English

From their first English lesson in Year Seven, Stanchester pupils are introduced to the fact that they are literary critics and apprentice writers who have the right to experience reading and writing a wide range of texts from across the British and Global canon. Our curriculum at both Key Stages has been designed not only to enable pupils to become successful scholars of English, but also to enthuse them with a passion for literature and an understanding that language = power.

English - KS3

Our Key Stage 3 curriculum has been carefully sequenced to ensure pupils are repeatedly exposed the core substantive and disciplinary knowledge that they need in order to be successful at GCSE and beyond, and we make explicit the links between texts studied in different years to support our pupils to build schemas of subject specific knowledge they will be able to utilise in future studies. Our curriculum has a focus on depth over breadth, allowing us not only to ensure we are able to secure mastery of the foundational concepts that are so integral to success in future studies within our subject, but also to provide pupils with opportunities for taking their learning beyond the classroom with curriculum-linked activities such as watching plays we study; taking part in speech and creative writing competitions; and literacy based community outreach projects.

GCSE English Literature and Language - KS4

At Key Stage 4, we study ‘Romeo and Juliet’, ‘A Christmas Carol’, ‘An Inspector Calls’ and the Power and Conflict Poetry cluster with AQA. These seminal texts allow pupils to explore ideas about class, gender, power, conflict, and humanity – to name but a few. Through exploring these texts as a literary critic, we encourage pupils to become independent thinkers who are able to form and defend an opinion, and through both the Literature and Language curriculums we support pupils to understand the inherent power and privilege that command of language can bring us, and to develop their own skills in these areas so that they might enjoy that power and privilege themselves.