Welcome to the English Department
Staff
Mrs M. Liddane Director of English
Ms D. Bizley KS5 Coordinator
Mrs V. Abrahams KS4 Coordinator
Miss B Gorman KS3 English Teacher
Mrs L. McGrory TIC Yr 7 English
Mr W. Bullow English Teacher
Miss T. Khatun English Teacher
Mrs M. Leacy English Teacher
Miss D. Leo English Teacher
Miss Y. McManus English Teacher
Miss M. Elmi English Teacher
Mr M. Rofaeil English Teacher
Introduction
The Department vision is to nurture and develop a love of literature, language and words for all students, taking into account the needs and styles of all students so that everyone experiences success. We want to foster ‘reader wonder’ with students by demonstrating this ourselves and sharing it with students to create an aspirational high achievement culture.
The English Department aims to empower students – when they write essays or in creative pieces of writing, they give themselves a voice to give opinions and share thoughts and ideas drawing on morals and values. Thus creating successful learners and confident individuals who enjoy learning and have pride in their achievements. Our vision is to give students a profound appreciation of the spoken and written word and equip them with the skills to express themselves confidently in a variety of situations, both in and outside of the classroom. Knowledge acquired in English has a positive influence on all other curriculum subjects and is vital in any walk of life. All students have access to a rich foundation of knowledge with high challenge. There is a culture of learning and a passion for literature and language that extends beyond the classroom across all Key Stages. Students are helped to become fluent writers who can use language with confidence. They are introduced to a wide range of texts which they will read, analyse and perceptively compare throughout their years of study.
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
Literary Timeline Poetry
Year 9:
Shakespearean Tragedy: Romeo and Juliet
Gothic Literature: The Woman in Black
Global 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 spoken and written word and become equipped with the knowledge and skills necessary to express themselves with confidence in a variety of situations, both in and outside of the classroom. This specification develop students’ ability to read a wide range of texts, fluently and with critical understanding that in turn will improve their own writing.
Students study AQA English Language and they will take the following 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. Cultural capital is gained through the study of classic and modern literature. 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 read a wide range of classic literature fluently and with critical understanding, and make connections across their reading.
Students study AQA English Literature and they will take the following 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
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
Tess of the D’Urbervilles
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
