Reading is at the heart of our curriculum

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

Our Reading Strategy

1. Pre-Reading - Before reading, students are given the key vocabulary needed to access the text, including word origins, 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.

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 ‘Faster Read’ where students read a full novel in the opening weeks having great discussions along the way. This immersive and teacher-led reading has been popular with students, repositioning reluctant readers into feeling and acting like accomplished readers through sustained, uninterrupted engagement.

 Five ideas - narrative, rhetoric, genre, influence and metaphor - are returned to across all three years, each time through more demanding texts, so students build on what they have already learned rather than meeting each idea only once.

Writing is taught through a staged process that develops from sentence-level control in Year 7 to sustained, whole-text argument by Year 9. Students also take part in a Key Stage 3-wide reading programme, in which they read and respond to a piece of world literature roughly every three weeks throughout the three years, alongside the texts studied in lessons.

Year 7

Term	Focus	What students study
Autumn	Crafting Viewpoint and Voice	Persuasive speeches by contemporary public figures, studied for rhetoric and structure, and how to establish and maintain a clear viewpoint in non-fiction writing
Spring	Foundations of Story	A study of poetry from around the world and a scheme exploring heroes and villains in fiction
Summer	Exploring Meaning through Story	A contemporary novel and Shakespeare's The Tempest, alongside poetry exploring protest and social themes

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 19th-century Gothic writing
Spring	The Art of Rhetoric	A political allegory novel, studied alongside its historical context
Summer	The Construction of Tragedy	Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet and a modern stage play, studied together, 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	Dystopian Fiction	A contemporary dystopian novel, alongside extracts from the wider dystopian tradition
Spring	Moral Complexity	A modern tragedy and a verse novel, studied for character, form and moral ambiguity
Summer	Shakespeare and Rhetoric	Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, studied alongside political speeches and protest poetry

 

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 is taught the same ambitious curriculum; texts and tasks are not simplified for any group. Where individual students need additional support — for example through adapted resources or additional support — 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

Key Stage 4 English continues the same ambitious approach to reading and writing that students have built across Key Stage 3, while steadily shifting focus towards the demands of the GCSE English Language and English Literature examinations. In Year 10, our priority is GCSE Literature: this keeps the enjoyment of English at the heart of the curriculum for as long as possible and reflects the approach taken at Key Stage 3, while exam-focused revision and practice is reserved for Year 11. This does not mean Language is set aside - the analytical and evaluative skills the Language exams require are built continuously through our study and discussion of Literature texts. In Year 11, students move through a structured cycle of Language and Literature study, building towards a sustained period of revision and exam practice.

Our approach

1. Robust, challenging reading - Students read whole texts in full rather than relying on extracts or summaries. The vocabulary and context needed to access each text is taught explicitly before and during reading, so that the challenge students face is the ideas and language of the text itself.

2. Explicit teaching of knowledge and skill - Both the content knowledge students need - plot, character, context - and the exam skills they must apply - analysing structure and language, evaluating writers' methods, constructing an argument - are taught directly and revisited regularly across the two years, so that students build genuine control of both.

3. Discussion and modelling - Teachers model analytical thinking and writing, showing students what a strong response looks like and how to arrive at one. Structured classroom discussion routines give students the chance to test, articulate and refine their own interpretations out loud before they commit them to writing.

4. Independent retrieval practice with Carousel Learning - Students use the Carousel Learning platform - particularly during Year 11 revision - to build a regular habit of low-stakes quizzing, spaced retrieval and self-marking, developing the independence to identify and close their own gaps in knowledge.

Our team of experienced English teachers bring a genuine breadth of interests and backgrounds to their teaching and share a real passion and enthusiasm for the subject that inspires students of all abilities. We want students to take this mentality on board too: GCSE English is a marathon, not a sprint, and progress is built steadily and securely over the two years. Assessments along the way are there to guide that journey - each one is a signal of what to work on next, not a final verdict.

Supporting all students

Every student is taught the same ambitious GCSE curriculum; texts and tasks are not simplified for any group. Where individual students need additional support - for example through adapted resources or additional adult support - this is provided in line with the school's SEND policy and reviewed regularly, so that support builds towards independence over time.

