Learning above all.
English
Ms Katy Hart – Subject Leader
Dr Julie Skarratt – Literacy Coordinator and Library Coordinator
Mr Andrew Dethick – Teacher
Ms Stephanie Lambe – Teacher
Ms Tracey Ellis – Teacher
Mr Ben Tetlow – Teacher
For more details about the English curriculum, please email katy.hart@macclesfieldacademy.org
English is vital to everyday life and we strive to ensure that each student at The Macclesfield Academy is ready to face their future with excellent communication skills. We are an energetic and committed team, with a wide range of specialisms and experience.
DEPARTMENT AIMS
- To ensure that students are able to speak, listen, read and write effectively.
- To encourage students to love reading and to be confident in accessing a range of fiction and non-fiction texts from the past and the 21st century.
- To help develop students’ understanding of broader society and culture through varied choices of reading material, discussion and written activities.
- To foster students’ passion for writing through creative, challenging, varied and engaging lessons.
- To ensure that students achieve their potential in English.
KEY STAGE 3
Students start their journey to GCSE from the very start of Year 7. Our curriculum is built around the skills needed for Year 11, so that students have time to build their confidence and abilities well before the final exams. Students in Key Stage 3 therefore work to develop their skills in speaking, listening, reading and writing. Students in years 7 to 9 use IPEELL to help them plan and assess their work. Many students are familiar with this from primary school.
In the last term of Year 9 students will find that their English lessons start to prepare them more for the GCSE course.
English teachers support students across the whole range of abilities to be able to apply their own critical responses and understanding to texts and to be able to write accurately and effectively in a range of style and genres, and for a wide range of purposes and audiences.
Year 7 students who require further support will be in a smaller class where teaching is targeted much more towards their needs. There are also opportunities for students to receive extra support in reading through interventions with TA’s.
As a team, we review and alter our curriculum on a yearly basis.
All students read for 15 minutes at the start of every English lesson in order to encourage students to be active and engaged readers.
KEY STAGE 4
In Years 10 and 11, we continue to study a range of engaging texts in order to teach the skills needed for the exams and also for life after school!
Students work to improve their written accuracy and how they structure their writing, as well as building their skills of comprehension, following an argument, recognising bias, etc.
Part of the GCSE qualification is assessment in the use of spoken language, so students have the opportunity to work individually and in groups to discuss topics and give presentations.
We follow AQA’s exam specification for both English Language and English Literature. Students will sit two exam papers for each subject.
Our Year 10 and 11 curriculum:
As a team, we review and alter our curriculum on a yearly basis.
All students read for 15 minutes at the start of every English lesson in order to encourage students to be active and engaged readers.
EXTRA-CURRICULAR
Through the Academy’s Enrichment programme, the English faculty delivers sessions, such as reading groups, journalism, poetry writing, film club, creative writing with primary school students, Library Leaders and GCSE support. We also run revision sessions for year 11 students.
Our students have the opportunity to write for “Local People” (a local magazine distributed across Macclesfield). Recent articles include:
Local People – Autism does not define me by Eleanor Adshead
Local People – Am I a reader by Jaime Duffy
Local People – What becoming a prefect means to me …… by Tristan Staszko
Local People – Work Experience by Ellie Hall
Local People – The Macclesfield Korean Kickboxing academy by James Fowles
Local People – My camping trip to Buxton by Ocean Wolstenholme
Local People – Back to the Future by Shoni Lewis
Through English lessons, students can enter national competitions, such as BBC Radio 2’s 500 word story contest. We also take part in events for National Poetry Day and World Book Day, as well as running trips to the theatre. Students can also become part of a team who help to run the library. Some students in years 9-11 support younger students in the Academy with their reading.
USEFUL LINKS
AQA English subject homepage http://www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/english
BBC Bitesize KS3 English Language http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/subjects/z3kw2hv
BBC Bitesize KS3 English Literature http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/subjects/zykdmp3
BBC Bitesize KS4 English Language http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/subjects/zr9d7ty
BBC Bitesize KS4 English Literature http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/subjects/zckw2hv
Interesting texts and ideas about studying English http://www.geoffbarton.co.uk/
Useful revision resource http://www.universalteacher.org.uk/
Revision notes about texts http://www.sparknotes.com/
Revision tips, resources and study tools Exam Time
Tips on coping with the pressure of exams Surviving Exams
Clips on English Literature texts and English Language skills GCSE Pod
English Literature specification and sample papers and mark schemes AQA English Language
For a wide range of revision guides and workbooks for English Literature and Language CGP Guides
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