English
KS3 Curriculum Intent and Rationale:
At The Mandeville School, we have built our curriculum around the explorations of what it means to be human; what are the issues we as humans face and overcome? What are the threats to our species? Our Key Stage 3 curriculum is designed to lay the foundations for every student to be able to answer these questions and many more; championing their voice as being important in the shaping of tomorrow’s world.
By implementing a spiral curriculum, learners are encouraged to revisit key concepts building on prior knowledge and increasing their confidence as they approach new and challenging texts scheme after scheme, year after year.
Year 7 begin their studies with an examination of the big issues young people face in the world such as climate change, social media and prejudice. Studying key influential speakers such as Greta Thunberg and Emma Watson challenge students’ understandings of the world they are living in. Continuing the theme of prejudice, our novel study of ‘Ghost Boys’ is an exploration of discrimination and racial bias in a modern society helping students to make appropriate links to world events. Students in Year 7 also encounter a broad range of genres and text types in their first year at The Mandeville School.
Year 8 students deepen their studies by focusing on the human condition through the power of voice with our ‘Strong Women’ unit which uses ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ as it’s central text. Here students are tasked with understanding how the voice of women has been altered over the course of time and what this means to their position in society today. The unit gives way to a ‘Literature Across Time’ programme detailing texts from Chaucer all the way to Carol Ann Duffy in the present. It is rigorous unit designed to help students question the way ideas have been recorded over hundreds of centuries.
Our Year 9 curriculum invites students to consider challenging topics such as cloning and totalitarianism as we study extracts from ‘Never Let Me Go’, ‘A Brave New World’ and ‘1984’; helping them to establish their own voice and beliefs which will guide them through both current and future world issues. The curriculum for Key Stage 3 students culminates with an exploration of the themes and moral dilemmas ‘Frankenstein’ evokes within us. This novel helps to prepare students for the rigour of their 19th Century study in Key Stage 4.
At The Mandeville School, we are unashamedly ambitious and strive to not only meet the National Curriculum but to exceed it in many ways. As such, we use our curriculum we expose students to Shakespeare in each year group, beginning with an exploration of key Shakespearean character types. Through the Year 8 study of ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ students are exposed to the conventions of a comedic play whilst also addressing prejudice and the voice of women building on their foundations from Years 7 and 8. Year 9 study ‘Romeo and Juliet’ to unpick complex relationships building on the concepts of honour and respect which prepare them for their Key Stage 4 Shakespeare study.
KS4 Curriculum Intent and Rationale:
The KS4 English curriculum builds on the knowledge and skills our pupils acquire through our KS3 curriculum. We follow the AQA specification for both English Language and Literature.
Year 10 is Literature heavy to enable students’ exposure to aspects of the human condition. This allows for frequent interleaved revision during Year 11. All lessons have retrieval activities and explicit vocabulary to enhance students’ understanding of the texts. Context also is key to students critical thinking skills.
As we expect students to have absorbed a range of skills and knowledge in KS3, KS4 is about elevating these skills in a more critical and exploratory way. Aspects of developing thesis arguments and essay structure are more explicitly taught with higher level writing skills.
A core focus is placed of crafting and accuracy as students will enter KS4 with a confidence with their ideas; KS4 crafts these.
English is the foundations for all careers and is a key life skill. Through combining these skills with an understanding of the world, we know students will believe they can achieve in school and subsequently succeed in life.
Learning Journeys
Curriculum Maps
Year 11 Revision Materials
- A Christmas Carol Checklist
- An Inspector Calls Checklist
- Macbeth Checklist
- Language Checklist
- Power and Conflict Checklist