Key Stage 4 English at Thornleigh Salesian College

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 1.
Autumn 2	Language Paper 1 Reading and Writing	Language Paper 1 reading and writing, alongside revision of the poetry anthology.
Spring 1	Language Paper 2 Reading and Writing	Language Paper 2, alongside revision of A Christmas Carol and Macbeth.
Spring 2	Drama and Poetry Revision	Language reading and writing revision, alongside An Inspector Calls and poetry anthology.
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 confident, independent readers, writers and thinkers

Every A-Level English course at Thornleigh is designed as a clear, step-by-step journey from GCSE into advanced study. Students join us from all starting points, and every course begins by securing the foundations before building steadily towards the demands of full independent analysis and argument. Guided by our Salesian ethos, teachers work closely alongside students throughout the two years, through staged mentoring, modelling and regular feedback, so that each student develops the confidence to organise their own ideas, handle challenging material, and write with a genuine, authoritative voice.

We offer two A-Level pathways in English: English Literature (Eduqas) and English Language (AQA). Both are built around the same principles of steady progression, close teacher support, and a strong emphasis on independent thought.

Our approach

1. Secure foundations first — Year 12 begins by consolidating the core skills and knowledge students need, whether that is the fundamentals of dramatic and poetic analysis, or the language levels and analytical methods that underpin the Language course. Texts and topics are chosen deliberately to be accessible, so that early study builds confidence rather than causing early setbacks.

2. Progressive complexity — Students move from single-text or single-topic study to comparison and synthesis, and from short, scaffolded responses to full extended essays, mirroring the demands of the final examinations. The same structure of modelling, guided practice, and independent application is used consistently across both courses.

3. Embedded assessment for progress — Regular internally set assessments and formal Progress and Performance Evaluations (PPEs) allow teachers to track development closely, address gaps and misconceptions promptly, and give students a clear sense of what they need to do to progress.

4. Independent, personal work — Both courses include a substantial Non-Exam Assessment (NEA), through which students pursue their own interests and voice, supported closely by their teachers throughout the drafting and reflection process.

This routine of secure foundations, staged progression and close teacher support is used consistently across both years of each course, whatever the text or topic being studied.

English Literature (Eduqas)

Across Years 12 and 13, students study modern and early modern drama, twentieth-century poetry, Shakespeare and Romantic poetry, alongside a full Non-Exam Assessment built around comparative wider reading of their own choosing.

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, studied for character, theme and technique
Spring	Extending Drama and Poetry	Webster's The Duchess of Malfi, twinned with Streetcar, alongside the poetry of Philip Larkin in comparison with Duffy
Summer	Consolidation and Comparison	Thematic revision and comparison of both plays and both poets, alongside 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 continued independent work on the Non-Exam Assessment
Spring	Review and Synthesis	Consolidation of all four set texts, with a growing focus on evaluative essay questions and comparative literary criticism
Summer	Unseen Texts and Final Review	Strategies for unseen poetry and prose, and final review of all set texts ahead of the examinations

The Non-Exam Assessment uses F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby as a shared foundation text, with students selecting their own pairing text to explore themes that genuinely interest them.

English Language (AQA)

Across Years 12 and 13, students build a systematic understanding of how language works — from the core levels of linguistic analysis through language variation and diversity, to language change over time, public discourse and child language acquisition — alongside a Non-Exam Assessment combining original creative writing and an independent language investigation.

Year 12

Term	Focus	What students’ study
Autumn	Language Levels and Diversity	The core frameworks of linguistic analysis (lexis, semantics, grammar, phonology and more), followed by language and identity, covering accent, dialect and gender
Spring	Diversity, Discourse and Textual Analysis	Language and social class, age and occupation, moving into textual analysis of modern and older texts and an introduction to language discourses and World Englishes
Summer	Non-Exam Assessment Foundations	The original writing coursework, using professional style models, alongside the beginnings of the independent language investigation, including data collection 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 child language acquisition covering speech, reading and writing development
Spring	Advanced Discourse and Review	Advanced language discourses and public debate, consolidation of diversity and change topics, and a first phase of exam-focused review
Summer	Final Review	Targeted revision based on individual student needs ahead of the terminal examinations

The Non-Exam Assessment combines a piece of original writing, produced in response to a chosen style model with an accompanying reflective commentary, and an independent language investigation designed and carried out by each student.

Supporting all students

Every student follows the same ambitious course; texts and topics are not simplified for any group. Where individual students need additional support, 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 covered in each year group 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.