English

Subject Vision

All students, regardless of their starting point and background, develop a love of language, an enjoyment of reading and embark on a journey to become articulate and confident communicators.

Aims

Read easily, fluently and with good understanding.
Develop the habit of reading widely and often, for both pleasure and information.
Acquire a wide vocabulary, an understanding of grammar and knowledge of linguistic conventions for reading, writing and spoken language.
Appreciate our rich and varied literary heritage.
Write clearly, accurately and coherently, adapting their language and style in and for a range of contexts, purposes and audiences.
Use discussion in order to learn. Pupils should be able to elaborate and clearly explain their understanding and ideas.
Be competent in the arts of speaking and listening, making formal presentations, demonstrating to others and participating in debate.

Intent

“All students, regardless of their starting point and background, develop a love of language, an enjoyment of reading and embark on a journey to become articulate and confident communicators.”

English at Bournville is a broad, challenging and enjoyable curriculum. In each year of their education, Bournville students will be exposed to a range of texts, contexts, concepts and topics, whilst also being equipped with the tools they need to improve their core reading and writing skills. In English, our goal is not just to achieve exam excellence through the acquisition of knowledge, but to equip our students with the skills they will need to be effective and prosperous citizens, ensuring they can excel in modern Britain. We understand that the skills develop from the requisite knowledge acquired.

Our curriculum is shaped by the following key components:

Reading

Writing

Spoken Language

Our all-through curriculum has been designed to ensure pupils are able to make the most possible progress in both knowledge acquisition and skill application, and we are proud of the breadth and scope of our curriculum. We develop our curriculum through, Read Write Inc, CUSP and the National Curriculum framework. We develop our key stage 4 curriculum with a keen focus on the latest developments within the AQA GCSE specification. At key stage 4, students can expect to study a combination of Shakespeare, pre- and post-1914 Literature, poetry, and non-fiction, as well as learning to write for different purposes and audiences in each year of their education. Enhancing and enriching our curriculum is retrieval practice and teaching which enhances the ‘cultural capital’ of our students.

Overall, we believe our curriculum is comprehensive, rigorous, and varied, but most of all enjoyable. We want students to leave Bournville equipped not only with outstanding grades, but also with a love for and appreciation of the subject; to look back on their learning journey with a sense of pride for the skills they have developed and the plethora of texts and topics that they have studied.