top of page
blue gradient wide.png

English

Home / Curriculum

Curriculum Intent

Overarching Aim  


Fareham Academy's curriculum in English is rich with texts that enable students to explore, celebrate and unlock the diverse nature of our world. During their time at the Academy, students will study a broad and balanced range of novels, poetry, non-fiction and plays from the most esteemed canonical authors to newer emerging voices. They will also be given many opportunities to create texts of their own across a range of forms and contexts. Our aim is to equip students with the skills needed to be successful in the subject, whilst also inspiring them to engage with and respond to the ever-changing world around them with flair, imagination and creativity. In doing so, the English department not only aspires to develop students who have the necessary oracy and literacy skills to succeed in their future career paths, but also to create literary critics and writers who are engaged and challenged throughout their programme of study. 


Key Stage Three Curriculum  


At Fareham Academy, we believe that our Key Stage 3 curriculum in English should expose students to a vast range of texts, to give students the opportunity to develop their curiosity about the world around them, expand their horizons and nurture a love of reading. We do this through a five step approach to our each component of our curriculum: inspire, read, draft, masterclass, redraft. This model allows us to provide an immersive reading experience (sometimes known as a ‘Faster Read’), as developed by practitioners such as Westbrook and Didau. We use the ideas and knowledge acquired through Rapid Reading to inspire our Writing and Reading components. Students begin this section of the unit with a draft, in order to ensure we are supporting and challenging each student appropriately. We then fine-tune students’ reading and writing skills, which are cumulatively developed over the Key Stage, through a series of Masterclasses which explore a range of composite reading and writing skills. Each unit finishes with a final draft, in which students incorporate the freshly developed composite skills into their work. Not only does this develop the crucial skill of editing and develop personal development skills such as reflection, it also allows students to stretch their potential outside the narrow confines of exam conditions.  


In Year 7, students explore three main themes: People and their Stories; Heroes and Villains; and Islands and Adventures. In year 7, we explore the crucial foundations of studying English. In our stimulus text selection, these include texts from key periods of English Literature including Greek myths, Holocaust fiction and Victorian fiction- all of which are adapted in an age-appropriate way. We teach a range of component writing skills in year 7 such as newspaper articles, poetry analysis, persuasive writing, letter writing and more, all of which are underpin the writing skills that will be developed in the years to come. More information on our components can be found in our more detailed Curriculum Overview.  


In Year 8, students explore another three themes: Suspense and The Supernatural; Causes and Campaigns; and People and their Places. From theme 2 onwards, we begin to look more overtly outwards in the world- encouraging students to develop and explore knowledge that will support them in becoming global citizens. This influences our stimulus text selection, as well as our knowledge developed in lessons. Our components in year 8 begin to incorporate more reading skills- such as forming opinions based on evidence- as well as continuing to develop writing skills such as speech writing, setting description and travel writing. More information on our components can be found in our more detailed Curriculum Overview. 


In Year 9, we begin to develop ideas and texts that support students in their transition towards GCSE. Year 9 consists of the exploration of two main themes: Conflict and Class and Gender and Society. We explore these themes through a range of challenging texts, including those that are on the GCSE specification. Our components in year 9 are more closely aligned to the GCSE curriculum, including language analysis, narrative writing and structural analysis. More information on our components can be found in our more detailed Curriculum Overview. In the Summer Term of year 9, we explore a GCSE text- which we return to in Key Stage 4- to act as a transition between the Key Stages.  


Key Stage Four Curriculum  


At Key Stage four, we teach English Literature and English Language as two distinct subjects with distinct teachers, classrooms and curricula.  


English Language is thematically structured. We cover ten themes over the course- from medicine and disaster to exploration and adventure. These themes are the basis of the texts we use to teach reading skills, as well as the stimulus for writing skills. Our thematic approach aims to ensure that, come the final exams, students have been exposed as many texts and as much vocabulary as possible to support understanding of their unseen exam texts. Each theme consists of approximately ten lessons, in which we explore the key skills that underpin each of the English Language questions. The skills are developed and layered over the course, from beginning to explore required skills at the start of year 10, to full exam responses in year 11. We also approach each text in the same way, using Reciprocal Reading Strategies. The deliberate and systematic methods taught to approach questions and texts aims to equip students with a range of metacognitive strategies to support their confidence with unseen texts and writing tasks.  


English Literature covers texts, plays and poetry from the AQA GCSE Specification in an immersive way which develops the knowledge, skills and vocabulary required simultaneously. We aim to provide students with a larger conceptual framework of knowledge and vocabulary that can be transferred between topics.  

Learning Journey
Learning Journey English.jpg

Click to enlarge

bottom of page