As a Salesian school, we believe every young person deserves to read great literature and to be heard. All our students read the same challenging texts, from modern novels read at pace to Shakespeare studied in depth, so that difficult texts become familiar and enjoyable. Many of these texts ask serious questions about how people treat one another, and we teach students to write and speak about those questions in their own voice.

How we teach

Every unit at Key Stage 3 is built around sustained reading, and every English lesson follows the same structured reading routine so that students approach each new text with the same clear, consistent support.

1. Pre-Reading - Before reading, students are given the key vocabulary needed to access the text, including word origins where they help, and are told the purpose of the reading.

2. Ready to Read - Students prepare to read with a copy of the text in front of them, focused and ready to follow along.

3. During Reading - The teacher models fluent reading aloud. Students then read using one of several supported approaches - reading together as a class, in pairs, or echoing sentences back - and understanding is checked through discussion and questioning throughout.

4. Post-Reading - Students move into guided practice, building on what they have read, understood and discussed.

This routine is used consistently across all three years of Key Stage 3, whatever text students are reading.

Writing is taught one sentence at a time, using named sentence types for analytical writing and sentence stems for creative writing. Students then combine these into longer pieces: analytical paragraphs building to a first short essay in Year 7, multi-paragraph responses in Year 8, and full essays, including discursive and comparative essays, in Year 9. Creative writing moves from description in Year 7 to story openings and extended pieces in Year 9. Grammar is taught as part of writing, so students learn the grammar behind each sentence type and practise accuracy and punctuation in every unit.

Students write and deliver a speech every year, take part in formal debate in Years 8 and 9, and rehearse and perform scenes from the plays they study.

How the curriculum is structured

Across Years 7 to 9, students study a full-length novel and a complete Shakespeare play every year, alongside poetry, plays, speeches, essays and journalism. Each year begins with a Fast Read, where students read a whole novel at pace with their teacher in the opening weeks, discussing it as they go, and Year 7 also ends with one. This immersive, teacher-led reading has been popular with students, and helps reluctant readers to feel and act like accomplished readers through sustained, uninterrupted engagement.

Seven golden threads - narrative, rhetoric, genre, influence, metaphor, grammar and the writing process - are returned to in every year, each time through more demanding texts, so students build on what they have already learned rather than meeting each idea only once.

Each year has two summative assessments, at the end of the autumn unit and midway through the summer unit, alongside regular written practice in exercise books. Students also complete a Key Stage 3-wide world literature homework programme, reading and responding to a piece of world literature roughly every three weeks.

Year 7

Term	Focus	What students study
Autumn	Crafting Viewpoint and Voice	A Fast Read novel, alongside persuasive speeches and articles studied for rhetoric and structure, and how to establish and maintain a clear viewpoint in non-fiction writing
Spring	Foundations of Story and Voice	A study of poetry from around the world, including writing their own poems, and a scheme exploring heroes and villains in fiction
Summer	Exploring Meaning through Story	Shakespeare's The Tempest, followed by a contemporary novel compared with it, alongside poetry exploring exile, injustice and hope

Students begin building their understanding of symbolism, character and structure, and meet their first Shakespeare play of the key stage.

Year 8

Term	Focus	What students study
Autumn	The Gothic Tradition	A contemporary Gothic novel alongside extracts from Gothic writing across two centuries, a complete 19th-century short story and Gothic poetry
Spring	The Art of Rhetoric	A political allegory novel, studied alongside its historical context, war poetry, propaganda and non-fiction on political language, ending in a formal debate
Summer	The Construction of Tragedy	Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, followed by a modern stage play compared with it, alongside a study of sonnet form

Students extend their understanding of genre and historical context and compare how tragedy is constructed across different forms and time periods.

Year 9

Term	Focus	What students study
Autumn	The Dystopian Genre	A contemporary dystopian novel, alongside extracts from the wider dystopian tradition
Spring	Exploring How Choices Shape Destiny	A modern tragedy and a verse novel, studied for character, form and moral ambiguity, alongside related non-fiction
Summer	Understanding Power & Influence	Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, studied alongside historic and modern political speeches, a complete 19th-century short story and poetry of power and conviction, ending in a formal debate

Year 9 is designed to be the most demanding year of Key Stage 3, building directly toward the reading and writing skills required at GCSE.

Supporting all students

Every student studies the same texts and essential knowledge; teachers adapt how it is taught, not what is taught. Where individual students need extra help, this is provided in line with the school's SEND policy and reviewed regularly, so that support builds toward independence over time.

