English at RPA
"I know nothing in the world that has as much power as a word. Sometimes I write one, and I look at it, until it begins to shine."
Emily Dickinson
English at Richmond Park Academy
RPA English fosters social equality and opportunity through erudition in the art of verbal and written communication and world of literature. We craft intellectually demanding lessons allowing students to explore key ideas, diverse voices and styles of literature through the ages so they understand the impact of modern culture and are able to analyse language and its impact. Students experience a range of texts, deconstruct them for layers of meaning and analyse them to develop their own writing style while engaging with arising ethical principles and the writers’ contexts. Our curriculum journey is mapped with logical links to build key skills including recall, inference, deduction and contextualised analysis.
Who's who in the team
Ms M Money - Teacher of English and Achievement Director English Faculty
Ms E Jacka - Teacher of English and Second in charge/KS3 Coordinator English Faculty
Ms E Belejova - Teacher of English and EAL Coordinator
Mr J Charlton - Teacher of English and Subject Lead A Level Government & Politics
Ms C Worthington - Teacher of English and Head of Year 7
Ms F Hachich - Teacher of English
Ms P Johal - Assistant Principal and Teacher of English
Ms Z Lindsey - Teacher of English and Head of Year 7
Ms L Oglesby - Teacher of English
We believe the skills students learn in English are crucial to success at school and in future life. The aim of the English department is to work successfully as a team to create and deliver a stimulating, varied and challenging curriculum for all our students. We want our students to enjoy their lessons, and we aim to create an environment which will foster a love of literature, debate and discussion.
We work closely with the librarian to promote reading through the Accelerated Reading Programme; we know that able readers tend to be high achievers. Therefore, as English teachers, we give independent reading a high profile and monitor student participation in the scheme.
We have a wide stock of texts to engage our readers and continue to review and update this at KS3. At GCSE our students are encouraged to purchase their own texts to annotate and make notes in preparation for terminal exams.
Key Stage 3
Year 7 to 9 are taught in mixed ability groups. Text choices and approaches to learning are designed to build core skills that will be eventually examined at Key stage 4. The curriculum has recently been re-worked to ensure that the tenets of 'Exploration', 'Experience' and 'Ethical Principles' form the basis of how content is delivered and that the texts covered are diverse and culturally rich. We track students across the key stage against the AET 'age-related expectations' to ensure progress in reading and writing.
Year 7
In Year 7 students have four 80-minute lessons over the weekly timetable. Some classes may have two teachers for English. The curriculum is divided into thematic ‘units’, offering opportunities for different genres of reading and writing for a range of purposes. The curriculum covers:
Victorian England - A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
Looking Back - Myths and Legends
The Future in literature - Dystopian Visions of the future
Creative writing
Grammar for Writing
Year 8
Year 8 students currently have four 80-minute lessons each week. Text choices offer suitable challenge and scope for wider reading and development with an increasing emphasis on the writer's craft:
Gothic Literature Frankenstein and romantic rebellion
Shakespeare’s Villains - Antagonists and inner conflict
Conflict and the Contemporary Novel - Non fiction and class text
Year 9
Year 9 students also have four 80-minute lessons each week. The curriculum has been planned to challenge students in the lead up to GCSE both in terms of the Literature and Language AQA specifications. Their assessments at this point will be GCSE style.
Of Mice and Men- Identity Diversity and Community Anthology (American Literature 2022 onwards)
Short Stories- Reader as detective
Romeo and Juliet - fortune’s fools - Choices and consequences
All Key Stage 3 classes spend one of their weekly lessons in either the library, in support of our Accelerated Reader Programme, or in class for either Creative Writing or Let's Think In English, developing engagement, inference and oracy through group work on texts.
Key Stage 4
Year 10
At Richmond Park Academy our students follow the AQA specification for English Language and Literature. They obtain two equally weighted, separate GCSEs in these subjects but study them together in a combined curriculum, with four 80-minute lessons over the two weeks.
20th-century novel or play - 'An Inspector Calls' (LIT EXAM TEXT)
19th-century novel - 'A Christmas Carol' 21-2022/ The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde 2022-23 onwards (LIT EXAM TEXT)
Contemporary and literary heritage poetry (ANTHOLOGY AND UNSEEN FOR LIT EXAM)
Writing to describe or narrate (ENGLISH EXAM)
Comparing non-fiction texts (ENGLISH EXAM)
Formal speaking and Listening Assessments (ENGLISH REQUIREMENT)
Year 11
Our current Year 11 students are completing the final year of the two-year GCSE course for AQA English Language and Literature. GCSE English language is assessed by two exams and GCSE English Literature also has two papers. The students complete their Literature set texts this year reading:
Shakespeare’s 'Macbeth'
A selection of ‘Unseen’ Poetry
Much of Year 11 will be spent reviewing and practising skills for both sets of GCSE papers.
KS5 at RPA allows students to take their appreciation of Literature further, exploring critical perspectives to texts and drilling down into the complexities of Tragedy and Social and Political protest writing.
What we do when
Year 7
A Christmas Carol (Victorian Gothic, 19th Century text), Myths & Legends and Dystopian Fiction (Class text: The Hunger Games)
Year 8
Gothic Literature, Shakespeare’s Villains and Villainous Monologues (Poetry) and The Hate U Give (Class text)
Year 9
American Literature (Class text: Of Mice and Men and assorted American extracts and poetry), Short Stories and Romeo & Juliet (Tragedy)
Year 10
An Inspector Calls (Modern text), The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (19th Century text) and Power and Conflict Anthology Poetry
Year 11
The Tragedy of Macbeth (Shakespeare), reteach of Year 10 texts, creative writing skills, unseen poetry practice and exam skills/ practice
Year 12
Tragedy (Shakespeare’s Othello, Keats’ poems and Miller’s Death of a Salesman)
Year 13
Political and Social Protest Writing (Atwood’s The Handmaid’s tale, Blake’s Songs of Innocence and of Experience and Hosseini’s The Kite Runner) There is a Non- Examination coursework component where students explore critical lenses to texts of their choice.
Please see the KS3 and 4 overviews for further information below
Future Careers
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