‘Why This, Why Now?’
Our English curriculum is carefully sequenced as a seven-year learning journey from Year 7 to Year 13. Each year builds on what students have learned before, developing their knowledge, vocabulary and confidence as readers, writers and critical thinkers.
In Year 7, students explore identity, belonging and relationships, establishing strong foundations in reading, writing and literary analysis. In Year 8, this develops into a focus on power, responsibility and society, as students consider how individuals are shaped by the world around them. By Year 9, students engage with more complex ideas around gender, relationships, injustice and social responsibility, preparing them for the demands of GCSE English.
At Key Stage 4, students revisit and deepen these ideas through texts including Macbeth, An Inspector Calls and the Power and Conflict poetry anthology. They develop increasingly sophisticated interpretations of themes such as power, morality, conflict and responsibility, while strengthening the analytical writing skills required for GCSE success.
At Key Stage 5, students build on these foundations through the study of tragedy and social and political protest, engaging with more challenging texts, literary theory and critical perspectives.
Throughout the curriculum, important knowledge is deliberately revisited and extended. Students encounter Shakespeare across different genres, explore increasingly complex representations of power and identity, and develop from understanding characters and stories to confidently analysing writers’ ideas, methods and wider social commentary.
This careful sequencing ensures that students do not study texts or skills in isolation: each unit prepares them for what comes next, giving every student the knowledge and confidence to succeed at GCSE and, should they choose, continue their study of English at A-Level.