Finding out more

Full details of the units, texts and assessment covered in each year group are available from the English department. Parents and carers who would like more information about the Key Stage 3 English curriculum can contact the school office, who will direct enquiries to the Head of English.

Building on Key Stage 3, preparing for GCSE success

At Key Stage 4 we want every student to leave with strong GCSEs in English Language and English Literature, and as confident readers, writers and speakers. As at Key Stage 3, students read great literature in full and are taught to write and speak about it in their own voice. We build on the reading and writing skills students bring from Key Stage 3, with a focus on depth and on remembering what they learn. The texts students read build their cultural knowledge and ask them to think about power and responsibility.

Year 10 is devoted to Literature. Students study every set text in full, starting with An Inspector Calls so that they learn how to write a GCSE essay before they meet harder texts; Macbeth comes in the second half of the year, once those habits are secure. Some poems are taught alongside the core texts, so students practise poetry analysis little and often, and the rest are taught in themed groups where students learn to compare poems. Unseen poetry follows once the anthology is secure. Language writing is taught in short units towards the end of each half term, so writing is practised throughout the year, and the year ends with the Spoken Language endorsement. Language reading is not taught separately in Year 10: instead, students get the longest possible stretch of guided reading with their teacher, so that in Year 11 they can tackle unseen extracts on their own.

Year 11 is about recalling and applying what students know. Literature is revised mainly through regular retrieval rather than new teaching, and Language is taught paper by paper, then practised under exam conditions. By the end of Key Stage 4, students are ready for their GCSEs and for post-16 study, including at our sixth form college.

How we teach

Before and during reading, teachers teach the vocabulary and context students need, so that the challenge they face is the ideas and language of the text itself. Teachers model analytical thinking and writing, building on the sentence types and grammar students learned at Key Stage 3 and showing how these combine into a strong GCSE response. As at Key Stage 3, paired and whole-class discussion lets students try out their interpretations aloud before they write. The speeches students have written and delivered every year since Year 7 lead into the Spoken Language endorsement at the end of Year 10.

Students also use the Carousel Learning platform for regular quizzing on what they have learned, particularly during Year 11 revision. This helps them remember key knowledge and see for themselves where their gaps are.

Our English teachers are experienced and enthusiastic about their subject. We want students to see GCSE English as a two-year course in which progress is built steadily and securely. Assessments along the way guide that progress: each one shows what to work on next, not a final verdict.

Supporting all students

As at Key Stage 3, every student studies the same texts and essential knowledge; teachers adapt how it is taught, not what is taught. Where individual students need extra help, this is provided in line with the school's SEND policy and reviewed regularly, so that support builds towards independence over time.

Year 10

Term	Focus	What students study
Autumn 1	Voices of Authority	An Inspector Calls, alongside the poem “Exposure”; persuasive writing for Language Paper 2
Autumn 2	The Power of Change	A Christmas Carol, alongside the poem “London”; descriptive and narrative writing for Language Paper 1
Spring 1	Power, Pride and Prophecy (i)	A Christmas Carol (continued) and the start of Macbeth, alongside the poem “Ozymandias”; speech writing for Language Paper 2
Spring 2	Power, Pride and Prophecy (ii)	Macbeth, alongside the poem “My Last Duchess”; speech writing for Language Paper 2
Summer 1	Battle Scars	Macbeth (continued) and the conflict poetry cluster, including “Kamikaze”, “Remains”, “The Charge of the Light Brigade”, “Bayonet Charge”, “Poppies” and “War Photographer”; spoken language study
Summer 2	The Stories We Carry	The power and conflict poetry cluster, including “The Emigree”, “Tissue”, “Checking Out Me History”, “Storm on the Island” and “The Prelude”; spoken language study

Year 11

Term	Focus	What students study
Autumn 1	Introducing GCSE Language and Cycled Revision	A structured revision cycle covering all Literature texts studied in Year 10, alongside an introduction to Language Paper 2 that builds on the Spoken Language endorsement.
Autumn 2	Language Paper 2 Reading and Writing	Language Paper 2 reading and writing, alongside revision of the poetry anthology.
Spring 1	Language Paper 1 Reading and Writing	Language Paper 1 reading and writing, alongside revision of A Christmas Carol and Macbeth.
Spring 2	Targeted Revision	Language and Literature revision focused on the gaps identified in each student's mock exams (PPEs).
Summer 1	Revision and Drilling	Sustained, exam-focused revision and practice across both Language and Literature
Summer 2	Exam Period	Sustained, exam-focused revision and practice across both Language and Literature

Finding out more

Full details of the units, texts and assessment covered in each year group are available from the English department. Parents and carers who would like more information about the Key Stage 4 English curriculum can contact the school office, who will direct enquiries to the Head of English. For questions about an individual student's progress, their class teacher is always the first point of contact.

