English
In English at Harris Boys' Academy East Dulwich, we challenge our minds, build independence, appreciate literature, explore diversity and cultural capital, master writing as a craft, and deepen understanding.
Curriculum plans for all year groups can be downloaded from the bottom of the page. See the latest English news stories on our website.
Stories are the fabric of life and literature is the human attempt to understand the world around us. The study of literature explores the depths of human emotions. It has the power to open our minds beyond our own circumstances towards our diverse world, its people, and experiences. The study of literature can educate us about ancient societies, open our imagination to fantastical lands, communicate to us profound emotions, and ultimately teach us the pillars of empathy.
Books may well be the only true magic.” Alice Hoffman, author
Through the centuries, literature has been a symbol of freedom. Knowledge liberates us and therefore the ability to read literature from different time periods and places educates us about our own rights and opinions. The knowledge we can find in books is liberating. Charles Dickens is undoubtedly a literary genius, and yet his education was poor. However, his ability to read (and read widely) is what gave him the knowledge and skill to succeed. In a world of misinformation and rapidly evolving political propaganda, literature gives us the opportunity to develop critical reading skills and healthy scepticism through study of narrative voice, characterisation, language, writer’s purpose and the audience’s reception.
Our entire curriculum is underpinned by the National Curriculum aims and purpose of study.
Communication and social inclusion
Language is a powerful tool in communication. Developing vocabulary and rhetoric equips young people to express themselves. Without it, the essence of what we want to say is restricted or even silenced entirely. In the study of literature young people are given a critical voice and are encouraged to, in turn, develop their own creativity in developing their own ideas.
The study of literature is also a matter of social inclusion. The ability to communicate our truth, respect different viewpoints and appreciate the many different experiences of life are key to a world where people are free, happy and safe - the sole aim of any education system. Reading is not just a skill to be acquired for the workplace. It should not be a high brow activity from which some are excluded, but instead give everyone the dignity to understand and engage in culture.
The limits of my language mean the limit of my world." Ludwig Wittgenstein, philosopher
We are passionate about the importance of literature. Our curriculum philosophy states that, through the exploration of the literary canon and a contemporary and diverse range of texts, students will be explicitly taught to master and embed a rich and powerful knowledge. They will explore how to use this knowledge in a structured and articulate way to develop scholarship, bridge literacy gaps and increase cultural capital to ensure success throughout every aspect of their lives.
Taking students on a journey
80% of students who have completed their secondary education and studied English at Harris Boys' Academy go on to university, with almost all others going on to study degree level apprenticeships. This remarkable series of destinations is made possible as a result of the exceptional English team who collaborate to curate a challenging and diverse curriculum and to deliver outstanding teaching and learning, all of which lead to excellent outcomes at GCSE.
Our language and literature curriculum takes students on a journey through a range of genres and content as we explore humanity and our place in the world. The aim of this journey is to enable a love of literature through the rich tapestry of stories, both real and imagined, and to broaden our notion of what it is to be human and to live in a diverse and complex society. It enables students to engage critically and truthfully with the world around them and to expose themselves to stories beyond their own experiences and imagination so that they might foster empathy and connection and have a fundamental understanding of issues of social justice. This curriculum is underpinned with the mastery of key skills, reflective and evaluative responses to texts, extended writing, and an ability to communicate in an articulate and passionate manner.
When we realise that there is never a single story about any place, we regain a kind of paradise." Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, author
Please see our Homework page for details of how we set homework. See our latest news stories about some of our outstanding English extra-curriular opportunities.
For further information about the English curriculum please contact Charlotte Bateson C.Bateson@harrisdulwichboys.org.uk.
Year 7
The overall theme for the year is exploring the lives of others by exploring humanity and thinking creatively.
Year 7 begins with Private Peaceful by Michael Morpurgo, exploring a historical war from a male narrative perspective. Students develop knowledge around such themes as war, relationship, sacrifice, loss, bullying, loyalty, justice and injustice, family, bravery, cowardice and blame. We move on to creative writing, allowing our study of Morpurgo’s literature to act as inspiration as we focus on creating engaging and well-constructed writing around character and setting. We aim to master the descriptive writing process before moving on to plot later in Key Stage 3. Understanding a writer’s conscious choices with the written word enables greater independent writing to take place, underpinned by key grammatical skills.
