English
In the Curriculum
The value of English in the curriculum? What can I say? Without English, nothing. And without good English, nothing very well.
In studying English pupils develop skills in speaking, listening, reading and writing. Effective communication, both written and spoken, is at the heart of what we do. Pupils learn to express themselves creatively and imaginatively. They learn to become enthusiastic and critical readers of stories, poems and plays as well as non-fiction and media texts.
At Key Stage 3
Pupils study a wide variety of texts. Schemes of work are tailored to the requirements of the National Curriculum and the National Literacy Strategy and at the end of the Key Stage, in Year 9, pupils are prepared for the English SATs.
At Key Stage 4
All pupils are entered for English and the majority of pupils are also entered for English Literature at GCSE.
At Key Stage 5
English Literature is offered at both AS and A2 level and students are able to study, in detail, a variety of texts both contemporary and classical.
Details of our sixth form courses are held in the Sixth Form section of the site.
News
Gender Agenda
On Tuesday 6th July teachers and students attended a celebration and awards ceremony at The Nottingham Belfry Hotel to celebrate the success of a research project on narrowing the gender gap in English.
Year 9 Author Trip
Eight keen readers from Year 9 enjoyed listening to published author Samantha Mackintosh read from her novel 'Kisses for Lula' at Bilborough Library on Wednesday 16th June.
Examples of Student Work
Year 7 Poetry
Year 9 Stories
Students in one particular Year 9 class followed a scheme of work looking at story openings, experimenting with paragraphs, and using language inventively (with a particular focus on using adverbs, short sentences for effect, similes and semi-colons).
All students were given the first line of their story: 'It all started when I poked the German'. As you will tell from the collection, the range of responses was extraordinary. There's drama on the football field, haunting descriptions of life during World War 2, first days at school ... even fun with pigs.
Year 8 - 'The Snakestone' - Bullying Poems
James, the main character in 'The Snakestone', is bullied at various points during the play. One class wrote their own poems about bullying, before choosing their three favourites to be added to this website.