Welcome to English
Why learn English?
English is one of the most important subjects you will study in your time at Ashton CSC and will equip you for a successful future, no matter which career path you choose. English will:
- Ensure you are successfully able to read a variety of texts for meaning and for pleasure.
- Enable you to access a range of challenging reading material inside and outside of the workplace.
- Equip you with the knowledge and skills needed to ensure you are confident and articulate communicators, both in the written and spoken word.
- Allow you to understand how to use tone, volume, intonation and language, and adapt these for different purposes.
- Provide you with the opportunities to be creative thinkers who can form justified opinions of texts and the world around you.
- Nurture a love of literature that builds an understanding of the human condition.
- Build on your understanding of stories through time and our rich and diverse language.
- Develop your appreciation of tolerance, understanding and respect for yourself and others.
English Curriculum Overview
Please click the year group and half-term to view additional information.
| Half Term 1 |
| Knowledge |
| How do writers capture characters with words? |
| Smith – Leon Garfield |
| Skills / application of knowledge |
| Character archetypes |
| Narrative features |
| Characters in narrative |
| Character development over time |
| Charles Dickens’ motives to write |
| Victorian life; rich vs. poor; and crime and punishment |
| Descriptive features in relation to character |
| Drafting and editing |
| Revise KS2 SPG |
| Locate and retrieve evidence |
| Developing a narrative extract (character description) |
| Develop knowledge of spelling rules |
| Links to prior learning |
| Characters and narratives as constructs |
| Victorian life |
| Other works of Dickens/ Dickens’ writing style |
| KS2 SPG |
| Assessment |
| Baseline assessment |
| Context quiz – Victorian society and Dickens |
| Multiple choice quiz of descriptive devices in action and creation of own simile and metaphor |
| Narrative writing with character description |
| Half Term 2 |
| Knowledge |
| Can a text take you on an adventure? |
| Seminal Literature extracts and poetry, plus non-fiction texts |
| Skills / application of knowledge |
| First person perspective in fiction and transactional writing and being able to understand opinion |
| Retrieve and interpret evidence |
| Identify and apply some persuasive features |
| Understand the difference between fiction and nonfiction writing and the conventions. |
| Summarise nonfiction texts |
| Identifying and retrieving key information from source material |
| A celebration, immersion and appreciation of other cultures – their histories, customs and people |
| Developing an understanding and appreciation of global heritage and history |
| Inferring ideas and concepts from poetry. |
| Links to prior learning |
| Persuasive writing |
| KS2 poetry |
| Victorian era -poetry |
| Dickens – travel writing |
| Assessment |
| Summarise the main points of a text |
| Persuasive features match up |
| Produce a piece of transactional writing |
| Half Term 3 |
| Knowledge |
| How has society changed over time? |
| A Midsummer Night’s Dream – William Shakespeare |
| Skills / application of knowledge |
| Shakespeare's theatre and the theatrical practices of Shakespeare’s London |
| The Elizabethan era |
| Features of a Shakespearean play with a focus on blank verse and prose |
| Sonnet 130 |
| Poetic devices with a focus on the sonnet form |
| How writers, in particular Shakespeare, create humour |
| How context affects humour |
| Greek mythology and the construct of myths |
| Myth writing |
| Chaucer and Middle English – where do our words come from? |
| Links to prior learning |
| Shakespeare's theatre |
| Poetry |
| Drafting and editing |
| London through time |
| Assessment |
| Myth Writing |
| EOY Exam |
| Spoken Language |
| Half Term 1 |
| Knowledge |
| How does a writer create tension and suspense? |
| The Woman in Black – Susan Hill |
| Skills / application of knowledge |
| Poets’ uses of language and structure |
| Features of the Gothic genre |
| Features of a Gothic setting |
| Creating a Gothic setting using structural features |
| Edwardian era and attitudes to children born out of wedlock |
