English

Our Vision

“Through the diverse study of literary greats, we will prepare our pupils to be the readers,writers and orators of tomorrow. Pupils will learn to be literate, expressive and critical thinkers. Creativity is at the heart of what we teach, preparing our pupils for a plentiful future in the wider world.”

It is the English department's vision that all Bowland High pupils will explore, analyse and celebrate language and literature in their many forms and come to appreciate their power, effectiveness and beauty.

Gaining knowledge and skills in the study of English, empowers young people with the means by which they can explore and enjoy other worlds and lives with a rich sense of culture and social history. While opening a window of diversity for pupils to understand and respect those who live a different life to themselves . Bowland students will become creative risk-takers who are confident readers, writers and performers.

They will use these skills to read texts for pleasure and with analytical and critical insight, they will be confident in their spoken communication and they will develop a skill set to use beyond Bowland.

Confidence, purpose and appreciation underpins everything we do.

Our Curriculum: Key Stage 3

At Bowland we set pupils on a journey. This thoughtfully crafted pathway enables all pupils to become English specialists in the classroom and in the wider world. The KS3 journey starts in Year 7 with ‘Finding Yourself’, encouraging pupils to consider their individual roles in an ever-broadening and ever-changing world through exploration of character. Through the study of 'Northern Lights' we engage the pupils in confidence- boosting story telling; consider the experiences of other, individual journeys and focus on the immediate world around us. Exploring powerful poetry from around the world and honing narrative and transactional writing skills, support pupil progress along the journey.

As the pupils enter Year 8, they are asked to ‘Find Your Voice’. These wider world experiences encourage Socratic reasoning and debate. Contextual reflections enable the pupils to empathise and engage with real life human issues that surround them on a daily basis. Study of rhetorical skill, persuasive texts alongside prominent texts, such as 'Animal Farm' and a range of Gothic literature extracts which are part of the literary canon.

Our Key Stage 3 journey ends with ‘Journey into the Wider World’ in Year 9 with the chance to reflect on previous learning and develop expertise. The 'Of Mice and Men' topic turns the focus of the importance of journeys in our everyday lives with in depth study of perspectives in fiction and non-fiction. Using this more in depth understanding of language and context, we journey on to the world of others and language creativity with a literary focus. Expertise in language, literature and form is explored further through the study of a range of poetry through the ages and the classic novella 'Jekyll and Hyde'. The final unit of KS3 looks at the important issue of justice and morality and exposes the pupils to a range of influential texts to offer all pupils the chance to write a speech to change the world.

Reading is a core part of the curriculum and, not only do students have the opportunity to study a diverse and ambitious range of texts, above their pay-grade, in the classroom, but they also have weekly library lessons to explore group reads and foster an independent love of reading, in Year 7 and 8, pupils follow the Accelerated Reading programme and pupils are targeted with intervention, using Lexia and IDL. In Years 9, 10 and 11, pupils are expected to continue to read for pleasure, bringing a reading book to lessons and sharing recommendations with their peers.