Head of Department: 

Curriculum Intent

At Brakenhale School we recognise the benefits of having an English curriculum which has been planned and sequenced in order to provide the stepping stones for students to reach and exceed their potential. We follow the National Curriculum, often going beyond, such as how we use seminal texts to inform our learners’ journeys. Our students thrive through their confidence in being able to form links and respond creatively and critically to a wealth of stimuli: from Greek and Norse mythology to the ever-evolving language of social media in the 21st Century. Additionally, the curriculum offers students a safe environment to explore their opinions and feelings towards a range of important and sometimes uncomfortable themes such as climate change, child poverty, social injustice, prejudice, bereavement and urban life, thus aiding the development of emotional literacy.

The necessity for a broad, balanced and ambitious English curriculum is fundamental to successful student outcomes and at Brakenhale our curriculum, along with our ‘can do’ expectation, facilitates ‘rapid progress’ (Ofsted 2019) which is sustained and developed further across Years 7, 8 and 9. With its foundations firmly planted in our knowledge of the Key Stage 2 curriculum, and the high expectations of our primary colleagues mirrored by our own, the KS3 curriculum builds on the prior learning of our students. We have reflected on our KS4 curriculum and, to allow us to reach the depth of exploration we feel is needed, we will be running Year 9 as a bridging year – straddling KS3 with KS4. Consequently, our students continue to reap the success of this in their GCSE results and at KS5 but also are secure in their literacy skills to access all other subjects of employment.

The English curriculum is an inclusive journey covering a breadth of diverse texts, techniques and skills in order to:

• equip all students with the functional skills and cultural capital necessary to support them in life and to allow them to enjoy independence,
• ensure students have a wide vocabulary, understanding of grammar and a knowledge of linguistic conventions for reading, writing and spoken language,
• promote critical thinking, develop empathy and have the emotional literacy to meet the challenges of being a global citizen in the 21st Century,
• give students the academic writing and comprehension skills to prepare them for further study at KS4, and to access the opportunities this affords at KS5 and beyond.

The English curriculum affords students the time and space to consider and revise interpretation and expression, and to develop their writing skills through a scaffolded and modelled approach. Students can communicate with clarity and coherence using language appropriate for purpose and audience as well as individual expression when thinking, reading and writing. If the ‘overarching aim for English in the National Curriculum is to promote high standards of language and literacy by equipping students with a strong command of the spoken and written word, and to develop their love of literature through widespread reading for enjoyment’ then our curriculum both meets and exceeds that expectation.