English
The study of English is absolutely crucial in developing skills of reading, writing, speaking and listening; all exceptionally important when studying any subject in the curriculum at secondary school and beyond. Our aim as a department is to develop and build these skills in all of our students to equip them with the confidence to be successful in further study and society; to enable them to become excellent listeners and to show them the most effective ways to have their own voices heard in many different situations and contexts.
English is about more than developing competence in key areas, however, and English teachers at Davenant work hard to foster critical thinking skills and an understanding of the world around us. We also strive to introduce students to a passion and a love of Literature through exposure to many different types of texts, written by a range of authors.
‘Getting better at English has made me a more confident person outside school as well as inside’
KEY STAGE 3
Students study and compose a breadth of fiction and non-fiction works across six half-termly units, with a view to developing a foundation of skills and knowledge required to succeed at KS4. Students are also actively encouraged to read and enjoy books for pleasure outside of the core curriculum.
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KEY STAGE 4
Students studying the subject at GCSE follow the AQA English Language and AQA English Literature specification. During the course, the following topics are covered:
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GCSE English Literature Paper One Nineteenth century novel: A Christmas Carol Paper Two Modern text: An Inspector Calls Past and Present poetry anthology: Power and Conflict poems GCSE English Language Paper One Reading and writing fiction Paper Two Writing with a viewpoint Spoken Language Assessment |
GCSE English Literature Paper One Shakespeare: Macbeth Nineteenth century novel: A Christmas Carol GCSE English Language Paper Two Reading non-fiction |
For more detailed information about the course content and assessment requirements, please refer to the examination board website:
A LEVEL – ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE
Students studying the subject at A Level follow the AQA specification. During the course the following topics are covered.
For more detailed information about the course content and assessment requirements, please refer to the examination board website.
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A LEVEL ENGLISH LITERATURE
Students studying the subject, English Literature, at A Level follow the AQA Literature B specification. During the course the following topics are covered.
Paper 1 - Aspects of tragedy Students study the following texts for this paper: Othello by William Shakespeare, Tess of the D’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy and Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller. At the core of all the set texts is a tragic hero or heroine who is flawed in some way, who suffers and causes suffering to others and in all texts there is an interplay between what might be seen as villains and victims. Some tragic features will be more in evidence in some texts than in others and students will need to understand how particular aspects of the tragic genre are used and how they work in the three chosen texts. The absence of an ‘aspect’ can be as significant as its presence. There can be no exhaustive list of the ‘aspects’ of tragedy but areas that can usefully be explored include:
Paper 2 - Elements of political and social protest writing Students study the following texts for this paper: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood and Songs of Innocence and Experience by William Blake. Students also respond to an unseen passage in this exam. The unseen extract can come from any of the genres of poetry, prose or drama and can include literary non-fiction. Although it could be claimed that all texts are political, what defines the texts here is that they have issues of power and powerlessness at their core, with political and social protest issues central to each text’s structure. The political and social protest genre covers representations of both public and private settings. All set texts foreground oppression and domination and they all look at the cultures we live in and have lived in over time. A crucial word in the title of this option is ‘Elements’ and students need to consider the specific elements that exist in each of their texts. The elements that might be explored, depending on each individual text, include:
Non-Exam Assessment - Theory and Independence This component is designed to allow students to read widely, to choose their own texts (if appropriate) and to understand that contemporary study of literature needs to be informed by the fact that different theoretical and critical methods can be applied to the subject. This area of the course provides a challenging and wide-ranging opportunity for an introduction to different ways of reading texts and for independent study. The title 'Theory and independence' highlights the important idea that, within a literature course, students should have the opportunity to work as independently as possible. This process is supported by the AQA Critical anthology, which has accessible extracts on the following critical methods and ideas:
In this component, students write about two different literary texts. One of the texts must be a poetry text and the other must be prose. Each text must be linked to a different section of the Critical anthology. Having explored their chosen text in the light of some critical ideas, students then demonstrate their understanding through their written work, comprising of two pieces of writing, one on each of the chosen texts. Students produce two essays of 1250-1500 words. |
For more detailed information about the course content and assessment requirements, please refer to the examination board website.