In Term 2, students return to contemporary fiction reading The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis. This allows a deeper exploration of more global themes around human rights and is spoken through the narrative voice of a strong female protagonist. This is key to engaging our students in different perspectives from their own and developing an empathetic approach to situations many may not have experienced, such as becoming a refugee. Following on from this female narrative, Year 7 move to study Learning to Love Poetry, focusing on themes that ask them to explore a more emotional literature - feelings around love and loss, mental health and how to engage in thoughtful, consensual, and deepening relationships in every aspect of their lives.
As students’ progress into their final term of Year 7, they will study extract-based texts from Victorian Literature in a unit called, ‘Voices from the Past.’ Here, we see Year 7 explore some of the voices from the canon including Dickens, Kingsley, Bronte, Eliot, Kipling and Carroll. It is here that we introduce them to social issues which they will revisit in Key Stage such as social injustice and inequality; redemption; capitalism, Victorian society, and class. Extract-based reading of these texts enables a familiarity and a close evaluative approach which will support their learning as they progress throughout the key stages to a more comprehensive and conceptual approach in Year 11.
Year 8
In Year 8, through English we explore our own identity and who we are as we exist in a complex and diverse world.
The journey through literature continues in Year 8 with students developing their analytical reading skills of more complex themes and symbols from contemporary fiction, reflecting on morality, sexuality and personal choice. They will also study short stories from around the world where they will learn to understand the power of their voice. They will then be challenged to study and engage with Shakespeare.
Students will develop their analysis of a range of texts in Year 8 by developing their knowledge of symbols and themes, characterisation, and the writer’s purpose in both rich and engaging texts. Students begin their journey in the Elizabethan era of Shakespeare’s England, where they are introduced to the idea of early examples of representation both of women and of one of the most famous and compelling black protagonists in the canon, exploring complex themes such as discrimination and sexism.
The importance of understanding the writer’s messages, context and use of symbols and methods is further developed in the exploration of a different form - identity poetry. Students develop their understanding of poetic convention whilst appreciating the wider global canon of literature. Here students explore the theme of belonging through poets such as John Agard and Grace Nichols, with a contextual link to the Windrush Generation. Students go on to explore themes such as oppression and discrimination in Africa, Asia and Britain through a range of poets. Students’ exploration of identity poetry concludes with celebratory poetry of identity reclamation through poets such as Angelou.
Embracing the rich tapestry of diverse contemporary fiction, students will further form a love of Literature through the novel Boys Don’t Cry, by Malorie Blackman, the former Children’s Laureate. The novel explores themes of gender, sexuality, masculinity, single parenthood, race, education and ambition. Through this text, students will begin to embed their ability to explore character and theme development, and deepen their study of the writer’s intentions, attitudes and perspectives, whilst also sensitively and reflectively creating, crafting and redrafting an original piece of writing from a viewpoint.
To support their understanding of the political, social and cultural, students explore extract-based fiction texts to explore how rhetoric is used to convey a political message. Students explore work from writers such as David Almond, Sita Brahmachari, Anne Cassidy, Ted Chiang, Andrea Levi and Alex Wheatle. This is literature that challenges, entertains, and inspires. It develops critical reading skills and engages young people with real world values. With this significant wealth of knowledge now at their disposal, students can further deepen their writing skills as they prepare and complete a piece of transactional writing in the form of a speech, where they are asked to be empathic and engaged with the world beyond their own experience.
Students end the year studying the challenging and complex world of Dystopian Fiction. They visit both the classics, such as 1984 and Fahrenheit 451 to more contemporary texts such as The Hunger Games and Divergent. The nuanced conventions of dystopian fiction are explored as students develop an understanding of more of the writer’s craft and how to create their own world of fantasy and fiction. This allows them to consolidate all their learning around ‘the other,’ looking beyond themselves to a more global and vast sense of humanity and the understanding of the need for multiple narratives to form our own perspective of what it means to be human.
Year 9
Representation, Relationship, Social Responsibility, Writer's Viewpoint: embedding a thoughtful and developed approach to Literature and the English Language.
