The overarching aim for English is to promote high standards of language and literacy by equipping pupils with a strong command of the spoken and written word, and to develop their love of literature through widespread reading for enjoyment.
The pupils will over time read increasingly challenging texts to enable them to broaden their vocabulary, improve their spelling, punctuation and grammar, and reinforce their English syntax and to make inference and retrieve information from a text. The pupils will also explore spoken presentations and develop an understanding of how to express opinions and listen to and accept other points of view.
The pupils explore how writers use language and structure to present ideas or describe events, characters or emotions. They will look at associating context with texts and begin to explore older texts to broaden vocabulary and immerse themselves in the English literary culture. They will begin to summarise and compare extracts of non-fiction – both the topics in the extracts and how the writers convey those ideas.
The pupils will develop their skills to be able to critically evaluate texts, and be able to explain, comment on and analyse how writers achieve effects and influence readers, using a well-structured writing style, subject terminology and making frequent, judicious references to the texts. Frequent discussion in class and broader reading will enable students to become eloquent speakers and writers of English and speaking and listening skills.
