Year 11 English - Advanced

Teacher in Charge:  Mrs Stacey Stewart
stacey.stewart@wdsg.school.nz

Course description:
Literature-focused course – Prepares students for Advanced NCEA Level 2 English

This course forms part of the Waikato Diocesan School for Girls Year 11 Certificate.

Year 11 English – Advanced is designed for students who demonstrate a strong aptitude for English and a genuine interest in literature and language. This course offers greater depth and challenge, encouraging students to think critically, read perceptively, and write with precision and insight.

Students will engage with a range of classic and contemporary texts — including poetry, novels, and film — and learn to analyse how writers use language to explore complex themes, provoke thought, and reflect the human condition. There is a strong emphasis on poetry analysis, literary close reading, and developing a confident academic writing style.

Students in this course will be encouraged to take intellectual risks, respond creatively and critically to literature, and contribute thoughtfully to discussion. This is an ideal foundation for those considering Advanced English at NCEA Level 2 and beyond, particularly in literature-rich pathways.

Assessment:

Students will complete a range of coursework assessments, including poetry analysis, a novel study, a film study, crafted writing, and the delivery of oral presentations. Students are expected to engage with texts in depth and demonstrate increasingly sophisticated analysis and communication.

The assessment programme includes three examination papers in Term 3:

– a written text essay

– a visual text essay

– an unfamiliar text paper based on three unseen texts.

Costs:

• Stationery: exercise book and clear file or folder, refill and coloured tab dividers; pens, highlighters and gluestick.

Entry criteria:
Placement into Year 11 English – Advanced is by invitation. The selection process is a hybrid model that considers student choice, Year 10 examination results, and teacher recommendations. Final placement decisions are made at the discretion of the Head of English. 

Future pathways:
This course is a prerequisite for Level 2 English at Dio.