English
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Please select the relevant Year group for more information on the curriculum.
Welcome to the English Department.
We are extremely proud to be able to share our own love of reading and writing with our students.
Our goal is to develop our students as curious, articulate, and tolerant young people who are ready to go out into the world as confident communicators, with developed analytical and creative writing skills.
English is key to success across the curriculum, and in life. We provide an ambitious, broad and creative curriculum whilst also fulfilling National Curriculum requirements. We foster the skill, knowledge and determination required for students to become lifelong learners. Our aim is to give the students a wealth of opportunities to build their knowledge and to be ready to take any path they wish to pursue once leaving school and throughout their lives.
Outside of lessons, we offer a range of extra-curricular opportunities including Debate Club, Creative Writing Club and a range of Reading Projects for all Key Stages.
We invite you to take some time to explore our website to get a more detailed understanding of what a typical English lesson is like at Chertsey High School.
Curriculum Map
Key Stage 3 English
Our Key Stage Three curriculum is designed to foster a love of literature and non-fiction texts whilst developing their analytical and creative writing skills.
Students study a range of texts and thematic units of non-fiction across a range of genres.
In each year, students study the following topics:
- A novel
- A range of poetry on a theme
- At least one play (including Shakespeare)
- Non-fiction texts
Each unit of study is designed to be both an enjoyable exploration of the variety of English language and literature, and to form preparatory steps towards the GCSE syllabus. We endeavour to provide students with the opportunity to explore literature from a range of periods and genres in order to ensure they are comfortable with the various language forms and techniques, thus easing the transition to KS4 in Year 10.
In addition to their core curriculum lessons, Key Stage 3 students also take part in ‘Reading to Achieve’ where they are encouraged to read and complete tasks on a book of their choice. Through this, we hope to foster a love of reading in all students that will continue throughout their lives.
Key Stage 4 English
English is a core subject at GCSE and most employers and further education institutions expect students to hold at least a 4 or 5 grade as an indicator of their literacy and readiness for further study or work.
The teaching of English at Key Stage 4 is divided equally between the two GCSEs: Language and Literature. Students have eight lessons across the fortnight.
English Literature
The GCSE English Literature course takes a skills-based approach to the study of English Literature that is consistent across the genres. The course offers excellent preparation for A-level English Literature, as well as giving students a grounding in a wide variety of literature that will stay with them for life.
There are two components to GCSE English Literature:
- Shakespeare and the 19th century novel. In this component, students will study one of Shakespeare’s plays (usually Macbeth) and a novel (usually A Christmas Carol ).
- Modern texts and poetry (In this component students will study An Inspector Calls, a selection of poems from the AQA Poetry Anthology and a range of other poetry).
We follow the AQA specification.
English Language
As part of the GCSE English Language course, students will draw upon a range of texts as reading stimulus, and engage with creative as well as real-world contexts.
Our aim is to ensure that students can read fluently and write effectively. As a result, students will be able to demonstrate a confident control of Standard English, write grammatically correct sentences, create figurative language and analyse a range of texts.
English Language is assessed in two written exam papers at the end of the course.
We follow the AQA specification.
Progression opportunities
Studying English at GCSE leads directly to A Levels in English Language and/or English Literature, as well as being fundamental to all other subjects where there is a written component.
