Year 7
Autobiography: introduction to Secondary, discovering people and discovering the story form
You will explore the following big questions:
1. What is identity? What shapes identities?
2. Who are you?
3. What makes a person interesting?
4. What kind of person gets stories written about them?
5. Whose story is most important?
6. What makes a story engaging?
7. What makes a person significant?
8. How much do we remember?
Myths: The origin of story and the beginnings of language
You will explore the following big questions:
1. What are myths and why do they exist?
2. What is the role of oracy in ancient myths?
3. How were myths used to explain creation stories & why?
4. What can myths tell us about cultural understanding of gender roles?
5. What can myths tell us about morality and the notion of good and evil?
6. How do myths shape understanding of death and loss?
7. How have myths impacted modern literature and society?
A Monster Calls: The development of story and how myth is used as allusion
You will explore the following big questions:
1. How can we learn to see the world through different perspectives?
2. How can stories help us to interpret and shape our own experiences?
3. How are stories told?
4. How have they been told throughout time?
5. How can we learn to process difficult emotions?
6. How can stories help us in our lives?
7. How can we apply morals from stories?
8. What is the difference between fantasy and reality?
9. Are the characters in novels ever truly or completely good or bad? Or people generally?
10. Do characters conform to archetypes or stereotypes?
11. Why is it difficult to speak the truth?
Is there/ what is the power in words?
How has the story form developed over time?
A Midsummer Night’s Dream: An introduction to Shakespeare, comedy and the dramatic form
You will explore the following big questions:
1. What would happen if magic intervened in our lives?
2. What makes us love someone?
3. Why is love such a central theme in stories?
4. Is beauty important to our lives?
5. How is the experience of youth presented in literature?
6. What is the meaning of life?
7. What is the difference between appearance and reality?
8. What is the natural order of life?
9. Why is comedy important to human experience?
Poetry (16th century): An introduction into the poetic form
You will explore the following big questions:
1.What is a sonnet?
2. Why were sonnets written?
3. How do they reinforce or subvert our expectations?
4. What is love and how are ideas about love communicated through poetry?
5. Why do writers choose the poetic form?
6. How does poetic language differ from prose?
7. How are the stereotypes of gender in the 16th century portrayed through poetry?
Year 8
Art of Rhetoric: Introducing rhetorical writing through the ages
You will explore the following big questions:
1. How can we use language to influence and persuade?
Where do you stand on the morality of emotionally manipulating an audience?
How do well known orators employ these skills?
How do you make people listen to you?
Which is a more successful means of persuasion- logos, pathos or ethos?
How has rhetoric changed over time?
Romeo and Juliet: Revisiting Shakespeare, but with a focus on the tragedy genre
You will explore the following big questions:
1. How do rivalries start and end?
How does violence affect the individual and society? How much do we have control over our lives and how much is fate?
Why is tragedy such a popular form?
What makes something tragic?
Why is the impossibility of love such a popular theme in literature?
Why do people believe in fate?
Enlightenment and Romantic Poetry Revisiting the poetic form with a focus on how the form has changed throughout time and reflects contemporary society
You will explore the following big questions:
1. How did scientific developments affect literature and the way people think? How did the Romantic movement react against this? What are some key philosophical ideas of the time?
What is the link between imagination and freedom?
How does poetry act as a form of expression?
Dracula (Drama) Revisiting the dramatic form, but with a focus on the Gothic genre
You will explore the following big questions:
1. Why is the Gothic a popular genre?
What human anxieties does the Gothic target?
How is an atmosphere of horror and isolation created?
How is the Gothic a reaction to the Victorian era?
How has literature developed into a form of entertainment?
The Jungle Book (Prose) Revisiting the narrative form, but introducing the concept of social commentary
You will explore the following big questions:
1.What is imperialism?
What were preconceptions of India in the British Empire?
How might we challenge that today?
Why and how is the animal kingdom central to human experience?
What factors make up our identity?
How are animal stories key to the morality genre?
War Poetry Revisiting the poetry form, but with a focus on how catastrophic events shape literature
You will explore the following big questions:
How can grief be expressed in poetry?
What different reactions to war can we find?
How is war and propaganda linked?
How did WW1 poets change our views of war forever?
What role does poetry have in fighting for socio-political change?
How and why have poetic forms evolved?
Year 9
Of Mice and Men."OMAM (Prose) How narratives have the ability to tackle serious issues such as racism, sexism and power"
How would you describe the nature of human existence?
Why is friendship an important theme in stories?
Why is the impossibility of dreams used to create a social critique?
How is the world that we live in fundamentally flawed?
What is the human obsession of ‘ownership’ all about?
How do the ongoing scars of segregation and oppression continue to influence literature?
How does literature expose hierarchies of power?
How does literature give a voice to those excluded in society?
Structure (short stories) To study structural techniques. How the texts we study are structured to build effective texts which interest us as readers
How has the structure of literature developed since its inception?
Read MorePerspectives: narrative, non-fiction, poetry
How do styles of writing change over time and in different genres and why?
Read MoreNon-fiction political and Political Writing An understanding of the merits and disadvantages of differing perspectives. Understand the rat race and alternative lifestyles. The differing role of women over time and the norms of today.
