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The Aims of English are: 

At Arco Academy, our intent is to teach a balanced and progressive English curriculum to engage with diverse literature from a range of periods, styles and cultures. This enables the students’ critical thinking skills to be enhanced, developing their ability to comprehend and communicate effectively.

  • We aim to provide students with basic language skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing) to acquire the linguistic competence necessary to progress.
  • We want to empower students with the skills to speak eloquently and with consideration to their audience.
  • We encourage students to listen actively in order to effectively recall, engage with, and challenge their understanding.
  • We aim to develop students’ abilities to understand the expression of English Language and Literature through drama and debate.
  • We want to instil confidence in our students to create independent readers through an appropriate focus on phonics, vocabulary, sentence structure and literary devices.
  • We want to engage students to become enthusiastic and reflective readers through contact with challenging and lengthy texts. This can be achieved by introducing different styles of writing to recognise its value in a variety of forms and the relationship to artistic expression.

Pathways

At the heart of each unit at Key Stage Three are challenging and enjoyable texts that provide the inspiration for our assessment of the students’ speaking and listening skills (within discussion, individual presentations and through role play) and their reading and writing skills.

Students are able to build on the skills acquired at Key Stage Two and are taught to become perceptive, analytical readers, able to express their ideas in extended essays. Opportunities for revising and expanding on key areas of grammar and spelling are woven into the curriculum, alongside opportunities for the students to express themselves fluently and confidently and develop the ability to structure and craft their writing and verbal contributions to suit a range of different outcomes.

Students hone the skills in reading, writing and spoken language (speaking and listening) that they have acquired in previous key stages. We offer GCSE English Language via AQA and English Literature is offered as an option with support from the parent school.

The GCSE courses assess students on their ability to write both accurately and creatively and respond appropriately to different tasks, purposes and audiences. Essay writing skills are further developed as students refine their expertise in analysis by responding to a plethora of different texts drawing on their knowledge of social and historical context in literature. In addition to the set texts and writing styles that provide the focus for the course, students are encouraged to pursue wider reading that will support them in their studies.

Level 1 and Level 2 are offered to enhance students’ abilities to use English in a life-related context.

The course consists of reading, writing, and spoken assessments that allow students to go on and further their education at a higher level or in an apprenticeship.

To read about the above in more depth, please see our English Curriculum Map.

Please also see our Bedrock Curriculum Map.

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