Our Vision

Our vision is to enrich, enable and empower our students to be the best that they can be.

As a faculty, we aim to enable our students through the development of confident communication skills, opening their options wide to ensure they can access the next stage of their education and that they are equipped for their future in a competitive world. 

We want to empower our students to know, understand and explore their world and other worlds and cultures – both past and present.

Finally, we aim to enrich our students experience of their world by developing creativity in expressing themselves in their writing and developing a deep appreciation and passion for reading.

Key Stage 3

Overview of the Course 

The English faculty consistently strives to give all of our students the chance to take risks and learn in an enjoyable and nurturing environment. 

Throughout a student’s time studying English at Brighton Hill Community School, they will explore a range of prose, poetry, drama and media texts, discovering and unpicking the way that great writers craft their works. The faculty aims to offer a wide variety of texts to study, both fiction and non-fiction, hailing from a range of periods throughout time and from different cultures, through the study of extracts and whole texts. This exposure and study will help the students learn more about the decisions that go into writing for different purposes, audiences and genres. Whilst exploring a variety of texts the faculty strive to promote a love of reading so that students can read whole texts which have been selected to suit their needs, providing them with cultural and historical capital. 

Students will also have the opportunity to develop and improve their writing skills having the chance to put into practise and try out the different techniques that they have discovered throughout the year. 

Key Stage 4

GCSE English Language and GCSE English Literature  

Overview of the Courses 

The KS4 course continues directly from Key Stage 3, following and developing threads of topics and building on key skills required for the GCSEs. Where possible, units are taught thematically, linking and focussing on our examination texts through key concepts and building in skills as appropriate. 

Year 9 is a GCSE English foundation year. Throughout this year the learning from Key Stage 3 is consolidated and students are introduced to some of the key texts they will revisit in greater depth in Years 10 and 11 to provide them with a foundation and context to these literary works. 

Enrichment Opportunities

Enrichment is key for developing and promoting the love of reading and exploration of texts which are both important for this subject.  

In KS3 we offer a book club where students are invited to read a variety of different books which they then discuss in the book club. This promotes a love of reading and exposes students to books they may not have read otherwise. In previous years we have also run a Spelling Bee which is a fast pace spelling race and a popular event for all. 

In KS4 we offer the opportunity to attend productions of the plays they study for Literature: Blood Brothers and Macbeth. It is so important for students to watch these productions as it gives insight into the playwright’s choices and nothing beats a spot of live theatre for understanding a text. In addition to the play performance, we also offer visits to Poetry Live. Poetry Live gives students the opportunity to hear the GCSE poems read by the poets themselves who also give an insight into the choices they made in the poems, which is a useful opportunity for developing the Literature skills. 

Assessment

All students are assessed twice each half term, typically nearer the end of a unit of work. Students are assessed on longer tasks in both reading and writing which are marked against the skills they build through to GCSE. They are also assessed on knowledge they have gained from the units via multiple choice assessments. We use these assessments to track skills that need to be developed as individuals and as a class. The faculty then use this information to adjust future planning to ensure any areas of development are addressed. In addition to the written elements, we also assess Spoken Language in all year groups, this helps prepare students for part of their GCSE which is to perform a speech in class to an audience. 

In addition to the formal assessment, students are also assessed day-to-day in lesson by their teacher through questioning and discussion. These in-class assessments are valuable to aid the progress of the students as the teacher can react in the lesson and adjust the course of the lesson or the next few lessons to address any areas of development. 

GCSE 

In Key Stage 4, English students have the opportunity to gain two full GCSEs: GCSE English Literature and GCSE English Language. The faculty follow the AQA course and teach the two GCSEs concurrently throughout the three years of study. The students will be assessed at the end of Year 11 by examinations (two for Language and two for Literature); there is no longer an element of internal assessment in this course. 

During the course, there will be plenty of opportunities to practise what they need for these exams, with formal practice assessments taking place at regular intervals. The teachers give plenty of feedback on these, so that students make clear and steady progress towards their GCSEs and know what they need to do to improve even further.