| Treatment of women in Edwardian England |
| Tension and how this can be created through sentence structures and punctuation as well as description |
| Understanding foreshadowing and its effect |
| Understanding pathetic fallacy |
| Pastiche of Victorian Gothic and Dickens |
| The use of a rational protagonist and first-person narrative to develop empathy |
| Links to prior learning |
| The Edwardian era |
| 1st person narrative |
| Dickens’ style |
| Assessment |
| To identify gothic features in a text – annotation exercise |
| Evaluation-style question |
| To create a gothic opening with a focus on omission and foreshadowing |
| Half Term 2 |
| Knowledge |
| Are we heading towards a Dystopian future? |
| Animal Farm – George Orwell |
| Skills / application of knowledge |
| Features of a dystopian society |
| Conventions of dystopian fiction |
| Effects of writers’ techniques |
| How writers use structure for effect |
| How writers create character, atmosphere, setting |
| How writers present attitude/ viewpoint through use of language |
| Thinking creatively |
| To develop and refine your own opinion |
| The Russian revolution and Animal Farm as an allegorical novella |
| Power and corruption |
| Satire and rhetoric |
| Freedom and rights (civil rights and liberties) |
| Understanding democracy and our society today |
| Synthesis |
| Literary context and canon |
| Allegorical meaning |
| Links to prior learning |
| Creating setting |
| Character constructs |
| Understand texts and their contexts |
| Understanding of genre |
| Assessment |
| Reading response to Animal Farm |
| Identify true or false statements |
| Persuasive speech (spoken) |
| Half Term 3 |
| Knowledge |
| How do stereotypes damage society? |
| Boys Don’t Cry – Malorie Blackman |
| Skills / application of knowledge |
| Toxic masculinity and damaging stereotypes |
| Developing empathy for characters |
| Identity – nonfiction link with language focus |
| Dual narrative structure |
| Liberality |
| Sub-plot |
| Family |
| Societal expectations in modern Britain |
| Damaging prejudices |
| Developing a dual narrative |
| How Blackman creates empathy for characters |
| Modern day gender roles |
| Hate crime |
| How writers capture relationships |
| Links to prior learning |
| The role of genders |
| Identity |
| Social expectations |
| Narrative writing, empathy, characters |
| Assessment |
| EOY Exam |
| Half Term 1 |
| Knowledge |
| Can you ever be too ambitious? |
| Macbeth – William Shakespeare |
| Skills / application of knowledge |
| Jacobean England |
| Women’s rights throughout history |
| Witches and superstition: how did this impact Jacobean England? |
| The significance of the context of a text in relation to the impact of the text on the audience. |
| How is a theme presented throughout a play? |
| How does Shakespeare create character constructs? |
| Demonstrate an understanding of the main ideas, events and themes in Macbeth and the importance of the text’s structure |
| Recognise the moral decline of Macbeth’s character. |
| Understand the significance of regicide to a Jacobean audience |
| Analyse the importance of the witches throughout the play |
| Be familiar with the structure of a tragedy play. |
| Understand the persuasive and manipulative nature of Lady Macbeth |
| Explore how Lady Macbeth does not adhere to stereotypical gender roles of the time. |
| Understand how power can lead to corruption |
| Explore Macbeth’s guilt in a spoken language presentation |
| Links to prior learning |
| The role of women in society/gender roles |
| Toxic masculinity |
| Shakespeare’s theatre |
| Power, corruption, and ambition |
| Assessment |
| Context recall task |
| SQI (summary of differences) between non-fiction witches satellite texts. Comparison. |
| Character evaluation |
| Spoken language |
| Half Term 2 |
| Knowledge |
| How far does your social situation define your future? |
| Blood Brothers – Willy Russell |
| Skills / application of knowledge |
| Stage direction and structure and how it impacts meaning |
| Understand and appreciate social setting and how it impacts young people |
| Empathy and sympathy for characters and their situations |
| How Russell uses stereotypes to portray the themes of social class and inequality |
| Exploring the impact of 1970s/80s England on the play |
| Analysis of Mrs Johnstone and Mrs Lyons |
