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English

Year 9 (Block 3)

English is approached primarily through the reading of novels, stories, poems and plays. Students are encouraged to think, write and talk lucidly and critically about what they have read. As well as providing stimulus for the imagination and for discussion of social, ethical and personal questions, we hope that the study of literature will increase awareness of the potential of language as a medium of expression. This is developed through detailed examination of how language is being used to precise effect in particular contexts and it is hoped that a growing critical awareness will filter into students' creative use of language.

The study of the language spreads beyond its specifically literary uses and any examples of English in use are potential grist to the English teacher's mill. Journalism, diaries, letters, biography and travel writing, for example, provide a wide range of writing for study. Over the year students will build up a portfolio of written work which will form part of their end of year assessment.

As students develop their own writing their work is regularly corrected to improve basic accuracy. We would like to think that most will be familiar with a vocabulary of essential grammatical and literary terms before they reach us, but inevitably some will not be, and therefore some time is spent in Block 3 reinforcing this.

English Language

There will be etymology in the English Language course – some Latin and Greek roots and some history of the enlargement of English vocabulary which followed the introduction of the printing press and took classical languages as the main sources. This will only be one section of a course also involving English grammar, phonetics, semantic change and modern usage.

Years 10 & 11

English GCSE

All students in Block 5 take English GCSE. Much of the work is built around the detailed study of whole literary texts, and every student receives a copy of the AQA anthology of stories and poems. Assessment is through coursework essays, speaking and listening, and two final papers.

Examining Board: AQA (A)3702

English Literature

The Bedales Assessed Course in English Literature offers the opportunity to study a wide range of texts from the Elizabethan age to the twenty-first century. As well as Shakespeare, the Romantic Poets, Jane Austen and George Eliot, students will encounter writers like Michael Frayn or Kazuo Ishiguro. Once the course is under way, teacher and class will have a great deal of flexibility in selecting texts of mutual interest, thereby building on enthusiasms within the group.

Eight texts will be studied over the two years (more than many schools cover at A level) and the resulting knowledge of poetry, plays and novels from diverse periods will far outstrip what can be achieved within the confines of a GCSE course.

Sixth Form

The AS course consists of two modules: an examination worth 60% and a folder of coursework worth 40%.  The examination is on a pair of modern poets (e.g. Plath and Hughes, Larkin and Dannie Abse) and a single modern play (e.g. Arcadia, Dancing at Lughnasa). The coursework combines an essay on two novels, one of which can be chosen by the candidate, with a piece of original creative writing with commentary on its composition.

At A2 there is the same structure of single exam and coursework. For the exam, three texts are studied: a pair of plays (e.g. Hamlet and The Revenger's Tragedy, King Lear and Oedipus Rex) and a poetry text (e.g. Donne, Milton, Blake).  Coursework requires a 3,000 word essay on three texts which must include prose and poetry and be drawn from more than one period. There will be much opportunity for independent research and study in this module.

Examining Board: WJEC

Head of Department: Graham Banks

Download a guide to the Sixth Form Curriculum.

Download the latest issue of The Poet’s Stone: Bedales “forum for creative writing".

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