils compare authors' viewpoints on a range of non-fiction texts, throughout history. 

Women's rights across the ages: non-fiction reading and writing

Reading and comparing two texts about prisons: London (1862) and Norway (2013)

Developing a summary of a non-fiction text by including inferences

Using credible statistics in a piece of non-fiction writing

Summarising a non-fiction text: 'a letter to my son' (the Guardian, 2014)

Comparing texts about drug misuse: ‘Confessions’ (1821) and ‘A letter to’ (2014)

Using figurative language in non-fiction writing

Planning an open letter using single paragraph outlines

Reading an opinion article and creating rhetorical questions

Using structural features effectively in non-fiction texts

Using the conventions of website content creatively

Planning and writing website content

Revising and editing non-fiction writing

Non-fiction: crime and punishment

In 'Fiction: Read Around the World', pupils identify and comment on a range of language devices in extracts from texts. In 'Fiction: Science Fiction Writing', pupils identify and comment on recurring images and symbolism in texts.

Fiction: science fiction writing

In 'A World at War: Short Stories', pupils read short stories, analysing how authors structure full texts. In 'Fiction: Read Around the World', pupils analyse structural choices in smaller extracts of texts.

Literary perspectives from the First World War

Fiction reading skills

'After Dark': selecting evidence to support language analysis

Murakami's use of extended metaphor

'After Dark': writing an engaging opening for a description

Exploring structure in ‘After Dark’

Confident structural analysis of an unseen text

Creating a structurally interesting narrative opening

Crafting interesting sentences

Creating interesting sound imagery 

‘Suite Française’: forming opinions on fiction

Evaluating ideas about a writer's craft

Analysing 'The Cellist of Sarajevo'

Exploring the use of time in a narrative

Expressing a personal and critical response to a text

Exploring and using symbols in creative writing

Writing a description of a character

Structuring paragraphs effectively in creative writing

Creating a written narrative response

Fiction: read around the world

In 'Perspectives on Gender', pupils write and deliver speeches, presenting clear arguments. In 'Spoken Language: The Language of Change', pupils use rhetoric to create and perform persuasive speeches.

Having productive discussions in response to a non-fiction text

Understanding and summarising perspectives

Comparing non-fiction texts

Analysing a persuasive speech

 Evaluating and improving model responses on non-fiction texts

Comparing tone and methods in non-fiction texts

Understanding what makes a powerful speech

Engaging your audience: creating effective opening and closing paragraphs

Using rhetorical devices effectively

Spoken language: choosing a topic and developing ideas for a speech

Planning and writing a persuasive speech

Proofreading and redrafting a speech

Using non-verbal features to present a speech effectively

Preparing to deliver a powerful speech

Spoken language: the language of change

In 'Fiction: Science Fiction', pupils identify and comment on recurring images and symbolism in texts. In 'Fiction: Books that Changed my World', pupils explore multiple interpretations of an author's language choices.

Fiction: books that changed my world

Considering how Verne uses sentences in ‘Journey to the Centre of the Earth’

Emulating how Verne uses sentences in ‘Journey to the Centre of the Earth’

'The War of the Worlds': How punctuation and sentence structures create impact

Using punctuation to create specific effects in descriptive writing

Using semantic fields in a piece of creative writing

Using synonyms and expanded noun phrases to craft effective descriptions

Using sensory language to write effective descriptions

'Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea': explaining a writer's structural choices

Refining descriptions with semantic fields, present participles, and semicolons

Revising key strategies to write effective descriptions

In 'Non-Fiction: Changing Views', pupils compare language choices used in non-fiction texts. In 'Non-Fiction: Teenage Kicks', pupils evaluate how authors use language, to express similar or differing viewpoints.

Subject

School phase

KS3 & KS4 English

Unit sequence

Year 7

Step into the unknown: fiction reading and creative writing

'The Tempest'

Poetry about place and home

Sherlock Holmes: short stories

'The Twisted Tree': fiction reading

Dystopian settings: descriptive writing

Year 8

Myths, legends and stories that inspire

'A Midsummer Night's Dream'

Taking a stand

Single poet study: Maya Angelou

Victorian childhood: non-fiction reading and writing

A monster within: reading and writing Gothic fiction

Gothic poetry

A history of language

Year 9

'Lord of the Flies'

Women's rights across the ages: non-fiction reading and writing

Malevolent characters: fiction writing

Literary perspectives from the First World War

Comparing poetry from the First World War

'Small Island'

'Othello'

Year 10

Modern text: first study

Macbeth: Lady Macbeth as a machiavellian villain

Nineteenth century text: first study

Poetry anthology: first study

Non-fiction: crime and punishment

Fiction: read around the world

Spoken language: the language of change

Fiction: science fiction writing

Non-fiction: changing views

Year 11

Modern text: first deep dive

Macbeth: a tragic hero

Nineteenth century text: first deep dive

Poetry anthology: continued study

Unseen poetry

Modern text: second deep dive

Macbeth and masculinity: the struggle for power

Nineteenth century text: second deep dive

Fiction: books that changed my world

Non-fiction: teenage kicks

Fiction: inner musings

Non-fiction: explorers

Writing masters

Need help with our new curriculum?