Is literature a useful tool for an reactionary approach. Are social media and traditional newspaper publications appropriate media?
Read MoreAn Inspector Calls. The first of our study of GCSE texts. A socially motivate morality play set in 1912 but first presented on the British stage in 1946.
How does drama work as a tool for social critique? Is this literature reactionary? Why is justice an important theme in literature? How is power central to the human experience? How is a text about responsibility reflecting the WW2 era?How is social class different to wealth?Can didactic morality teaching ever be entertaining
Read MoreYear 10
Dystopian Fiction: An introduction to the concept of dystopian fiction. They is introduced with a range of extracts in context Such as, The Handmaid’s Tale, Brave New World, 1984, Riddley Walker, Fahrenheit 451
You will explore the following big questions: be introduced the concept of dystopian fiction. 1.How does dystopian fiction offer a warning of certain political ideologies?
2. What does dystopian fiction offer beyond this?
3. How do dystopias offer hope?
4. Why does the popularity of morality and speculative fiction increase in the 20th century?
5. How does dystopian fiction give a voice to those oppressed previously in society?
6. How is literature a tool for change?
Post-War to Postmodern Prose: The Post-war and Postmodern Unit comes at the end of the literary timeline. After studying most other literary movements and periods (in chronological order), this unit comes to show how classical writing has been parodied and satirised by the postmodernist. It looks back upon what has come before in order to create something innovative and new. It comes after Dystopian Fiction which was a direct response to World War II, in a similar way to the postmodernist movement.
You will explore the following big questions: 1)What are the main features of prose from 1945-present day? How has prose developed? 2)How has war influenced and changed literature since the beginning of the 20th century? 3)How did post-war industrial changes effect writing? 4)How have classical works been remade for the voiceless women? 5)How does postmodernism use postcolonial theory? 6)How are identity, morality and modern voices portrayed in the modern world?
Read MoreModern Big Issues The biggest issues facing society and exploring how writing gives an outlet for this.
You will explore the following big questions: What are the biggest issues facing society? How does non-fiction writing present and deal with these issues?
How have existing anxieties resurfaced in the modern era?
What hierarchies of power exist in the world today?
How do the issues of British society compare with world issues?
What literary methods do writers use to share experiences of these issues?
Expressing Voice To explore how writing is used to express emotions and create a viewpoint.
You will explore the following big questions: What are the key factors behind allowing someone to make their voice heard in society?
How are you able to get your ideas across to others?
What methods are the most successful in getting others to share your viewpoint?
What are the limitations to sharing your voice?
How do different forms of writing create different opportunities?
Macbeth.' Using all of your Shakespeare knowledge so far, how is Macbeth a play that utilises common themes of tragedy, heroism, ambition and loyalty to excite audiences?
You wil explore the following questions: How does this play fit within the greater context of Shakespeare?
Why are violence and conflict such integral themes to literature?
How are tragedy and fate important to understanding human experience?
What contributes to having power?
How do dramas use the anxieties of society to entertain?
Why is religion such a prominent them in literature?
How does literature present failure?
19th Century Novel: A Christmas Carol/ Frankenstein
How can you use what you’ve learned about the construction of prose to comment on some of the most influential pieces of British literature? How are the texts constructed to interest readers across time?
Read MorePoetry: Time and Place
How can you use your in depth knowledge of historical contexts, literary movements and writers’ impact to create your own opinions on a variety of poetry from across time and place?
Read MorePoetry: Unseen
How can you use your in depth poetic knowledge to understand poems that you’ve never seen before? How can you work to form your own opinions, judgements and comparisons?
Read MoreYear 11
Language Paper 1: Understanding the paper
You’ve got the ability to discuss writers’ methods, but how does this fit into the rubric of the English Language exam?
Read MoreTime and Place Poetry
How can you use your in depth knowledge of historical contexts, literary movements and writers’ impact to create your own opinions on a variety of poetry from across time and place?
Read MoreLanguage Exam: Understanding the rubric
You’ve got the ability to discuss writers’ methods, but how does this fit into the rubric of the English Language exam?
Read MoreLiterature Paper 1: Understanding the paper
You’ve got the knowledge of the texts itself, but how does this fit into the rubric of the English Literature exam?
Read MoreLiterature Paper 2: Understanding the paper
You’ve got the knowledge of the texts itself, but how does this fit into the rubric of the English Literature exam?
Read MoreLanguage Paper 1: revision
How could you improve your skill at formulating responses for the English Language paper? What are your specific strengths and weaknesses and what do you need to do to improve?
Read MoreLiterature Paper 1: revision
How could you improve your skill at formulating responses for the English Literature paper? What are your specific strengths and weaknesses and what do you need to do to improve?
Read MoreLanguage Paper 2: revision
How could you improve your skill at formulating responses for the English Language paper? What are your specific strengths and weaknesses and what do you need to do to improve?
Read MoreLiterature Paper 2: revision
How could you improve your skill at formulating responses for the English Literature paper? What are your specific strengths and weaknesses and what do you need to do to improve?
Read More