The voyage through literature continues in Year 9 where students develop their critical reading and analytical skills with a broader and more complex range of texts and themes. They begin this voyage with an extensive, in-depth exploration of the contemporary novel and explore complex issues around social responsibility, representation and writer's viewpoint in Orangeboy by Patrice Lawrence, described as "a raw yet tender debut novel which examines the vexed moral choices for a Black British teenager who always swore to stick to the right path. Lyrically written with an almost musical rhythm and brimming with compassion and insight, Orangeboy is a wise, engrossing read for both teens and adults alike." The broad range of topics within the novel, allows students to form a clear viewpoint on some challenging and complex themes, expressed through transactional writing as well as literary analysis on the text. Students are encouraged to research and formulate thoughtful and convincing viewpoints, beginning to explore the economic and moral arguments around such issues.
In Term 2, Year 9 students then continue to develop their understanding of the conventions of Shakespeare’s tragedies through an extract-based study of Romeo and Juliet. This complements their prior knowledge from the Year 8 focus on character and theme in Shakespeare. Students are also taught further around the conventions of creative writing moving from character and setting into plot and structure beginning to establish more convincing and developed narratives in the lead up to GCSE. Students then continue their study with ‘Love and Relationships’ poetry, based upon the challenging content of the GCSE anthology and whilst not studying via the lens of GCSE skills, an appreciation of more ambitious poetry both from contemporary and classical poets, allow for greater depth of literary appreciation to both inspire and engage.
Term 3 see the Year 9 students focus on a range of topics in preparation for their final Federation assessments of the year. These topics cover unseen poetry and Transactional writing, skills, both of which have formed the foundation of previous topics of study in Year 9, with students now being assessed for the embedded nature of these skills as applied in the high stakes, challenging and independent scenario of timed and unseen assessment. These assessments take place to ensure stamina in terms of writing, dedication to independent study and an insight into expectations at GCSE.
Year 9 English is completed in the last half term, with a wonderful Oracy unit, in which students further discover a knowledge of spoken language, skills of rhetoric, and aim to show mastery of the skills of establishing viewpoint using a thoughtful and convincing approach to exploring complex themes. This unit aims to challenge as well as foster an appreciation for English both through the written word and beyond it, building confidence and inspiring high levels of engagement in a shared environment of collaboration and striving for success.
Year 10
Year 10 looks at the classics: morality, power and conflict, equality, writer’s purpose and crafting writing.
The focus of Year 10 will be to build core knowledge of advanced texts and begin an introduction to Key Stage 4. Students will build on the foundation of literature they have learned in Key Stage 3 and will be challenged to develop a critical voice and be more adept at understanding the writer’s purpose and context in each text studied. Students will also develop their independent writing skills and develop their own creative ideas as well as building confidence in their voice.
In Year 10 students begin their GCSE journey with A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. They develop their analytical skills through the study of Victorian literature and the exploration of Dickens’ messages on industrialisation in the Victorian period. Themes including poverty, transformation and Christian values are explored. They will learn advanced ideas about the Malthusian Catastrophe, industrialisation and Dickens’ faith, to complement the text.
Students will then move on to study the GCSE Poetry Anthology: Power and Conflict. They will first explore the war poems and understand the difference between modern and traditional warfare. Through this selection of poems they will develop their understanding of the vast experiences of combatants and non-combatants. Rich historical knowledge and political context will be taught alongside the poems to develop students’ critical understanding and analysis of each text.
Students will build on the Key Stage 3 knowledge of Shakespeare with an in-depth study of Macbeth, a more complex tragedy than previously studied and explored in its entirety across all ability ranges. Students will learn about the Jacobean era of Shakespeare’s writing and the medieval context of the setting. They will be stretched to develop their own critical voices in response to themes around the corrupting power of unchecked ambition, toxic masculinity, kingship and tyranny, power, fate and free will, gender, the supernatural, violence and the nature of truth versus reality.
Students will end the year developing their responses to unseen fiction and non-fiction in order to build their resilience in reading widely and to further develop their analytical skills. Students will then begin exploring rhetoric and Tier 3 vocabulary to complement each text and understand tone and viewpoint in modern articles and speeches. They too will express their own viewpoints in response to a range of stimulus and current affairs. Students will also focus on building ideas about current affairs and their own hobbies to create a speech to be performed for their GCSE Speaking and Listening Language exam in the final summer term. The art of creative writing will be developed, bringing together previous study of character, place and narrative arc. This will see students planning and creating their own narratives with a focus on accuracy of writing.
Year 11
Year 11 is about consolidating and mastering knowledge, building independence and resilience, and developing skills to access the Master Key.
