English

At Merchants’ Academy Primary, we are driven by the knowledge that, ‘Reading for pleasure is the single most important indicator of a child’s future success’.

(Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development 2002).

Phonics.

Our children's reading journey begins in Nursery. We use the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds scheme to support children's early language development: to teach children phonemic awareness and oral blending through a arange of activtities and games, which provies an excellent base from which to learn to read as soon as they start in Reception. From their first day in Reception, children begin to learn grapheme-phoneme correspondances (GPCs) so that they can build a bank of known GPCs to start to read words quickly.                                                                                          

Our literature spine runs from Nursery to Reception. Each cohort has a suite of core texts that will form the depth study for the academic year. These texts represent a promise from the school to every pupil that we serve. High-quality texts have been selected for their exceptional use of language; a commitment to ensuring children see a range of BAME (black, minority and ethnic) characters or authors, strong female representation; a range of heritage texts and texts which explore ethical, social or moral issues. These texts have been mapped carefully to ensure a breadth of experiences, authors, texts and themes is addressed across each year and Key Stage. In addition, there are core poems that each year group will study in detail. The literature spine has been harmonised with the wider curriculum, where appropriate. These ambitious texts immerse children in new worlds and introduce them to concepts, ideas, characters and places that they may not otherwise meet or experience. Texts are chosen thoughtfully: we want children to see themselves and their contemporary world in the literature they read, but also to be transported to other worlds and times so that they may learn about them and understand other viewpoints.

We have invested significant thought into curating a list of essential reads for our children which will build a ‘living library’ (Pie Corbett) inside a child’s mind. These texts range from classics which are deeply steeped in cultural consciousness; to contemporary award-winning texts; to texts that promote diversity and challenge stereotypes. This common bank of stories will shape our children’s view of the world; help them to explore emotions; inspire in them a love of reading and build a common bank of stories and experiences that bind our school community together.  We aim for all of these texts to leave a lasting impression and to provide the building blocks for further reading, learning and enjoyment, meaning children are ready for the next stage in their reading career.

We successfully bid for a generous donation from the Speilman Foundation to help us create a library worthy of inspiring our young readers. With a magical forest theme, it is designed to be a calming and inspiring space, filled with texts of all kinds to instill a love of reading. Our children LOVE their visits to the library  and our trusty children's Library leadership team help to open the library at break times.! 

Writing.

“Literacy unlocks the door to learning throughout life; is essential to development and health and opens the way for democratic participation, active participation and active citizenship.”

Kofi Annan 2017.

The most fundamental goal of the National Curriculum for English is for children to learn to communicate and engage with the world around them confidently and effectively. Our ambition is that pupils will learn to do so meaningfully and with purpose through the high-quality structures and strong ambition in the CUSP English Curriculum. The aim of CUSP Writing is to explicitly teach pupils the knowledge and competencies that they need about the different facets of writing and the writing process.  CUSP Writing synthesises the multiple aspects of knowledge and competency needed to write effectively and sequences these, using all that we know about cognitive science to ensure that pupils embed learning into the long-term memory. We know that pupils need a deep conceptual understanding of each key element of the writing curriculum before they can independently compose and execute high-quality extended outcomes. By breaking down the much larger objectives in the National Curriculum and ensuring that pupils systematically revisit these in multiple contexts, we are able to move them towards a depth of understanding that they can apply flexibly and confidently in a range of contexts. 

English at Merchants’ Academy curriculum intent

The English Curriculum at Merchants Academy is designed to inspire, challenge and engage our students.

We believe that we have a duty to close the vocabulary gap, improve oracy and offer students the cultural capital they need as well as providing them with the skills to be able to apply their knowledge to a range of situations.  We want our students to be prepared for the rigours of GCSEs and further study, but we also believe that our students deserve the opportunity to  be exposed to a wide range of modern and literary heritage texts, exploring the human condition and giving them the confidence to appreciate and explore literature with enthusiasm and to form and voice their own views on an ever changing world, finding self-belief and aspiration through their studies.

