English
The department is proud of its rich diet of extra-curricular activities...
English Department at St. James’
The English Department at St. James’ is staffed by 5 well-qualified and enthusiastic subject specialists who teach across the whole age and ability range. We aim to nurture and develop in pupils, a life-long love of and expertise in all areas of spoken and written English, both for pleasure and also regarding essential skills for working life.
Homework is set at least once a week during Key Stage 3 and twice a week during Key Stage 4 and there are termly key assessments in place, the results of which are recorded on the school’s database.
The department is proud of its rich diet of extra-curricular activities which include theatre visits, seminars in school run by popular authors, performances staged by theatre groups to whole cohorts, in particular to Year 9 in preparation for their Shakespeare SATS tests and after-school GCSE revision classes.
In addition, during the school’s Humanities and Enterprise Week week, the department runs two ‘English’ days for Years 7 & 10 respectively, which feature a host of interactive & practical arts activities.
Year 7 pupils receive 7 lessons over the course of a 60 period 2 week timetable. The Year 7 Syllabus focuses on the development of reading & writing skills based on the reading & writing assessment focuses that are tested in the KS3 SATS. Pupils study a range of fiction and non-fiction texts focusing on autobiography, media and moving image and the suspense genre. All pupils participate in a variety of speaking and listening activities and have the opportunity to enhance their ICT skills when completing English tasks.
Year 8 pupils receive 6 lessons over the course of a 60 period 2 week timetable. Their syllabus centres on the continuation of the development of speaking, listening, reading and writing skills with a focus on journalistic media, the novel ‘Holes’ by Louis Sachar and an exploration of persuasive writing, e.g. as used in advertisements. Both Year 7 & 8 pupils undertake formal examinations in the Summer term, the Optional Reading Tests, which have a similar format to the KS3 SATS reading and writing papers.
Year 9 pupils receive 7 lessons during a 60 period 2 week timetable. Over the course of the academic year, the syllabus consists of the close study of SATS reading and writing assessment focuses, language skills, the practice of inference and deduction regarding a variety of texts and also the practice of comparative writing skills. Pupils study extracts from “Stone Cold” by Robert Swindells, RSPCA & Shelter charity leaflets and the novel “The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas” by John Boyne. The Spring term is largely devoted to the study of the SATS Shakespeare key scenes, currently from “Romeo and Juliet”, including viewing the play in school (performed by a visiting Theatre group) as a live performance.
Post SATS, Year 9 students present an oral solo presentation to their peers and start to prepare for GCSE courses by studying a selection of multi-cultural poetry from the AQA Anthology.
All KS4 students attend 8 lessons over the course of a 60 period, 2 week timetable. Most students study for 2 GCSEs- AQA English specification A and AQA English Literature specification A. These integrated courses require the completion of 5 pieces of coursework which are the focus of lessons in Year 10.
In Year 11, pupils prepare for the 2 English Examinations (30% each) by honing reading & writing skills (Paper 1) and studying multi-cultural poems from the AQA Anthology (Section A, Paper 2). They then prepare for the English Literature examination (one terminal paper, 70%) by studying one contemporary novel and 12 post- and pre-1914 poems again from the AQA Anthology.
Coursework percentages for the 2 subjects are as follows:
GCSE English (incl. 20% for Speaking & Listening) | 40% |
GCSE English Literature | 30% |
Exam percentages are:
English Paper 1 | 30% |
English Paper 2 | 30% |
English Literature | 70% |
Students are awarded 2 separate GCSEs.