This intent is very much the core of the English faculty ethos at HCCS. Our intention is to help our learners to become talented writers, readers and communicators. We seek to provide our learners with the knowledge and skills necessary to succeed in all aspects of their lives and we do this through a creative and collaborative curriculum plan. In English language, we undertake to enable our learners to navigate the world successfully through language choice and presentation. We seek to inspire our students to be thoughtful in their communicative devices, considering their audience, purpose and intended tone. In English literature, we endeavour to open the world up to our learners and to encourage them to consider deeper questions of humanity through a range of literature.

We have designed our curriculum to allow our learners to go on a journey of exploration and discovery. We prepare students for more in depth questioning and analysis in Key Stage 4. Our curriculum allows our learners to explore how conflict, relationships, status, social responsibility and such ideas are woven throughout literature and can impact every piece we read and write. We also aim to develop a keen sense of context amongst our learners, guiding them to understand how relevant the background details can be when exploring a text or crafting it yourself.

Implementation

Shared planning is the heart of what we do within the English faculty at HCCS. By outlining a clear knowledge and skill base that we strive to cultivate within our learners, each English teacher is afforded the opportunity to prepare lessons and activities that are bespoke to their learners, ensuring an enjoyable and fruitful experience for each individual.

Our curriculum offers a balance of fiction and non fiction study, both reading and exploring, and writing. We consistently review the literary texts we study with our students to ensure an appropriate and purposeful curriculum offer. In addition, we aim to offer our students experience of texts written over the course of at least the last half century.

As a faculty, we consistently seek opportunities to liaise with outside agencies and participate in subject knowledge advancement opportunities so we are able to continuously implement an outstanding curriculum for our learners.

Impact

Learners in English are happy, enthused and successful. In any English classroom, an observer will be met by smiling faces, keen participation and thoughtful discussion. The quality of teaching and learning in English has long been praised and continues to be so. We have a wonderful mix of experiences within the team which ensures that all learners can find common ground with one of their English teachers. Uptake at A Level is good and is rising again after a national dip. Results are excellent and have been for many years. The curriculum allows our learners to feel comfortable at the same time as feeling passionate and challenged and the impact of this can be seen in any English classroom and on any results slip.