English
Our Curriculum Intent
The English Faculty achieve the Howard’s curriculum intent by:
- promoting the positive experiences of reading and writing, providing students with appreciation of the literary canon and the power of language in all its forms
- equipping students with the knowledge of how to use language with accuracy, skill and creativity
- teaching concepts such as genre, theme, mode, form, register, style, purpose and audience so students can apply this knowledge to critical analysis
- developing the communication skills, both written and oral, necessary to thrive in society and the world of work.
Through our broad and inclusive curriculum, students will complete their learning journey equipped with the skills of empathy, creativity and evaluation, founded on analysis and understanding.
Our ambition is for students to be enriched and inspired by the variety of writers they study, including texts by contemporary authors and those celebrated within our literary heritage. We want our students to explore timeless themes and concepts through fiction and non-fiction and aspire to develop critical thinking skills and the confidence to value their own interpretations and judgements. We teach our students to appreciate that every text is created by a writer with a specific purpose, and we aim to equip them with the analytical and evaluative skills to infer and interpret the writers’ intentions.
Equally, students will learn to develop their own language skills and personal voice, so that they are able to write with confidence and intent, as well as verbally communicating their ideas with precision. They will understand how to adapt their written style to suit the purpose and will know how to apply their lexical, grammatical and syntactical understanding and knowledge, both orally and in writing, in order to have an impact on their readers and listeners.
Our Learning Journey
Please click here for our KS3 English Learning Journey.
Please click here for our KS4 English Learning Journey.
Please click on the relevant link below for our English Learning Journeys:
Our KS3 Flightpath Descriptors
Please click here to view our KS3 Year 7 English Flightpath Descriptors
Please click here to view our KS3 Year 8 English Flightpath Descriptors
Please click here to view our KS3 Year 9 English Flightpath Descriptors
National Curriculum Mapping
Our schemes of work are aligned with the National Curriculum and are designed to at least meet its requirements, going beyond them in many respects.
To access the National Curriculum Programmes of Study for English, click here.
The National Curriculum Purpose of Study for English is as follows:
English has a pre-eminent place in education and in society. A high-quality education in English will teach pupils to speak and write fluently so that they can communicate their ideas and emotions to others, and through their reading and listening, others can communicate with them. Through reading in particular, pupils have a chance to develop culturally, emotionally, intellectually, socially and spiritually. Literature, especially, plays a key role in such development. Reading also enables pupils both to acquire knowledge and to build on what they already know. All the skills of language are essential to participating fully as a member of society; pupils who do not learn to speak, read and write fluently and confidently are effectively disenfranchised.
KS4 Course Information
For information about KS4 courses, please refer to the KS4 Curriculum e-booklet.
Please click here for the KS4 English Language exam specification.
Please click here for the KS4 English Literature exam specification.
KS5 Course Information
For information about the KS5 Courses available, click here.