Students will continue to consolidate and master their learning from Year 10 and their knowledge of key texts and language paper skills. They will be challenged to think in more depth about each text and form more thoughtful and developed, and for many, critical and conceptual approaches to these texts. They will further embed key knowledge in long term memory and practise their own writing style to prepare for their examinations.
Students begin the year exploring the drama of the Edwardian period with JB Priestley’s An Inspector Calls. Students will consolidate their understanding of socialism and capitalism in a more nuanced way than their learning in Year 9 and do an in-depth study of the structure of this modern drama. They will build on the historical knowledge of industrialisation from A Christmas Carol and apply this to the context of worker’s rights in the Edwardian times.
Students will then continue to revise A Christmas Carol and develop their analysis of Dickens’ purpose for writing the text. Moving from the Victorian period, students will then consolidate their knowledge of Macbeth and practise their discursive writing and critical viewpoints about each text in preparation for both GCSE English Literature and Language. As part of revision, students will practise writing skills and skills of analysis to develop their critical approach to texts. Students will be given specific revision and revision techniques to complement their study and support home learning.
Students will practise responding to a range of stimulus in their writing covering political strands such as gender, equality, the environment, and a range of other important socio-political issues. This helps them to develop a critical voice in their transactional writing and build ideas for their own creative writing. They will secure structural skills to produce cohesive and fluent writing. The deepening learning of writing and reading skills, exploring both fiction and non-fiction, will be the focus of the embedding of English Language GCSE skills. This will be developed throughout the year as students read a range of articles and unseen texts to build stamina.
Throughout Year 11, students will be challenged to become secure in working independently for extended periods of time, particularly when planning or writing responses to texts. They will be expected to rise to this challenge in preparation for their final GCSE examinations. They will be supported with self-study through a wide range of online resources and expected to invest fully in creating the key to their future.
Year 12
The study of English at Key Stage 5 takes place at the Harris Girls' Academy East Dulwich site and is taught by staff from that school.
The GCSE Literature course will have provided a sound foundation for the advanced study of Literature in Key Stage 5, when English is no longer a compulsory subject. The choice of this A Level should be informed by students’ genuine enthusiasm for reading literature and exploring texts through discussion and written analysis. We have chosen a range of texts to reflect the diversity of English literature, to enable students to develop their own reading tastes and to provide a secure basis for the possible study of this subject at university.
For A Level English, students study six exam texts across the genres of Drama, Prose and Poetry. In addition, they make an independent choice of two texts for a 3000-word coursework essay, which accounts for 20% of the A Level.
In Year 12 students begin the course with an introduction to the advanced study of Narrative, Drama and Poetry. This leads into the study of the first exam texts, as well as providing students with a range of approaches to genres. The comparative Prose paper is theme-based, with the topic Science and Society. Students develop an understanding of Romanticism and Gothic through the study of Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. This novel, judged by many to be the first work of Science Fiction in English Literature, is paired with Margaret Atwood’s modern dystopian classic, The Handmaid’s Tale, a feminist text which resonates very strongly in our times, with its underlying themes of repression and political and environmental catastrophe.
Alongside the study of these texts, students also develop the understanding of Drama they acquired at GCSE. They build on their GCSE understanding both of tragedy and of the theatre through their study of Tennessee Williams’ twentieth-century American masterpiece, A Streetcar Named Desire, developing analytical and evaluative skills and their ability to interpret the conventions of drama texts.
Year 12 also brings the first encounter with medieval literature, in the study of Chaucer’s riotous Wife of Bath’s Tale. Although the language presents some initial challenges, this text gives students an understanding of the development of English. More familiar forms of poetry continue to be read throughout the year, with the aim of developing students’ confidence in the independent reading and interpretation of modern poems, all written since 2000, balancing the pre-1900 literature studied elsewhere.
Throughout the year, students are encouraged to read widely and independently, developing their own literary preferences in preparation for choosing their coursework texts. Enrichment lessons will broaden the curriculum beyond the study of examination texts. These lessons introduce students to literary theory, explore key aspects of narrative (including genres not represented in the exam texts), and enable studentd to acquire an understanding of key periods in the history of literature.
Year 13
The study of English at Key Stage 5 takes place at the Harris Girls' Academy East Dulwich site and is taught by staff from that school.
