English
Intent: The Big Ideas in English at Atherton High.
The English curriculum enables our learners to become confident orators, readers and writers ready to tackle the world beyond the school gates. Our learners will experience of a wide range of texts, including Shakespearian texts, Victorian literature and a range of texts that include knowledge of changing cultures through the years up to contemporary literature. Texts will include work that develops their social, cultural and emotional understanding and includes writers from the Literary Canon to contemporary writers. We also expose all of our students to a wide range of factual reading and polemic non-fiction texts to prepare our learners for life and the world of work, helping them to form intellectual opinions on a wide range of topics.
Development and explicit teaching of vocabulary is a key element of our intent, which is built into every scheme of learning our teachers deliver. We aim to close the vocabulary poverty gap by developing mastery of a wide range of tier 2 and 3 vocabulary through both reading, writing and application.
Oracy is developed throughout the year in every year group. This will come in a variety of forms and will include opportunities for pupils to develop their oracy skills in English lessons, with focused development of spoken language through application of the cumulative vocabulary we aim to build.
Regular opportunities to develop extended writing will enable the development of both creative and functional writing tasks and students to apply and solidify their knowledge at each stage, resulting in mastery.
Our weekly “Enhancement Lessons” throughout years 7, 8 and 9 will have a literacy focus and will be used to develop a multitude of wider skills: a love of reading for pleasure; opportunity to read a wide range of texts including factual extracts and texts to develop social, moral and cultural understanding; literacy focused lessons based on assessment of need within the class; development of vocabulary using Bedrock vocabulary programme; explicit practice of knowledge recall; development of spelling skills and further vocabulary development with weekly focus lists that include vocabulary applicable all areas of the school curriculum.
Knowledge Organisers
Learning Journeys
