English

The English curriculum at SMS reflects the fact that our school is a secondary SEND school. As such the curriculum has to be adaptable to meet the needs of a very broad range of students in terms of need and ability. To this end the KS3 curriculum is flexible and texts taught to a particular group will reflect the needs of the group and be pitched to engage and enthuse pupils at their level as well as to provide an appropriate level of challenge.  

Broadly speaking the intent is to foster and develop a range of skills and attributes, some specific to English, but most of which necessarily go across the whole school curriculum.  

It is hoped that these skills will allow the majority of our students the opportunity to have access to and undertake GCSE English Language and English Literature courses at the end of KS 4. 

The Intent of our KS 3 curriculum is to offer students the chance to study a variety of Literature that we hope will engage them and instil a love of story but also expose them to a range of texts from different cultures and traditions, such as ‘The Selkie’ (Year 7) and ‘Journey to Jo’burg’ (Year 8) which explore issues such as discrimination, offering the chance for debate and cross-curricular learning. The study of Chaucer - the comparison of two of his famous Canterbury Tales - allows students to access some of our great literature from the past and the chance to see how the English language has changed overtime. The light-touch study of a Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream further builds this cultural capital and lays the foundations for the Shakespeare study as part of their GCSE course in KS 4.  

Over-arching skills  

Independence  

The majority of our students enter SMS in Year 7 either having had 1:1 or Small Group support often outside of the classroom for all or part of their working day within their primary context. We have to begin the process of moving them from dependence to independence, balancing the level of support we offer on the one hand with developing their independence and resilience on the other.  

Resilience   

This is a key skill which is built up over time. Our English Schemes of Work gradually make more demands on the students as they progress through KS3 and into KS4. Texts are carefully chosen to engage the students in terms of their content and the opportunity they afford for reading, writing and communication skills to be developed. For example, The Twits is studied in Year 7 as the humour and simple language make it both engaging but also accessible to Year 7. However, by Year 9 texts such as ‘Boy in the Striped Pyjamas’ are offered which are much more demanding both in terms of their content and the ideas they explore as well as the length and complexity of the language used.  

Confidence  

Confidence is built through a gradual build-up of skills through careful scaffolding and support and continual practice. At the end of Year 7 students are put into sets so that work can more readily be pitched at just the right level of challenge to consolidate and build on skills and allow for confidence to grow as they feel successful with their learning and progress.  

Implementation  

SOW are differentiated and make use of a range of learning styles to cover the central skills and curricular targets at differing levels of challenge so learning can be pitched and taught at a level appropriate to the students. Lessons are structured to support students through the use of the Shared Reading of texts and working on ‘small canvas’ to develop and consolidate reading skills. When writing students are shown models that exemplify the appropriate form and style and the teacher will also model writing with the students in Shared Writing sessions. We believe scaffolding support at the correct time and the correct level will enable our students to move from dependence to independence overtime. What they can do with help today, they will be able to do for themselves tomorrow. 

Click here for the English Curriculum KS3 Map

Intent 

The Intent of our KS 4 curriculum is to offer students the chance to study the content for, and to develop the skills to undertake, GCSE English Literature and GCSE English Language and/or Entry Level English over a two-year course of study.  

Overview  

For GCSE Students will give a personal response to texts and simple evaluation of characters. They will learn to present and argue a point of view and use textual references to support what they say. They will also learn to comment on the writer’s use of language and develop and sustain a line of argument. They will study the social and historical context of the texts we read. They will learn to structure and communicate their ideas in a range of Creative, Persuasive and Transactional Writing.  

Implementation 

In class the focus is on using extracts as shared reading and then close reading and text-marking to hone reading skills such as locating and retrieving information, making inferences and commenting on the writer’s use of language and simple literary devices and their effect.  

Students will develop written responses to the text using given frameworks to scaffold and support them to structure a developed response. They will be encouraged to explain and analyse language using direct textual references to support and illustrate their comments. Overtime students will be encouraged to structure their own responses without a given framework.  

We recognise that undertaking dual-entry English Language and Literature is demanding in terms of coverage and the challenge of reading and understanding the texts. As such it is often the case that the study of Shakespeare is postponed to the start of the second year of their course when students are fresh.  

Although the curriculum is challenging we feel the cultural capital the Literature course affords our students warrants the time and effort spent, especially as our students seem to readily engage with the stories and the characters.  

 Key Skills  

GCSE Literature Assessment Objectives: 

AO1: Read, understand and give a personal response to a text. Use textual references to support and illustrate interpretations. 

AO2: Analyse the writer’s use of language, form and structure for effect.  

 AO3: Show understanding of the Social and Historical Context. 

AO4: Express ideas clearly and precisely. Use accurate spelling, punctuation and grammar.  

GCSE Language Assessment Objectives: 

Reading: 

AO1: Identify and interpret explicit and implicit information and ideas.  

AO2: Comment on the writer’s use of language and structure for effect and to influence readers. 

AO3: Compare writer’s ideas and perspectives across two or more texts. 

AO4: Evaluate texts critically and support this with appropriate textual references. 

Writing: 

AO5: Communicate clearly, effectively and imaginatively. Organise ideas and information coherently. 

AO6: Use vocabulary and sentences for clarity and effect with accurate spelling and punctuation.  

Spoken Word: 

AO7: Demonstrate presentational skills when giving a presentation to others in a formal setting. 

AO8: Listen and respond appropriately to others in debates including answering questions when giving a presentation.  

AO9: Use Standard English appropriately in speeches and presentations. 

Click here for the English Curriculum KS4 Map

English Language Eduqas: C700 Assessment

English Literature AQA: 8702 Assessment

ENGLISH - Exam Board: OCR - Qualification: Entry Level

Entry Level English qualifications are designed to give learners the skills to operate confidently, effectively and independently in education, work and everyday life. They have been created in response to employers’ perceptions that many learners are not achieving a sufficiently firm grounding in the basics.

The aims of these qualifications are to develop learner understanding and skills in:

• Speaking, Listening and Communication – participate in discussions
• Reading – read and understand short, simple texts
• Writing – Write short text with awareness of the intended audience

Assessment