Ercall Wood Academy

 Our intention for our curriculum

‘The limits of my language are the limits of my world.’ Ludwig Wittgenstein

Being transported out of the classroom and into the worlds of others is, we feel, the most powerful experience we can provide for our children. Through the study of English, we hope to immerse our students in the lives and experiences of others to enable them to appreciate the world which surrounds them and develop their own moral and cultural understanding. At the same time, we will work to embed the necessary skills needed to become effective communicators in both the written word and verbally, providing the tools needed to succeed in life after secondary school.

Throughout key stage 3, pupils will access challenging and thought-provoking literature, both fiction and non-fiction, whilst being exposed to a range of reading and writing skills, allowing them to access and produce a variety of text types. Students will also develop their spoken language skills whereby they expand upon their performance and delivery techniques, helping to support their confidence and verbal communication. These skills (reading, writing and spoken language) will be interleaved throughout termly units which focus on a range of themes to develop students’ cultural capital. By the end of year 9, students’ proficiency in their reading, writing and spoken language skills should be developed to a point where they are able to apply the correct skills in order to summarise, analyse, compare and evaluate texts, as well as write and deliver texts in a variety of forms. In our ever-changing modern world, high standards of reading, writing and spoken language will remain key requisites for those who aspire to be successful global citizens.

During key stage 4 pupils will study both language and literature. In literature, students will focus on acquiring new knowledge from a 19th century novel, a post-modern play, a Shakespeare play and 15 poems. In order to successfully access this knowledge, students will need to apply the skills aquired in key stage 3 in order to draw out the depth of meaning behind each text, recognise its influence during the time period written and consider its relevance in today’s society. In language, students will be exposed to a variety of 19th, 20th and 21st century texts, challenging them to again make use of their reading and writing skills in order to independently and competently summarise, analyse, compare and evaluate texts, as well as write in a variety of forms. Within language, students will continue to apply and practise their performance and delivery technique.

By the time our students leave our department, we hope to have provided them with the skills and knowledge needed to not only support their future employment prospects, but also ensure they will go on to be able to successfully communicate and interact as a global citizen.