| Comparison of Mickey and Eddie’s childhoods/education |
| Features of persuasive writing and letter writing. |
| Exploring the play’s themes |
| Crafting a literary analysis |
| Descriptive writing based on the experience of a factory worker |
| Comparing the differences between Mickey and Edward’s lives through evaluative literature responses |
| Russell’s purpose as a writer and his social message |
| Links to prior learning |
| Social inequality |
| Structure of a play and importance of stage direction |
| Persuasive writing |
| Assessment |
| Context quiz |
| Theme exploration task |
| Persuasive letter |
| Half Term 3 |
| Knowledge |
| Can a text ever really capture someone’s feelings or experiences? |
| Heroes – Robert Cormier |
| Skills / application of knowledge |
| The importance of empathy when looking at alternative perspectives |
| To form a sophisticated and informed opinion |
| To understand how character contrasts and character development can shape perception |
| How contextual understanding can shape meaning (World Wars, PTSD, identity etc) |
| How poets use form and structure to craft meaning |
| Comparing poetry with a focus on language, structure and context |
| Key poetic terminology and vocabulary |
| Exploring a poet’s intentions behind the crafting of their poetic voice - to form an opinion |
| Exploring varying forms and how meaning can be created through genre/form |
| Comparing texts with a focus on language, structure and context |
| Summarising texts |
| Exploring sentence structures and how these can be manipulated for effect |
| To explore and use more sophisticated punctuation such as hyphens and semi-colons |
| Exploring how sophisticated structural devices help to shape and define character or voice |
| To explore perspectives towards war |
| To understand the importance of editing and redrafting creative writing |
| Links to prior learning |
| Structure in narrative writing |
| Identity and how writers create this in a character |
| Ambition and power |
| Assessment |
| Structure question |
| EOY Exam |
| Half Term 1 |
| Knowledge |
| Love or hate? Which is the most powerful emotion |
| Skills / application of knowledge |
| Studying the role of love and hate as theme in Romeo and Juliet. |
| Exploring key scenes. |
| Exploring love and hate and conflicts through non- fiction extracts |
| Exploring love through the characters of Mercutio and Romeo, looking closely at Queen Mab. |
| Focusing on the sonnet form and how Shakespeare uses this in Romeo and Juliet’s meeting. |
| Revision of war poetry and the theme of hate/conflict: Bayonet Charge, War Photographer, Remains, Charge of the Light Brigade. |
| Links to prior learning |
| The pupils in the previous unit have been exploring empathy and feeling so the unit on love and hate links in to this unit |
| We are starting to explore this theme firstly as it is important that the pupils understand the feud between the families and then why Romeo and Juliet can’t be together. |
| Toxic masculinity |
| The relationship between male/females |
| Shakespeare’s writing |
| Social hierarchy |
| Assessment |
| Anthology poetry assessment |
| Half Term 2 |
| Knowledge |
| Do we control our own lives or does fate play a part? |
| Skills / application of knowledge |
| Exploring the idea of fate in Romeo and Juliet in various scenes |
| Exploring attitudes towards fate in Elizabethan England |
| Considering how this would shape an Elizabethan and contemporary audience |
| Mercutio revision - as a character linking to fate and freewill |
| Benvolio as a character |
| Exploring fate/power/freewill in the poems ‘Kamikaze’, ‘London’,’ Checking Out Me History’, ‘Extract from the Prelude’ |
| Links to prior learning |
| Links to some of the GCSE poetry study in the bridge unit in Y9 |
| Toxic masculinity and its impact on people |
| The students will have studied key scenes such as when Romeo and Juliet meet and the deaths of Mercutio and Tybalt and because of this the students understand that things go badly wrong after Romeo decides to go to the party – just like he says in the Queen Mab Speech |
| Assessment |
| Theme assessment question – Romeo and Juliet |
| Half Term 3 |
| Knowledge |
| Do we live in a man’s world? |
| Skills / application of knowledge |
| Romeo and Juliet- explore Juliet, Nurse, Lord Capulet and Lady Capulet |
