Description

The national curriculum forms the foundation of English study at Ribston Hall High School. Students are encouraged and supported to develop their skills of reading, writing and oracy across each scheme of learning. Through a wide range of challenging texts, students explore a breadth of themes spanning across the centuries. We offer variety, with a new focus each half term, ensuring that all interests are catered for. Students are exposed to a range of genres of fiction and non-fiction texts that will ignite their imaginations and inspire their academic curiosity.

At Ribston Hall, we build creativity through the study of different texts, then give students the opportunity to develop the skills they have studied in their own writing. They are encouraged to use ambitious vocabulary and a variety of language techniques to create different effects for different audiences. High levels of grammar, spelling and punctuation are reinforced throughout study at Key Stage 3.

In year 9, students work with texts and complete tasks inspired by the AQA GCSE English Language and Literature courses. We introduce the GCSE mark schemes at this stage in their journey to increase challenge, raise aspirations and build awareness of the demands of the examinations.

Content

	Year 7	Year 8	Year 9
Autumn	Greek Myths and Etymology Modern Novel: Northern Lights	Modern Novel: Clap When you Land Non-Fiction Reading and Writing: Survival	Modern Play Spoken Language Unit Fiction: Crime Writing
Spring	Modern Novel: Northern Lights Exploring Literary Movements through Poetry – 1600s to present	Introduction to the Literary Canon Poetry: Protest	Literary Heritage Novel: Jane Eyre Non-Fiction: Standing Out
Summer	Introduction to Shakespeare Journalism	Shakespeare: Much Ado About Nothing Dystopian Writing	Shakespeare: Macbeth Poetry: Our World

Exam board

AQA English Language (8700)

AQA English Literature (8702)

Description

The demands of the AQA GCSE English Literature and English Language papers are introduced in Year 9, but in Years 10 and 11, students start to work with the texts that they will respond to in the examinations. While Jane Eyre is used to further explore the Gothic tradition and introduce ideas such as feminism and Marxism, GCSE students will learn and revise The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde for the exam, applying the foundations of the knowledge that they gained in previous years and building upon this with new and interesting texts.

The material that the students cover offers high levels of challenge that facilitate the achievement of the highest GCSE outcomes, while scaffolding support for students to feel confident to take risks and build their own analytical style. With the onward journey towards A Level English literature in mind, we ensure that students are given insight into what further study of English looks like and how their skills will be needed beyond the classroom.

Content

	Year 10	Year 11
Autumn	Literary Heritage Novel: Jekyll and Hyde Fiction Reading and Writing	Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet Non-fiction Reading and Writing Revision
Spring	Modern Play: An Inspector Calls Fiction Reading and Writing Modern Play: An Inspector Calls Non-fiction Reading	Non-fiction Reading and Writing
Summer	Poetry: Unseen and Love and Relationship Anthology Non-Fiction Writing	Revision Programme: Jekyll and Hyde, Romeo and Juliet, Poetry Anthology, Unseen poetry, An Inspector Calls, English Language Papers 1 and 2

Year 13 Exam board

AQA A-Level English Literature A

Description

The A Level specification allows students to cover relevant, engaging and thought-provoking literature through the lens of historicism. Students build their global awareness through the study of English Literature at A Level in a way that facilitates their personal development as thoughtful, knowledgeable citizens.

The course offers clear progression from GCSE and provides a variety of assessment styles, such as passage-based questions, unseen materials, single and multiple- text questions, and open and closed book approaches.

One of the aspects of the course that really prepares students for the next steps is the non-examined assessment – an opportunity for students to formulate their own hypothesis and select their own texts for study. This portion of the course encourages independent thought. Students can travel along a line of enquiry of their choosing, work with texts they have a personal interest in and craft arguments that spark their own personal interests. With the support of their class teachers, students at A Level are fully prepared for their futures as articulate, productive adults.

Content

	Year 13
Shakespeare: Othello	Modern Play: A Streetcar Named Desire
Novel: The Great Gatsby	Modern: Owen Sheers- Skirrid Hill
Unseen Poetry	The Handmaid’s Tale
Unseen Prose	Revision Programme: Othello, Great Gatsby, Poetry Anthology, Unseen Poetry, A Streetcar Named Desire, The Handmaid’s Tale, Skirrid Hill, Unseen Prose
Poetry: Pre 1900 Anthology
Poetry: Post 1900 Anthology
Revision for Y12 Diagnostics The NEA Modern Play: A Streetcar Named Desire

 

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Year 12 Exam Board

Edexcel A-Level English Literature (9ET0)

Description

Students will build their critical and creative perspectives when approaching a wide range of genres, forms and other literature throughout history. From Tragic conventions through the ages to the Supernatural, students will encounter an in-depth exploration of poetry, prose and drama during their two years of study.

The course offers clear progression from GCSE and provides students with the opportunity to tackle a range of different question types from assessing the validity of critical interpretations, embedding historical and social contexts and their implications on texts, and advanced analysis of linguistic techniques. 

With a 20% non-examined assessment component, students are tasked with undertaking independent and sustained research of their own texts in order to deepen their appreciation and understanding of English literature. Through crafting their own line of argument that sparks their own personal interests, our students are able to flourish into articulate, confident adults.

Content

Poetry	Prose	Drama
The Romantics- A Collection of Romantic Verse	The Picture of Dorian Gray- Oscar Wilde	Othello- WIlliam Shakespeare
Poems of the Decade	Dracula- Bram Stoker OR The Little Stranger- Sarah Waters	A Streetcar Named Desire- Tennessee Williams
Unseen Poetry

Students will find that extra-curricular opportunities crop up seasonally, we run events and competitions that surround national celebrations, such as Black History Month, Remembrance Day, World Book Day, Pride, and there are weekly clubs that students can look forward to such as: Creative writing clubs, Swift Soc, reading groups and revision and coursework drop-in sessions.