English
The English Curriculum Area is a highly motivated and well organised team who work successfully together. Decisions are made as a team, work is shared, as are resources and there is always someone available to offer practical support. Each curriculum area member teaches across the age and ability range and takes responsibility for some aspect of the curriculum which is negotiated on an annual basis. There are all also members of some whole school developments, including the Teaching and Learning Group and Staff Development Group. There are wide
opportunities for staff development within the curriculum area and the skills and expertise of individuals are used to inform the rest of the team.
We are fortunate to have ten full time members and two parttime members of the curriculum area (who are also members of the SLT) with a range of interests and experiences. The teaching rooms are grouped together and are resourced to an exceptionally high standard – all rooms have interactive whiteboards and computers. We also have an English Office/work room where all of the area resources are kept. It is hoped that everybody shares their resources and exchanges ideas and areas of good practice to strengthen the curriculum area further.
Attainment and Progress in the department is ‘Good to Outstanding’ and English was highlighted in our recent Ofsted inspection as one of the three most successful areas in the school (March 07). We place a great deal of emphasis on using data to monitor and evaluate the performances of staff and students alike and to set targets. Last year’s English headline figures were impressive at all key stages:
Key Stage 3: 70% Level 5+ with 31% Level 6+
Key Stage 4: 64% Grade C or above
Key Stage 5: Language and Literature have 100% pass rate with over 70% Grade C
or above in both subjects
These excellent results helped Burnside achieve its best ever GCSE results in July 2006: 59% achieved 5 Grades at C or above with 53% achieving 5 Grades C or above including English and Maths.
English is taught across the school in broad ability bands. There is always scope for movement of students, but usually the higher ability groups are larger whilst the lower ability groups are kept to about 17 per class. The most able in Year 10 and 11 study. Media Studies as an additional GCSE in English allocated time. The remainder of
students in KS4 all study for AQA English and Literature GCSEs or AQA English and Media Studies in the case of the least able, which is being trialled for the first time this year. We have a good pass rate for C grades and above and the vast majority of students are entered for both GCSEs. The only exception is for cases of prolonged absence. At A/S Level there is a choice of English Literature and Language or bothand take up for both of these is healthy. AQA Syllabus B is followed, with heavy emphasis being placed on coursework. An integral part of these courses is Key Skills in Communications where we expect students to achieve Level 3.
The curriculum area offers a wide range of extracurricular activities such as theatre, cinema visits, drama workshops, writing clubs, homework club and reading group. We aim to equip students with the skills they will need when leaving school, but also to promote a love of literature. To encourage this, all KS3 students have one private reading lesson each week, where they are encouraged to bring in books that they will enjoy and perhaps share with others.