Literature abandons the constraints of time. Literature is humankind’s creative interpretation of the world around us. Literature is immersing ourselves in worlds beyond our imagination. Literature allows us to hope, to dream and to become empowered. We want our students to acknowledge and appreciate the power of the words that they hear, read and speak every day and we achieve this through our ambitious and inclusive curriculum that is rich in literary heritage.
Nurturing the character of each individual student to encourage kindness and decency within our community is at the core of our curriculum. We endeavour to promote and encourage academic success by fostering an appreciation of the written word in all its many forms and together, staff and students explore the riches of communication which we believe is a fundamental skill for life.
Literature abandons the constraints of time. Literature is humankind’s creative interpretation of the world around us. Literature is immersing ourselves in worlds beyond our imagination. Literature allows us to hope, to dream and to become empowered. We want our students to acknowledge and appreciate the power of the words that they hear, read and speak every day and we achieve this through our ambitious and inclusive curriculum that is rich in literary heritage.
Nurturing the character of each individual student to encourage kindness and decency within our community is at the core of our curriculum. We endeavour to promote and encourage academic success by fostering an appreciation of the written word in all its many forms and together, staff and students explore the riches of communication which we believe is a fundamental skill for life.
The English department is committed to providing all students with the opportunity to become empowered thinkers and speakers and writers. It is the aim of the English department to take students to new worlds – past and present – where they can make new discoveries, meet new types of people and recognise and learn about new topics. Using C.S. Lewis’s words above as inspiration, the English department seeks to allow students the opportunity to broaden their perspectives so that they have chance to understand and make sense of the world and humanity, evaluate their own ideas and feelings so that they are able to communicate their own ideas thoughtfully and sensibly whilst developing tolerance, empathy and respect to others. It is here that Maya Angelou’s quote becomes very much integral to the English department’s aims. We want students to be able to gain a sense of themselves in the world they live in.
Literal and inferential comprehension skills. This means that students will understanding a word, phrase or sentence as it was written; explore aspects of plot, character, theme and setting; distinguishing between what a writer states explicitly and what a writer implies; explaining motivation, sequence of events, and the relationship between actions or events across set texts.
Critical reading skills. This means that students will work to read a text like a literary critic by forming a point of view. This point of view will form a personal response in the style of an essay.
Evaluation of a writer’s choice of language and structural features. This means that students will identify language, structure and form used within a text using subject specific tier 3 vocabulary. Students will then work to explore why and how the writer’s choice of specific language, structure and form is used to create impact.
Comparing texts. This means that students will begin to compare and contrast the texts studied, referring where relevant to theme, character, context (where known), style, language and structure.
Writing skills. Students will work to produce a clear and coherent point of view in their writing about a set text like a literary critic.
Literacy skills. Accurate spelling, punctuation and grammar is integral to conveying meaning. Students will work to enhance their spelling, punctuation and grammar throughout their literature studies.
Each of the Literature texts studied develops every students’ sense of character and culture. The beauty of English Literature is that to each student, each set text may or will mean something different and so this sees a real emphasis placed upon developing understanding and empathy. For example, the study of Priestley’s ‘An Inspector Calls’ allows students to explore themes such as social class and poverty. They will be able to consider the impact of social class and social class divides upon people and society as a whole. By studying the poem ‘Poppies’ by Jane Weir, students will be able to consider war and the effects of war through the eyes of those not directly involved in the conflict but still very much impacted. Empathy, compassion and understanding are very much integral to English Literature.