KS3 texts have been chosen to offer challenge, coverage of a broad range of periods of Literature and a range of human and social issues, building on the themes and issues explored at KS2 and preparing our students for KS4 and 5. The texts chosen tackle many of the issues raised in the GCSE and A-Level texts, such as: social justice and inequality, jealousy, revenge, friendship and loneliness, the supernatural, societal expectation, tyranny, violence, redemption and loss among many others.

We will develop students’ understanding of the human condition thematically as well as chronologically. In Year 7, we look at classical story-telling as the foundations for modern literature, exploring the concepts of heroes and villains and tying in with History’s exploration of classical civilization. We go onto look at dystopian society, considering heroism and villainy from a more modern perspective in The Hunger Games.  We also consider satire of heroism and villainy through Shakespeare.

In Year 8 we consider a society where science is revolting against religion, exploring challenges to morality and the development of the ideas of humanism, psychology and the supernatural as well as social issues such as women’s rights and inequality, through the study of 19^th Century Literature, preparing students for KS4, KS5 and beyond.  We build on Victorian questions about societal control, violence and manipulation with a more modern exploration of authoritarianism and rebellion in Animal Farm.  From there we explore societal expectation, control and rebellion whilst building knowledge of Shakespeare’s works through the study of Romeo and Juliet.

In Year 9 we look at heroism, patriotism and subversion through the Literature of War (again tying in with History), continuing to look at how society is organized through Of Mice and Men and finally studying morality, linking back to Greek Tragedy from Year 7, through A View from the Bridge.

We interleave reading, writing and oracy through Fortnightly Big Writes, fortnightly Accelerated Reader lessons and regular opportunities for Speaking and Listening, to producing learners who are thoughtful, critical, well-read and who have the confidence and articulacy to express themselves in any situation.

Our curriculum, as well as our delivery of it, is rooted in cognitive science.  Research regarding interleaving, retrieval practice, the ways in which we decode and comprehend the written word, the forgetting curve, cognitive load and working memory are all fundamental to the ways in which we have designed and the way in which we deliver the curriculum at Key Stages 3, 4 and 5, ensuring that pupils from all backgrounds are able to succeed.  

Course Title: English Literature
Exam Board: Eduqas
Qualification: A Level

About the course

The WJEC Eduqas A level in English literature encourages learners to develop their interest in and enjoyment of literature and literary studies as they:

• read widely and independently both set texts and others that they have selected
• for themselves
• engage critically and creatively with a substantial body of texts and ways of
• responding to them
• develop and effectively apply their knowledge of literary analysis and evaluation
• explore the contexts of the texts they are reading and others’ interpretations of
• undertake independent and sustained studies to deepen their appreciation and
• understanding of English literature, including its changing traditions.

This specification offers three components in discrete genres of study: poetry, drama and prose to allow learners to focus on the conventions and traditions of each genre in turn. A further component offers unseen prose and poetry to allow learners to focus separately on applying the skills of literary analysis acquired during the course as a whole.

Component 1:  Poetry

Section A: Poetry pre-1900 (open-book, clean copy)

One two-part question based on the reading of one pre-1900 poetry text from a prescribed list

Section B: Poetry post-1900 (open-book, clean copy)

One question from a choice of two based on the reading of two post-1900 poetry texts from a prescribed list

Contribution to final grade: 30%

How it is assessed: 2 hour written exam

Component 2:  Drama

Overview of content

Section A: Shakespeare (closed-book)

One two-part question based on the reading of one Shakespeare play from a prescribed list

Section B: Drama (closed-book) One question from a choice of two based on the reading of a pair of plays: one pre-1900 and one post-1900, from a prescribed list.

Contribution to final grade: 30%

How it is assessed: 2 hour written exam

Component 3:  Unseen texts

Section A: Unseen prose

One question from a choice of two, analysing an unseen passage of prose, taken from one of two prescribed periods for study

Section B: Unseen poetry

One question from a choice of two, analysing an unseen poem or poetry extract

Contribution to final grade: 20%

How it is assessed: 2 hour written exam

Component 4:  Prose Study

Overview of content:

One 2500-3500 word assignment based on the reading of two prose texts from different periods, one pre-2000 and one post- 2000, nominated by the Academy .

Contribution to final grade: 20%

How it is assessed: Coursework, internally assessed and externally moderated

For further information:

http://www.eduqas.co.uk/qualifications/english-literature/as-a-level/