Welcome to the English Department

Department Staff

Ms M Liddane	Director of English /  Assistant Headteacher
Miss A Adams	Teacher of English
Ms D Bizley	KS5 English Lead
Mrs S Brennan – Smith	Teacher of English / Assistant Headteacher
Mrs N Feeney – Smith	Teacher of English
Miss B Gorman	KS3 English Lead, School Literacy Lead, Assistant KS3 Teaching & Learning Lead
Miss D Krist	Year 7 and 8 English Lead
Mrs M Leacy	Teacher of English
Ms D Levitt	KS4 English Lead
Mrs L McGrory	Teacher of English, KS3 Teaching & Learning Lead / Deputy Headteacher
Miss Y McManus	Teacher of English / Subject Leader: Citizenship & PSHE
Mr R Munck	Teacher of English / Head of Year 9
Mr A Murphy	Teacher of English

Introduction

The Department vision is to nurture and develop a love of literature, language and words for all students, taking into account the individual needs and styles of students so that everyone experiences success.  

All students have access to a rich and diverse foundation of knowledge with high challenge enabling students to imagine worlds beyond the confines of their own.  

Students encounter a range of voices from different time periods and cultures which they read, analyse and perceptively compare throughout their years of study.  Through our choices of literature – both fiction and non-fiction- students are impelled to think deeply about morality, society, humanity and philosophy and to develop their critical thinking skills so they can better navigate the world beyond school. Furthermore, the English Department promotes students’ active engagement with the aesthetic experience by positioning both teacher and text as catalysts for students’ own creative investment. 

We aim to give students a profound appreciation of the spoken and written word. We strive to empower students by equipping them with the ability to communicate and express themselves confidently and effectively, in speech and writing, for the workplace and for life. Students are helped to become fluent writers who can craft their own effective and dynamic texts. 

There is a culture of learning and a passion for literature and language that extends beyond the classroom across all Key Stages.  

Knowledge acquired in English has a positive influence on all other curriculum subjects and is vital in any walk of life. Through the study of English, our students become accomplished, global citizens ready to contribute to society as independent, empathetic and open-minded individuals.  

 

Key Stage 3

At KS3, students are engaged through a diverse curriculum that fosters a love of literature, develops social awareness and hones our students’ ability to express themselves through writing and speech. 

Year 7:

Dystopian Literature: The Hunger Games
The History of English
Shakespearean Comedy: A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Love and Relationships: Poetry
Gothic Literature: Frankenstein
Greek Mythology

Year 8:

A Christmas Carol
Victorian Extracts (exploring famous Victorian characters and settings)
Tragedy: Doctor Faustus
Biblical and Mythical Allusions in Literature
The Young Adult Novel – Ghost Boys
Literary Timeline Poetry

Year 9:

Shakespearean Tragedy: Romeo and Juliet
Gothic Short Stories
World Literature
Social Commentary
Animal Farm
Political Poetry

 

Key Stage 4 English Language & Literature 

English Language 

English Language develops articulate, knowledgeable young people who can express viewpoints confidently and concisely.  Indeed, students develop a profound appreciation of the written and spoken word and become equipped with the knowledge and skills necessary to express themselves with confidence, both in and outside of the classroom.  This specification develops students’ abilities to read a wide range of texts fluently and with critical understanding that in turn will improve their own writing.  

Students will follow AQA English Language and will sit two exam papers: 
Paper 1- Explorations in Creative Reading and Writing 
Paper 2- Writers’ Viewpoints and Perspectives 

English Literature: 

English Literature develops students who can confidently engage with, and independently interpret, a range of literature texts.  English Literature aims to nurture and develop a love of literature, language and words, taking into account the needs and styles of all students so that everyone experiences success. Students gain an understanding of a range of different social and historical contexts and make links between literature texts and topical modern issues.  This specification develops students’ ability to read a wide range of classic literature fluently to develop critical understanding and make connections across their reading.  

Students will follow AQA English Literature and they will sit two exam papers: 

Paper 1- Shakespeare’s Macbeth and the 19th-century novel The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde 
Paper 2- Modern texts An Inspector Calls and the Poetry Anthology: Power & Conflict, Unseen Poetry

 

Key Stage 5

Studying A-Level English at Trinity is all about exploring different genres, different ways of reading and different ways of writing.

English as a field of study is about thinking divergently and in an open-minded way, a vital skill and something that surpasses examinations. 

Our A-Level students enjoy the fact that there is a large emphasis on different interpretations, that they can have their own opinion, and their own way of expressing it. For us, English is all about broadening our minds and getting a better understanding of humanity. Both the courses we offer, English Literature and English Language and Literature, have creative writing components, and we believe (and research shows) that writing creatively about a text is a valuable and effective way of learning about it, and showing critical appreciation of it. We also believe that every text has something to teach us, and as such is valuable: we aim to define texts by what they taught us and revealed, not only by how much we liked them. 

 

English Literature: 

We study the AQA Literature B specification.

Students will learn to read creatively and express their own ‘voice’. They will learn to discover their own thoughts and ideas in texts. One way of doing this is by reading texts through different lenses, such as a Feminist lens, or an Eco-Critical lens. Multiple interpretations are encouraged. In essays students will get better and better at conceptualising an argument and constructing it. 

 
Our study includes:
Creative Readings
Independent Theory and Independence
The Genre of Tragedy
Othello
Death of a Salesman 
Keats Poetry
The Genre of Crime
Atonement 
Poems containing Crime elements from: Crabbe, Wilde and Browning
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd 
Crime extracts in preparation for an unseen question 

 

English Language and Literature: 

We study the AQA Language and Literature specification. Students learn that one way of studying texts is through stylistics: close linguistic analysis can be used to draw out meaning from texts. This course sees literature and language as interwoven. Students will also study Spoken Language, focusing on how people use speech to communicate, persuade and even manipulate. They will also study how English is always in a state of flux, and always changing. 

 
Our study includes: 
Fantasy Genre
The Lovely Bones
The Five Language Levels
Poetic Voice through Browning poems
The Paris Anthology (with a variety of texts, ranging from YouTube adverts to blogs, spoken language transcripts to travel memoirs)
The Great Gatsby 
Writing from a new perspective 
A Streetcar Named Desire