English

Head of Department: Mrs E Baxter-Smallwood

Context

The English department consists of eight specialist teachers, all of whom have a passion for bringing English to life for the students at Longdendale. The department has a shared vision of creating an engaging curriculum which ensures all students achieve to the best of their ability in English.

Curriculum

Students in all year groups are working towards sitting both English Language and English Literature GCSEs with the Edexcel exam board. To this end, all students begin studying skills applicable to both subjects from the beginning of Year 7.

The curriculum is designed as a continuum; students begin practising and developing the skills required for their GCSEs in Year 7 and return to these skill areas throughout each year of study at Longdendale. In this way, they are able to revise and refine their skills with more complex texts, extracts and tasks as they move through the curriculum.

There is a strong focus on using English to promote complex discussion, understanding and analysis through exploring thought-provoking issues such as the Holocaust, British Values, how language can change the world and cultural identity. Learning is built around a core literary text, with the reading inspiring thought-provoking discussion, complex analysis and composition of various writing styles.

For curriculum guides for English, please visit our Curriculum by Year Group pages.

Learning Journey

Assessment

In English, students are assessed three times in each half term, with a half-termly Masters of Recall Test to assess knowledge and two Mastery Application Tasks to assess how students independently apply their knowledge.

Homework

Students will be expected to complete Sparx reader for their English homework, with students in Year 10 and Year 11 completing additional revision based activities too.

Enrichment Opportunities

Students are offered various enrichment opportunities in English. Annually, we run a trip to London, where students get the opportunity to see a West End theatre production, a Shakespeare play at the Globe Theatre and a Shakespeare theatre workshop. As well as this, students experience other London attractions, such as the London Eye, a Thames river cruise and exploring Covent Garden.

Wherever possible, we try to offer a variety of enrichment opportunities, including theatre trips, aspirational college experiences and enrichment days in school such as our Murder Mystery day.

We aim to promote and celebrate literary events across the school, including inviting poets in to perform for National Poetry Day, celebrating literary events such as Banned Books Week or World Book Day as well as commemorating national events such as Black History Month, Holocaust Memorial Day and International Women's Day.