| The role of women in Marriage through Romeo and Juliet and non-fiction texts |
| How feminism has grown and developed as a movement |
| Exploring the role of Juliet and how she challenges conventions |
| ‘My Last Duchess’ and the power of men |
| ‘Extract from a Prelude’ and man against nature. |
| Arthur Birling and his power as a man and how Priestly challenges this |
| Exploring the skills used by writers and use them ourselves to create |
| Explore the roles of women in AIC such as Eva Smith and Shelia Birling |
| How the role of women has changed? |
| Asylums and madness – language questions |
| How dramatic irony can be used in two ways e.g. to discredit or add tension |
| Links to prior learning |
| This is taught here as it allows us lead into the second text the students need to study |
| The role of women is a key theme in both AIC and R&J so they link together well in this unit |
| The pupils should be able to draw on the previous knowledge they have gained from the unit on class |
| It also allows them to explore dramatic irony in detail and secure their understanding of this techniques and how it is used by both writers but for different readers |
| This should strengthen their understanding that the same technique can have different effects |
| This will also link back to the unit of work in year 9 on Macbeth and the male/female dynamics explored in this |
| Assessment |
| Language Paper 2 Q4 |
| Non-fiction writing |
| Half Term 4 |
| Knowledge |
| Do we live in a man’s world? (cont.) |
| Skills / application of knowledge |
| Romeo and Juliet- explore Juliet, Nurse, Lord Capulet and Lady Capulet |
| The role of women in Marriage through Romeo and Juliet and non-fiction texts |
| How feminism has grown and developed as a movement |
| Exploring the role of Juliet and how she challenges conventions |
| ‘My Last Duchess’ and the power of men |
| ‘Extract from a Prelude’ and man against nature. |
| Arthur Birling and his power as a man and how Priestly challenges this |
| Exploring the skills used by writers and use them ourselves to create |
| Explore the roles of women in AIC such as Eva Smith and Shelia Birling |
| How the role of women has changed? |
| Asylums and madness – language questions |
| How dramatic irony can be used in two ways e.g. to discredit or add tension |
| Links to prior learning |
| This is taught here as it allows us lead into the second text the students need to study |
| The role of women is a key theme in both AIC and R&J so they link together well in this unit |
| The pupils should be able to draw on the previous knowledge they have gained from the unit on class |
| It also allows them to explore dramatic irony in detail and secure their understanding of this techniques and how it is used by both writers but for different readers |
| This should strengthen their understanding that the same technique can have different effects |
| This will also link back to the unit of work in year 9 on Macbeth and the male/female dynamics explored in this |
| Assessment |
| Language Paper 2 Q4 |
| Non-fiction writing |
| Half Term 5 |
| Knowledge |
| What creates inequality? |
| Skills / application of knowledge |
| Looking at prose and blank verse and how this is used to determine class. |
| Exploring ACC as a secular novel. |
| Malthus, religion and the impact of this on Victorian society. |
| Workhouses and the Poor Law. |
| Exploring class and capitalism in an Inspector Calls |
| Explore workhouses and factories. |
| Looking at class and inequality in the poems, ‘London’, ‘Tissue’, ‘Checking out Me History’, ‘Emigree’, ‘Ozymandias’ |
| Exploring division in A Christmas Carol through for instance ignorance and want |
| Exploring non-fiction extract on inequality including pre 19th century texts. |
| Links to prior learning |
| Another aspect of power is class and money. This is placed here as the students will read ACC fully here and the students need to have studied all the texts as this is theme that runs through all the texts |
| They should be able to draw on the project they did on capitalism and the ‘Blood Brothers Unit of work they did in year 9 |
| Assessment |
| Summary writing |
| Poetry Comparison |
| Half Term 6 |
| Knowledge |
| Can a person change? |
| Skills / application of knowledge |
| Explore redemption as a concept and theme. |
