Quick Links

Quick Links Open/Close

Wixams Academy

The Knowledge Schools Trust

We aim to provide children with a classical liberal education, regardless of background or ability.

Visit Site

English

English Curriculum Intent

We strive to share our passion for English, highlighting the power of language and the responsibility that accompanies its use. We desire that all students have equal opportunity to access the wonderful world of words, empowering them to confidently articulate their view of the human condition and the world they experience. We stress the importance of exploring and respecting alternative viewpoints, making students consciously aware of the effect of their language.  Thus, our curriculum aims to introduce students to a diverse selection of texts, including fiction and non-fiction material from a variety of different cultures and social perspectives. This facilitates students in acquiring knowledge and skill over time. Whilst doing so, we also endeavour to enable learners of all abilities to be functionally literate and apply language appropriately in a range of mediums.

The sequencing of material enables students to acquire knowledge whilst developing interpretation, inference, analysis, evaluation, oracy and writing skills over time. Each unit recalls and interleaves knowledge and skill from previous units, maximising student potential to consistently master all strands. Alongside this, we sculpt focus on the more abstract elements of our subject to ensure they are applied to real life situations. This includes issues encountered by our student body and the local community, in line with national curriculum and local police safeguarding guidance. This approach strives to prepare them for their first steps into the wider world and future employment, whilst experiencing a broad and balanced English curriculum.

Curriculum Implementation – Curriculum Map

 

Autumn 1

Autumn 2

Spring 1

Spring 2

Summer 1

Summer 2

Year 7

The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games

White Poppies

Romeo and Juliet

Romeo and Juliet

Culture and Identity Poetry

Year 8

Face and Non-Fiction Writing

Greek Myths and Legends

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Character and Place Poetry

Twisted Tales

Year 9

Nineteenth Century Fiction

Voices (extract study and creative writing)

The Tempest

The Tempest

Poetry: Towards A World Unknown

Spoken Language Study

Year 10

Language Paper 1

A Christmas Carol

Macbeth

Macbeth

Language Paper 2

An Inspector Calls

An Inspector Calls

Year 11

Spoken Language Endorsement

 

Conflict Poetry

Power Poetry

 

Unseen Poetry

Essay Skills Workshops

 

Interleaved Revision- All Units

Interleaved Revision- All Units

 

Year 12

Introduction to Dystopian Fiction

 

Christina Rossetti Poetry and Literary Theory

A Doll’s House

 

 

Christina Rossetti Poetry

Hamlet  

A Streetcar Named Desire

 

Audre Lorde’s Poetry

Home

 

NEA Launch

NEA Writing

 

Exam Answer Skills

Year 13

The Handmaid’s Tale

 

Nineteen Eighty-Four

The Handmaid’s Tale

 

Nineteen Eighty-Four

 

NEA Redraft

 

Essay Skills Development- Close Analysis and Comparative Essays

Interleaved Revision- Focus on Content and Modelling

Interleaved Revision- Focus of Timed Planning and Writing

 

 

 

Texts and Exam Boards

Year 7- 9     Core Texts

Year 10-11

Year 12-13

7

 

 

8

9

Exam board:

GCSE English Language and GCSE English Literature = AQA Exam Board

 

Core texts:

 

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

 

An Inspector Calls by J. B. Priestley

 

Macbeth by William Shakespeare

 

AQA Power and Conflict Poetry

 

 

Exam board:

A Level English Literature = OCR Exam Board

 

 

Core texts

 

Year 12

Dystopian Extracts

 

OCR Christina Rossetti Poetry Cluster

 

A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen

 

Hamlet by William Shakespeare

 

A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams

 

Home by Toni Morrison

 

Poetry of Audre Lorde:

·       Litany for Survival

·       A Woman Speaks

·       Who said it was simple?

·       Coal

·       Girlfriend

·       Dozens

 

Year 13

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Attwood

Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell

 

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

 

White Poppies by Sue Saunders

 

Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

 

Poetry Unit

Poetry Unit: This Is Me

Presents From My Aunts in Russian Doll

Game Changer

Isn’t My Name Magical?

The British

Where I Come From

 

 

Face by Benjamin Zephaniah

 

Greek Myths and Legends

Pandora’s Box

Persephone and Hades

King Midas

Theseus and the Minotaur

Perseus and Medusa

Icarus and Dedalus

 

Character and Place Poetry:

The Clown Punk

The Laboratory

The Hunchback in the Park

Hurricane Hits England

You Called, We Came

Spellbound

Medusa

The Lady of Shalott

 

A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare

 

The Darkness Out There

 

Nineteenth Centry Fiction:

Great Expectations

Oliver Twist

Jane Eyre

Frankenstein

A Study in Scarlet

 

Voices- features extracts and TED Talks which include:

Of Mice and Men

Elizabeth I’s speeches

Love, Simon

Noughts and Crosses

Teacher’s Dead

I Am Thunder

I Am Malala

Anne Frank’s Diary

 

The Tempest by William Shakespeare

 

Poetry: Towards A World Unknown

When We Two Parted

Winter Swans

Walking Away

Mother, any distance

Elegy

Out of the Blue

 

BBC Bitesize: KS3 English - BBC Bitesize

Oak Academy Lessons: Free KS3 English teaching resources | Y7, 8, & 9 | Page 1 of 5 | Oak National Academy

Link to phonics games for those still securing phonics :  Letters and Sounds, English Games for 5-7 Years - Topmarks

Mr Bruff Revision Videos: AQA English Language Paper 2 Question 5 (2026 Onwards)

Oak Academy Lessons: Free KS4 English teaching resources | Y10 & 11 | Page 1 of 2 | Oak National Academy

Mrs H Educates Revision Videos: Mrs H. Educates - YouTube

 

Suggested Revision Guides:

Literature

·       York Notes Revision Guides for:

·       A Christmas Carol

·       An Inspector Calls

·       Macbeth

·       AQA Power and Conflict Poetry

·        SPAG Workbook

 

Language

SNAP revision guides for:

·       AQA English Language Reading

·       AQA English Language Writing

Suggested Revision Guides:

York Notes A Level Revision Guides for:

·       A Doll’s House

·       Nineteen Eighty-Four

·       The Handmaid’s Tale

·       A Streetcar Named Desire

 

Christina Rossetti Selected Poems Revision Guide by Charlotte Unsworth

 

 

Useful websites:

The British Library: The National Library of the UK - The British Library

 

Free online English Literature / Creative Writing courses | OpenLearn - Open University

 

E Mag online  (please ask teachers for log in details)

 

 

Map