Ofsted
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SecondaryCurriculumEnglish
English

Secondary

Department Leader: Vikki Peverell

The KBA English Department are committed to providing students with a range of learning experiences and enrichment activities, as well as offering a wide range of specialisms from life-enhancing literacy skills to Advanced Level courses which allow students to access the very best universities.

Our aim is to provide an excellent education for all, rooted in a desire to bring out the best in all students and prepare them for success in life. The English curriculum is designed to provide all our students with the core knowledge that is the foundation of this success. We aim to maximise each student’s cognitive development, to develop the whole person and to celebrate talents of the individual.

It is our intention that young people leave us with a passion for, and understanding of, English Language and Literature. We are proud of our ambitious, challenging and diverse curriculum that inspires young minds to be creative, critical readers and writers. Through the rigorous and carefully sequenced curriculum, we equip our young people with the confidence to communicate effectively in life beyond school.

At Kettering Buccleuch Academy our intent is to develop core reading, writing and oracy in our students, using these to develop understanding of students’ place in the world and the issues that affect them.

Through a rigorous focus on the writer’s purpose, students are encouraged to develop understanding of how meaning is shaped through writing, and then to develop this themselves in their own work. Students learn to express themselves clearly and comprehensively in a variety of contexts. We encourage exploration of personal responses to themes within texts, challenging their established ideas and perspectives and developing a deeper understanding of these.

Our knowledge rich curriculum ensures that students study challenging texts from Year 7, irrespective of ability. Students are supported in their studies so that all make excellent progress and are exposed to a range of themes through their texts, allowing development of ideas, perspectives and understanding.

It is our intent to ensure that all students leave the academy with the practical skills that are transferable to all workplaces or further study; such as communication, critical thinking and writing for purpose.

At Kettering Buccleuch Academy, we are proud to deliver a broad and challenging curriculum. Students will study poetry, prose, plays, non-fiction and Shakespeare to develop and master key skills such as inference, language analysis and creative writing in both language and literature. To support learning, each year group has a specific theme that runs in each unit of study throughout the year. The themes are:

•            Year 7 – War and Conflict

•            Year 8 – Social Justice

•            Year 9 – Relationships

All students are set targets and the intention is to equip all learners with clear foundations in reading and writing skills, whilst exploring a range of literature from a variety of cultural backgrounds, genres and periods. Each unit encourages students to explore how different components such as: Reading, Writing and Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar work together but also to develop appreciation of both language and literature.

Progress is monitored in the form of teacher assessment, mid-year and end of year examinations

At Kettering Buccleuch Academy, the English department follows the AQA syllabus at Key Stage 4 and offers students the opportunity to gain two qualifications by the end of the course - English Language and English Literature. We believe that our KS4 course is engaging, inspiring and challenging for students of all abilities.

The English Language qualification consists of two papers, both equal in weighting. Each paper consists of a reading section (based on unseen extracts) and a writing section. Students can achieve grades 1-9 in English Language.

  • Paper 1: Explorations in Creative reading and writing
  • Paper 2: Exploring writers’ viewpoints and perspectives

The English Literature qualification also consists of two papers. At KBA, our students study Macbeth, A Christmas Carol, An Inspector Calls, Power and Conflict poetry and unseen poetry. However, we do encourage our students to read a range of texts in their free time to allow their passion for literature to flourish. Students are not allowed to take their texts into the examinations so they must study these texts both in and out of lessons. Students can achieve grades 1-9 in English Literature.

  • Paper 1: Shakespeare and the 19th-century novel
  • Paper 2: Modern texts and poetry

Resources

KS3

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zmxh34j

https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/crucible/

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zmbj382

https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/class-clips-video/english-ks2-treasure-island-home/zk2qnrd

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zwt3rdm/revision/1

KS4

http://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/

http://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/macbeth/summary.html

http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/christmascarol/summary.html

https://www.sparknotes.com/drama/an-inspector-calls/

https://www.memrise.com/course/1395236/aqa-power-and-conflict-poetry/

https://www.senecalearning.com/

 

  • BBC Bitesize: Revision prompts, advice and examples for key English Language skills.  
  • Shmoop: A revision website with text guides to all frequently studied Literature texts.  
  • Mr Bruff: Videos covering commonly taught Literature texts and Language paper approaches.  
  • Tuition Kit: Videos covering commonly taught Literature texts and Language paper approaches/skills.  
  • Revision World : A bank of past papers for English Language and Literature. 
  • Revision Guide : A Language exam paper revision guide for both Paper 1 and Paper 2.  

Revision Websites | GCSE English Language and GCSE English Literature

  1. The British Library

https://www.bl.uk/

This is your go-to site in terms of really good, challenging content for English Literature.  As a starting point, Google ‘British Library + Macbeth’ or ‘British Library + An Inspector Calls’ – you get the idea.

  1. BBC Bitesize

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/examspecs/zxqncwx

There’s lots here to consolidate your knowledge.  There are separate areas for both English Literature and English Language.  All aspects of the qualifications are covered.

  1. Sparknotes

https://www.sparknotes.com/

A similar(ish) website to BBC Bitesize.  You’ll find notes on most of the English Literature texts, plus quizzes to test your knowledge.

  1. Cliffs Notes

https://www.cliffsnotes.com/

There’s plenty here to help you revise the core English Literature texts – chapter summaries, character overviews, quizzes and essay questions.

  1. Universal Teacher

http://www.universalteacher.org.uk/

This website is one of my favourites.  It’s got comprehensive notes on most of the English Literature texts, and there’s also relevant information that you can use to help revise for English Language.

  1. The Stable Oyster Blog

https://thestableoyster.wordpress.com/

This website contains some excellent blogs on the poems from the AQA Power and Conflict cluster.  Click on the website link and then type the name of the poem you want to revise into the search bar.

  1. Learning From My Mistakes Blog

http://learningfrommymistakesenglish.blogspot.com/2018/04/power-and-conflict-website-links.html

Another blogging website.  This one contains links to more resources on the poems from the AQA Power and Conflict cluster.

  1. The Guardian

https://www.theguardian.com/uk

It’s worth typing the name of the text (or area) you want to study into the search bar – it’s likely that you’ll find some decent stuff.  For example, there are a number of really good articles on Jekyll and Hyde and Macbeth.

  1. AQA

https://www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/english/gcse

You can find past papers, mark schemes and exam reports.  Look for the ‘assessment resources’ area and go from there.

Get in Touch

Kettering Buccleuch Academy
Weekley Glebe Road
Kettering
NN16 9NS

Tel: 01536 515644

Fax: 01536 510163

e-mail: enquiries@kba.uk

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