English

English at High Tunstall College of Science
 
Staffing Structure
 
Teaching Staff:
 
Mr M Nesbitt          Faculty Leader English
Ms S Maidens         Deputy Headteacher
Mr P Murray
Miss K Norman
Ms I Golightly
Mrs R James         
Ms J Dickinson
Ms K Holdsworth
Miss S Murphy
English: Key Stage 3
 
In Years 7, 8 and 9 students are set in half year groups A and B, each half being made up of students from four or five tutor groups. Students are set according to ability and potential, with reviews of sets taking place at regular intervals. In English, Year 7 students are initially set according to KS2 SATs scores, while in Years 8 and 9 we set using the previous year’s results and teacher assessments.
 
Homework
Homework is set once a week.  Students will be given a variety of tasks throughout the year to enhance their learning of topics covered in class. 
In Years 7 and 8, lessons follow the Secondary National Strategy, with En1 (Speaking and Listening), EN2 (Reading and Understanding) and En3 (Writing) all being assessed over this period. In Years 7, 8 and 9, students will experience a range of texts, both fiction and non-fiction, developing their ability to analyse the writing of others. They will also be given opportunities to write in a range of styles, and for a range of purposes.
 
In Years 7 and 8, students will complete APP (Assessing Pupil Progress) units, which are designed to assess either Reading or Writing. These units will help inform the assessment level students are awarded each term, and allow teachers to review the position and progress of students in their groups.      
 
In Year 9, students will begin preparing for May’s SATs during the Autumn term. In May, these external examinations will assess students’ En2 (Reading and Understanding) and En3 (Writing) skills over three papers:
 
• Reading
• Shakespeare
• Writing
 
Though there is only one tier of entry for the English SATs, level 4-7, teachers can award students level 8 or above for their performance over the course of the year.
 
In order to help our students succeed, they should be encouraged to read outside of school. Not only will this help them become more confident and advanced readers, but it will also see them become better writers – only when we know what makes a good read can we try to reproduce it! Football magazines, romantic novels, horror stories, autobiographies. . . no time spent reading is time wasted!
 
English: Key Stage 4
 
The majority of our students will follow two GCSE courses: GCSE English and GCSE English Literature.
 
The weighting of exam and coursework in these two subjects is:
 
GCSE English – exam 60%, coursework 40%
GCSE English Literature – exam 70%, coursework 30%
 
Over the course of Year 10, students will complete five piece of written coursework, some of which count towards both English and English Literature:
 
Shakespeare (English and English Literature)
Prose (English and English Literature)
Media (English only)
Original Writing (English only)
Post-1914 Drama (English Literature only)
 
For GSCE English, students must also complete En1 (Speaking and Listening) coursework. There are three tasks to be undertaken here: an individual extended contribution; a group discussion; and, a drama focused activity.
 
All pieces of written coursework undergo a drafting process: first drafts are completed then submitted to teachers, who will offer guidance and advice on how to improve. This first draft is then returned to students for redrafting. Although students can word process their final draft, at least one assignment must be handwritten.
 
During Year 11, teachers will make a decision as to which tier exam students will undertake: Higher tier (A*-D) or Foundation tier (C – G).
 
GCSE English exams
 
There are two exams in English, Paper 1 and Paper 2. In Section A of Paper 1, students will be asked to analyse two or three non-fiction texts, while in Section B they will be given forty-five minutes to produce a piece of writing which aims to persuade, argue or advise.
 
In Section A of Paper 2, students will write about two poems from the Poems from Other Cultures section of the Anthology, a collection of poetry which all students will begin studying towards the end of Year 10. Section B will ask students to produce a piece of writing which aims to inform, explain or describe.
 
GCSE English Literature exam
 
In Section A of the English Literature exam, students will write about a post-1914 novel they have studied in class; texts currently studied include Of Mice and Men, Lord of the Flies and To Kill a Mockingbird. In Section B, students once again look at poems from the Anthology, comparing the works of poets including Seamus Heaney, Gillian Clarke, William Wordsworth, Walt Whitman and John Clare.
 
In order to help our students succeed at KS4, they should be encouraged to undertake independent research related to coursework assignments. For example, some of our Year 10 groups study Frankenstein, meaning research into the Gothic genre or scientific issues raised by the novel will be of benefit when it comes to producing the coursework assignment. Students will be asked to redraft coursework in their own time, which can be either handwritten or word processed, and they should be encouraged to redraft their work carefully and to the highest of standards.