The English Department offers a lively approach to the subject. One of our key aims is to engender a love of reading, as well as providing pupils with the ability to communicate successfully in their writing, verbally and on screen with enthusiasm and accuracy. Students encounter a host of different forms of writing and practise their own writing skills for different audiences and purposes. The department aims to contribute to the making of articulate, literate, creative and cultured young people able to think critically and enjoy texts of all kinds. The sponsored reading event is also popular with students.
The English Curriculum is supplemented by reading and creative writing clubs, creative film making sessions, a film club, drama groups, and an abundance of school trips. The annual Poetry Live event is always popular with Year 11 students. A new School Anthology was collated this year, celebrating students’ independent writing across the key stages. We also endeavour to enter competitions appealing to students strengths. Recent competition entries include ‘Digital Media’, a Worcestershire inter schools film competition, Channel 4 No Smoking Ads campaign, National Sky News Young Journalist award and the Tower Poetry Competitions.
Key Stage 3
Students in year 7 and 8 follow a structured programme of study. They encounter fiction, non-fiction, prose, drama, poetry, personal writing and skill based grammar work. The new ‘Unlocking Learning’ based courses allow students to follow thematic skills based on schemes of work alongside other curriculum subjects.
Year 7 and 8 students also take part in the renaissance reading programme. This is a personalised reading scheme that successfully gets students reading and develops their reading skills.
Key Stage 4
In Year 9 students complete a Foundation GCSE year where they are introduced to the key reading, writing and speaking and listening skills through thematic schemes of work. These focus on a range of texts from work from the 16th Century to modern day contemporary fiction. Students are prepared for all the key assessment objectives required for GCSE in line with the new English Curriculum specifications.
Years 10 and 11 students work towards separate GCSEs in english Language and English Literature and digital communication. In Year 10 a variety of both written work and Speaking and Listening assessments are completed in line with the course specifications. In Year 11, students are prepared for Literature and Language examinations,which are compleated in year 11. Students study the work of celebrated writers from a GCSE Anthology, they read and analyse Media texts and write creatively for different audiences.
The specification we teach for GCSE English Language and Literature is AQA Specification A.
Key Stage 5
At Haybridge, we offer students the opportunity to study English Language and English Literature at ‘A’ Level.
The previous 6-Unit A-Level has been replaced with a more streamlined 4-Unit A-level. This means that in each year there is more time to engage with texts and the English language, helping students develop their skills of communication and interpretation that are so valued by employers in a wide range of fields. A Level English at Haybridge is thriving and we have a very high success rate. Since the introduction of English Language to the KS5 curriculum in 2002, results have steadily improved, with many AS students achieving full marks in many Units in 2007. English Literature at Haybridge has always been tremendously successful. Literature students in 2008 attained an excellent set of results and we look forward to building upon this success with the introduction of the new Literature Specifications. The specifications we teach for both Language and Literature are AQA Specification B.