Year 13 students will complete their study of the exam texts, developing their own critical voice in response to literature. They will develop their insights through critical reading, evaluating other responses in order to arrive at their own interpretation. They will consolidate their essay-writing skills in order to produce controlled and critical arguments, in both coursework and examination questions.
Students begin the year with the Shakespearean tragedy Othello, building on the foundations they have already built in the study of drama throughout Year 12. Alongside this, they study an anthology of critical writing exploring different approaches to and interpretations of the play, building resilience with literary criticism. Their responses to the critical reading are an important element in the exam essays students will write on this text.
Further modern poems are studied, bringing the total of set poems to 20, including the work of contemporary poets such as Patience Agbabi, Andrew Motion and Helen Dunmore. One part of the poetry exam paper includes responding to an unseen poem, so a wide range of poems that are not set texts will be read over the course of the year to both prepare for the exam and foster a love for a wide range of literature.
Students will be supported to be independent and critical with their coursework essays, completing this part of the component in the second year of the course. Students will also be revising their exam texts, with appropriate guidance and resources, developing their own ability to shape an analytical argument and evaluate the achievements of the writers they have studied. All the skills developed through this course, and the rich knowledge of the wide literary canon will aid students in the study of a university degree.
Homework
Homework for English follows the academy's approach to homework, which is explained on the Homework page of the website.
Extra-curricular English
Extra-curricular English at HBAED aims to enrich and support the learning that has taken place in the classroom.
Our popular Role Playing Games Club (pictured), for example, uses a variety of games to develop creative skills (character and story creation), problem-solving, teamwork, leadership and confidence.
The Harris Federation Oracy Champtionship is based on work students produced as part of the English department’s brand-new Year 9 ‘Step Up to the Mic’ scheme of work, which aims to develop students’ voice and spoken language skills. We also organise many trips such as to the theatre to see West End shows or take part in events exploring the impact of Caribbean migration on British football.
More details of extra-curricular opportunities in English can be found in the latest news section of our website.
Helpful resources
English Language
Language Paper 1 and 2 Knowledge Organiser
AQA GCSE Language Paper 2 - Summary of the paper and ‘top tips’
AQA English Language Paper 2 - Revision booklet
Specimen A paper 2 - question paper
English Literature
English Literature Year 11 Revision Guide, Autumn 2021
Literature essay planning (Word)
An Inspector Calls – Selfishness, responsibility, male characters
A Christmas Carol – Suffering, poverty, wealth and society
Gallery of students' work
Poetry - 11B1 spent a double lesson working in teams to discuss and annotate one of three poems. Each table then presented their ideas on that poem to the rest of the class, so annotations for two of the poems on each student's sheet were provided by their peers to encourage oracy.
An Inspector Calls - 10B4 students, after watching a clip from the play, summarised verbally what happened and then had to share a quotation that they would use to support their point. They then wrote what they verbalised down in their books, came to the teacher for feedback, then after a short discussion went away and extended their original response.
Othello - during live marking 8B2 students were randomly called up to read and discuss their responses. After some 'why why why' questioning about the theme they were able to extend their responses.
Hinge questions
Below is a copy of a hinge question. This is the point in the lesson where the teacher decides whether they move forward or reteach. This is great for oracy because technically each option is right. What students are really choosing is the best of the right answers and debating why it is the best.
Careers
English graduates enter a broad range of professions, including education, marketing, journalism and public relations. Their analytical and communication skills are potentially in demand in management roles both in business and the public sector. Specific skills you will have gained include:
• critical and evaluative thinking
• self-management
• excellent written communication
• oral communication and interpersonal skills
• research and analysis skills
• ability to work independently
Though pay levels for English graduates may not be as high as those in other areas, many of the career opportunities it opens up can be particularly rewarding. Typical roles include publishing, academia or working with heritage and culture.
English graduates are suitable for many roles in the business sector, where their ability to sift the evidence and present arguments will help them to succeed. What is more, their interpersonal skills should set them up well for a role in management.
With some additional training, English graduates could consider jobs in roles including the following.
• Administrative roles
• Advertising copywriter
• Analyst advertising account executive
• Arts administrator
• Broadcasting presenter
• Creative or performance role
• Customer service and sales
• Intelligence
• Management or senior executive
• Marketing executive
• Marketing roles
• Project-based roles
• Public relations (PR) officer
• Researcher
• Social, guidance or community support
• Teacher, trainer or tutor