Building on GCSE, preparing for independent study

We offer two A-Levels in English: English Literature (Eduqas) and English Language (AQA). As at Key Stages 3 and 4, students work with challenging texts and are taught to write about them in their own voice. Students join us with a range of GCSE grades, so each course begins by securing the foundations before building towards the independent analysis and argument the final exams require.

In keeping with our Salesian ethos, teachers know their students well and work closely with them across the two years. By the end of Year 13, we want students to be able to organise their own ideas, handle difficult material and write with confidence.

How we teach

Year 12 begins by consolidating core knowledge: in Literature, the basics of dramatic and poetic analysis; in Language, the language levels and methods that underpin the course. The first texts and topics are chosen to be accessible, so students build confidence before the demands increase.

Students then move from studying a single text or topic to comparing and combining them, and from short, supported answers to full essays. In both courses, teachers model the thinking and writing first and guide students through practice before they work on their own.

Regular assessments and mock exams (PPEs) show teachers and students where the gaps are and what to work on next. Assessments guide progress; they are not a final verdict.

Both courses include a Non-Exam Assessment (NEA), where students follow their own interests, with guidance from their teacher through drafting and redrafting.

English Literature (Eduqas)

Across Years 12 and 13, students study modern and early modern drama, Shakespeare, and twentieth-century and Romantic poetry.

Year 12

Term	Focus	What students study
Autumn	Foundations of Modern Drama and Poetry	Williams's A Streetcar Named Desire and the poetry of Carol Ann Duffy
Spring	Extending Drama and Poetry	Webster's The Duchess of Malfi, compared with Streetcar, and the poetry of Philip Larkin, compared with Duffy
Summer	Consolidation and Comparison	Revision and comparison of both plays and both poets, and early preparation for the Non-Exam Assessment

Year 13

Term	Focus	What students study
Autumn	Shakespeare and Romantic Poetry	Shakespeare's The Tempest and the poetry of William Blake, alongside independent work on the Non-Exam Assessment
Spring	Review and Synthesis	Revision of all set texts, with a focus on evaluative essay questions and literary criticism
Summer	Unseen Texts and Final Review	Unseen poetry and prose, and final revision of all set texts before the exams

For the Non-Exam Assessment, every student studies F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby and chooses a second text to compare with it.

English Language (AQA)

Across Years 12 and 13, students learn how language works and how it varies and changes: from the core methods of linguistic analysis, through language diversity, to language change, public discourse and child language acquisition.

Year 12

Term	Focus	What students study
Autumn	Language Levels and Diversity	The core methods of linguistic analysis (including lexis, semantics, grammar and phonology), followed by language and identity, covering accent, dialect and gender
Spring	Diversity, Discourse and Textual Analysis	Language and social class, age and occupation, then analysis of modern and older texts, and an introduction to language discourses and World Englishes
Summer	Non-Exam Assessment Foundations	Original writing coursework, using professional style models, and the start of the language investigation, with data collected over the summer break

Year 13

Term	Focus	What students study
Autumn	Language Change and Child Language	The history and status of English over time, and how children develop speech, reading and writing
Spring	Discourse and Review	Language discourses and public debate, revision of diversity and change topics, and the start of exam preparation
Summer	Final Review	Revision targeted at each student's gaps before the final exams

The Non-Exam Assessment has two parts: a piece of original writing based on a chosen style model, with a commentary reflecting on it, and a language investigation that each student designs and carries out.

Supporting all students

As at Key Stages 3 and 4, every student follows the same course and studies the same texts; teachers adapt how it is taught, not what is taught. Where individual students need extra help, this is provided in line with the school's SEND policy and reviewed regularly, so that support builds towards independence over time.

Finding out more

Full details of the units, texts and assessment in each year are available from the English department. Parents, carers and prospective students who would like more information about our Key Stage 5 English courses can contact the school office, who will direct enquiries to the Head of English. For questions about an individual student's progress, their class teacher is always the first point of contact.