| Explore this theme in relation to the characters we have studied in literature |
| Understanding redemption in relation to ‘Kamikaze’ |
| Exploring ‘Poppies’ |
| Exploration of the character of Scrooge and his redemption |
| Explore structure in Romeo and Juliet |
| Explore narrative and descriptive writing, flash fiction and the impact of narrative structures |
| Spoken language and preparing a presentation |
| Links to prior learning |
| Revision of the plots and characters studied in the lit texts |
| Consideration of themes and characters and how they interlink with the different themes studied throughout the course of the year |
| Links to non-fiction writing in terms of composition, vocabulary and sentence structures |
| Links to previous spoken language presentations and areas for development. Students build on these areas to ensure a stronger presentation |
| Assessment |
| Character/theme question – ACC (Y10 exam) |
| Narrative writing |
| Half Term 1 |
| Knowledge |
| Are the values of honour, virtue and morality something to be admired? |
| Skills / application of knowledge |
| Romeo’s hamartia |
| Mercutio as a foil |
| Concept of love and the sonnet Act 1 scene 5 |
| Unseen poetry |
| Unseen poetry comparison |
| Th role of the Friar |
| Summary |
| Juliet’s relationships |
| Revision of persuasive writing |
| AIC revision – Priestley’s message in relation to exploratory question |
| Links to prior learning |
| Revision of key lit texts using whole curriculum knowledge and application of knowledge. |
| Assessment |
| Language Paper 1 |
| Literature Paper 2 |
| Half Term 2 |
| Knowledge |
| Is nature more powerful than man? |
| Skills / application of knowledge |
| ‘Storm on the Island.’ |
| Adapting their narrative |
| Themes of power and nature – Ozymandias revision |
| Language Paper 1 – question types and knowledge/skills |
| Unseen poetry – nature |
| Unseen poetry comparison revision |
| Anthology poetry comparison and how this knowledge is applied to an exam |
| ACC – revise text and consider in depth moral messages, alongside setting and ‘human nature’ |
| Mock exam revision |
| Kamikaze focus on nature and the power of nature vs the insignificance of human power |
| Links to prior learning |
| Revision of key lit texts using whole curriculum knowledge and application of knowledge. Revision of Language |
| Paper 1: language analysis, structural analysis and evaluation. |
| Assessment |
| Language Paper 1 continued |
| Literature Paper 2 continued |
| Half Term 3 |
| Knowledge |
| Appearance Vs. Reality: Is there truth in memory? |
| Skills / application of knowledge |
| The Birling family and their presentation to the world vs their real selves. |
| Stage direction and structure in An Inspector Calls. |
| How characters change in An Inspector Calls and Priestley’s use of language and structure to foreshadow these changes. |
| Revision of language paper 2 reading section: inference, summary writing, language analysis, comparison. |
| Revision of themes in ‘Tissue’, ‘Emigree’, ‘My Last Duchess’ and ‘Poppies’. |
| Revision of Anthology poetry comparison. |
| Revision of conflict in Romeo and Juliet. |
| Revision of the role of women in Romeo and Juliet. |
| Revision of unseen poetry involving the role of women. |
| Links to prior learning |
| Revision of key lit texts using whole curriculum knowledge and application of knowledge. |
| Revision of language paper 2: inference, summary writing, language analysis, comparison. |
| Assessment |
| Literature Paper 1 (mocks) |
| Language Paper 2 (mocks) |
| Half Term 4 |
| Knowledge |
| Targeted revision. |
| Skills / application of knowledge |
| Revision of knowledge and exam skills. This will be targeted based on the needs of the class. This will be determined using mock exam information. |
| Links to prior learning |
| Revision of key lit texts and poems. Writing knowledge and analysis, summary writing and comparison. |
| Half Term 5 |
| Knowledge |
| Targeted revision continued. |
| Skills / application of knowledge |
| Revision of knowledge and exam skills. This will be targeted based on the needs of the class. This will be determined using mock exam information. |
| Links to prior learning |
| Revision of key lit texts and poems. Writing knowledge and analysis, summary writing and comparison. |
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