Teaching Staff

• A Donnison (Director of Learning)
• M.Barnfield
• E.Dawson  (Literacy Lead)
• S. Gowland
• T.Graham (KS4 Lead)
• S Kelly
• D. Leatherland
• J Owen (KS3 Lead)
• S.Russell
• M Stead
• M. Thwaites
• C Wall

Department Information

The English Department at King James I Academy want all students to experience an English Curriculum that is varied, interesting, creative, imaginative, challenging and engaging.  We want the students we teach to be enthused by our own passion for a subject that is the foundation stone of so many other subjects as it encompasses elements of history, religious education, philosophy, ethics, geography, politics, psychology, sociology and the media. 

We want to empower the students we teach to think critically, analytically and empathetically to enable them to evolve into confident, creative, and effective communicators who can research, theorise and interpret independently allowing them to make informed choices, express mature opinions and ultimately encouraging them to be successful learners and responsible citizens.

As we, as a team, celebrate English and impart our passion for the rich and diverse variety and complexity of Language and Literature, we aim to inspire students to read widely and for pleasure, whilst immersing themselves in viewpoints and perspectives from different cultures and times that will enrich and develop their knowledge and thinking. 

All staff foster the enjoyment of English through a broad curriculum built on the premise of challenge to facilitate rapid progress through a variety of learning experiences.  We want our students to be engaged in a dialogue that builds confidence so that they can direct their own learning; identifying their own strengths and areas for development and supporting them in their progress.

The love of the subject is nurtured as students are provided with authentic, meaningful and relevant learning experiences that increase motivation and ensure that they are supported to develop the skills that enable them to compete effectively in the national race for success.

Key Stage 4

AQA English Language

Paper 1 Explorations in Creative Reading and Writing: 50% of final grade

Paper 2 Writer’s Viewpoints and Perspectives: 50% of final grade

Non-examined assessment Speaking and Listening

Year 10

The AQA GCSE English Language Course offers students in Year 10 the opportunity to draw upon a range of high quality, challenging texts and engage with creative as well as real and relevant contexts.  Students will have opportunities to develop higher-order reading skills and critical thinking skills that encourage enquiry into different topics and themes. The course of study ensures that students can read fluently and write effectively.    Students will encounter a wide range of extracts from the 19^th, 20^th and 21^st centuries, with the focus in Year 10 being on the writer’s craft in more modern texts from prose fiction of the 20^th and 21^st centuries, although they will also encounter texts from across a range of genres and types. The course in Year 10 establishes approaches to reading unfamiliar texts with confidence and independence.   Students are expected to use textual evidence to develop their own critical response to texts, with a particular emphasis on evaluation.  Towards the end of Year 10, these skills are developed further as students look at bridging the gap from reading to writing.  They focus on examining how writers have used structure, organisation, style and perspective in narrative and descriptive writing before applying these skills to their own writing.

Year 11

The AQA GCSE English Language Course in Year 11 provides students with the  opportunity to secure and  revise the key skills established in Year 10, but the course of study in this final year before exams, extends to focus on the more challenging area of 19^th Century texts with a focus on non-fiction and literary non-fiction.  Again, students will continue to encounter a further range of extracts from the, 20^th and 21^st centuries from across a range of genres and types of texts.  As the variety of texts broadens in Year 11, so does the level of challenge and skill, as students are given the opportunity to experience a wide range of viewpoints and perspectives across genres and time.  They are challenged to synthesise what they have read and to compare texts demonstrating a critical understanding of what they have read.  As students are again given the opportunity to draw on examples of what they read to bridge the gap between their writing, the focus in Year 11 is upon establishing a voice and adapting their style and register for a particular audience and form.  This is further developed as students are expected to present effectively and confidently for a designated audience.

AQA English Literature

Paper 1 Shakespeare and the 19^th Century Novel:  50% of final grade

Paper 2 Modern Prose/Drama, Poetry and Unseen Poetry: 50% of the final grade

Year 10

The AQA GCSE English Literature Course offers students in Year 10 the opportunity to read a range of classic literature.  Students will have opportunities to read widely and for pleasure and through the study of literature they will have the chance to develop culturally. Students will develop the skills of reading in depth, critically and evaluatively so that they can begin to discuss and explain their understanding and ideas. The course of study encourages students to appreciate the depth and power of the English literary heritage.  Students in Year 10 begin to acquire a wide vocabulary, including grammatical, literary and linguistic terminology, which will enable them to criticise and analyse what they read. The course in Year 10 establishes and builds the following knowledge and skills: critical reading and (literal and inferential) comprehension,  evaluation of a writer’s choice of vocabulary, grammatical and structural features; comparing texts; producing clear and coherent texts; using Standard English.

Year 11

The AQA GCSE English Literature Course in Year 11 offers students the opportunity to revise the range of classic literature they studied in Year 10.  Students will have further opportunities to read widely and for pleasure and they will have the chance to apply the knowledge they have acquired through the study of literature to their own thinking. Students will secure the skills of reading in depth, critically and evaluatively so that they can discuss and explain their understanding and ideas in detail. The course of study in Year 11 continues to encourage students to appreciate the depth and power of the English literary heritage.  Students in Year 11 further extend a wide and academic vocabulary, including grammatical, literary and linguistic terminology, which they use to criticise and analyse what they read effectively and precisely. The course in Year 11 anchors the following knowledge and skills: critical reading and (literal and inferential) comprehension,  evaluation of a writer’s choice of vocabulary, grammatical and structural features; comparing texts; producing clear and coherent texts; using Standard English.

Learning Journeys