Time Allocation
Students study English for four 1 hour lessons a week throughout Key Stage 4.
Exam Board: AQA
Three Year Key Stage 4: English Department Rationale and Programme of Study for Year 9
Year 9 in English Language and Literature is a foundation year for Key Stage 4 where students have the opportunity to continue to broaden, widen and deepen their knowledge of the subject. Students study culturally varied texts that are currently or have recently been on the GCSE syllabus and to learn to speak and write in a variety of genres. They learn the knowledge and skills that will prepare them for the GCSE exam (for example, by learning the conventions of a Shakespearean tragedy when studying ‘Romeo and Juliet’ to prepare them for the study of ‘Macbeth’ in years 10 and 11). Final assessments for each unit are graded using the relevant AQA GCSE mark schemes.
Year 9 Term |
Topic |
Preparation for GCSE exam |
Key concepts learnt and/ or consolidated for GCSE |
Autumn 1 |
Of Mice and Men |
English Literature Paper 2: Modern Texts |
Narrative structure, characterisation, themes, the importance of context |
Autumn 2 |
Travel Writing |
English Language Paper 2: Non-Fiction reading and writing |
Textual genres, sentence structures, parts of speech |
Spring 1 |
Love poetry |
English Literature Paper 2: Poetry |
Genres: lyric, epic, narrative, dramatic; language and structural devices; sonnet form |
Spring 2 |
Romeo and Juliet |
English Literature Paper 1: Shakespeare |
Aristotelian conventions of a tragedy; equivocation; gender roles in Early Modern Period |
Summer 1 |
Dystopian Writing |
English Language Paper 1: Descriptive and Narrative Writing |
4-part default narrative structure and variations on this. Descriptive writing; characterisation; effective use of varied sentence structures |
Summer 2 |
Transactional Writing and Spoken Language Endorsement (GCSE Assessment) |
English Language Paper 2: Non-fiction Writing |
Adapting writing according to genre, purpose and audience.
All students will write and deliver a speech for their GCSE matriculation requirement
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GCSE Assessment Summary
Year 10 & 11 Schedule of teaching:
10 |
Autumn 1 |
19th Century non-fiction reading and creative writing |
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Autumn 2 |
British play or novel |
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Spring 1 |
Poetry |
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Spring 2 |
Shakespeare |
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Summer 1 |
Non-fiction reading |
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Summer 2 |
Non-fiction writing |
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11 |
Autumn 1 |
19th Century novel |
(including practice for English Language Fiction and Imaginative Writing) |
Autumn 2 |
Non-fiction reading and writing |
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Spring 1 |
Shakespeare revision |
Poetry revision |
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Spring 2 |
British play or novel revision |
Poetry revision |
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Summer 1 |
General revision |
GCSE English Language |
Fiction and Imaginative Writing |
Section A – Reading: questions on an unseen 19th Century novel. |
25% |
Section B – Writing: a choice of two writing tasks. The tasks are linked by a theme to the reading extract. |
25% |
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Non-fiction and Transactional Writing |
Section A – Reading: questions on two thematically linked, unseen non-fiction extracts. |
25% |
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Section B – Writing: a choice of two writing tasks. The tasks are linked by a theme to the reading extracts. |
25% |
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GCSE English Literature |
Shakespeare and the Nineteenth Century Novel |
Section A – Shakespeare: a question based on an extract of approximately 30 lines for analysis of language, form and structure. Students should also address how a theme reflected in the extract is explored elsewhere in the play. |
25% |
Section B – 19th-century novel: a question based on an extract of approximately 400 words for analysis of language, form and structure. Students should also address how a theme reflected in the extract is explored elsewhere in the novel. |
25% |
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Modern Texts and Poetry since 1789 |
Section A – Post-1914 British play or novel: ONE essay question. |
25% |
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Section B – Part 1: ONE question comparing a named poem from the AQA Poetry Anthology collection to another poem from that collection. The named poem will be shown in the question paper. Part 2: TWO questions analysing and comparing two unseen contemporary poems. |
25%
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