English department
Curriculum overview
The ENP English department delivers a broad, challenging and engaging curriculum, based to suit the needs of all learners. We pride ourselves on our passionate and rigorous approach and our curriculum is designed progressively to help students achieve highly in their future IGCSE and OIB studies in English. Reading, Writing and Oral skills are taught and assessed in a range of interesting and often innovative ways. Literacy and communication skills are embedded in our teaching not simply to prepare pupils for exams but, as importantly, to ensure that students develop the range of skills they will need to thrive in future studies and in the wider working world.
We see writing accurately and fluently as a vital life skill. Our aim is to equip students with the ability to write a variety of text types for a range of purposes and audiences, which could include: stories, poetry, descriptive writing, formal letters, articles, reviews and formal presentations. Furthermore, we also view writing as a process that improves through refinement, editing, redrafting and proofreading. Students are therefore encouraged to become independent and critical of their own work in order to achieve greater accuracy and fluency in their writing.
Developing an appreciation and love of reading in our students is central to our teaching. Students are encouraged to read and engage with high quality texts, both fiction and non-fiction and we encourage students to see reading as something everyone can enjoy. Students have access to the ENP library and are expected to use this alongside their own sourcing of books. Teaching pupils to become analytical, critical readers aware of the author’s craft are essential skills and are gained through a study of literature from Shakespeare through to contemporary novels and plays.
Speaking, listening and communication skills are vital for success in future life whose importance we do not underestimate. Opportunities for students to use and enhance their speaking and listening skills are built into lessons throughout the course of each academic year.
Assessment and qualifications
Students are assessed formally at regular intervals throughout the year.
- For years Sixième to Seconde key assessments are completed and kept in a designated folder.
- OIB pupils are expected to keep returned assessment scripts in their subject folder.
Students receive written feedback that is concise and constructive, identifying areas of strength and success as well as areas of improvement to help them progress further. Students are expected to act on teacher guidance and show that they have addressed these areas themselves.
Assessment in the department is not limited to formal, core assessments and we work to encourage students to see reflection and feedback as an ongoing process that does not always have a ‘mark’. We place great importance on verbal feedback and dialogue with students and we use techniques such as peer assessment to encourage self-reflection. Feedback will include tracking of progress against students’ individual targets and we encourage pupils to understand that progress is not always a straightforward trajectory but that success depends on knowing where improvements can be made.
From Sixième to the end of Quatrième pupils are assessed internally with teachers setting standardised questions and tasks. At the start of Troisième pupils begin preparing for IGCSE English Language and Literature exams. These qualifications are an international version of the core UK secondary school qualification. The exams demand a study of non-fiction and fiction texts, reading for effect and to identify the writer’s craft plus learning to write for specific audiences, in a range of different styles. IGCSE English exams are taken at the end of Seconde.
In Troisième students also prepare for and take the international component of their Brevet. This involves a 20 minute oral exam that includes presentation and discussion on a folder of Literature texts connected by theme. This is examined and marked by ENP staff.
Premiere sees the start of OIB preparation. Pupils study set texts across all literature genres; Drama, Poetry and Prose. Final assessment is through a 4 hour written paper and a 15 minute Oral exam. Both exams require pupils to show a confident and critical appreciation of Literature, basing their personal response on evidence from the texts and the contexts in which it was written.
Homework and learning resources
Homework in English is set to consolidate learning in the classroom or to prepare for future lesson content. Tasks may be reading, writing or research based.
For Sixième to Quatrième up to one hour can be spent on specific homework tasks each week. Alongside these tasks students are also expected to be working on their ‘Reading Challenge’ booklet. Monitored by teachers, this is designed not only to develop reading skills and interests but also independent work and creativity.
IGCSE and OIB students will be set specific homework tasks but are also expected to build in independent work and revision alongside classroom studies. At both of these levels reading of set texts ahead of lessons is essential; teaching is dependent on students having clear content knowledge.
Students have access to a variety of lesson resources in class and on ProNote. Teachers also use Google Drive and Google Classroom with some Lycée classes to collate group work, share ongoing resources and complete homework. Reading beyond the classroom is highly encouraged at all ages. This can be fiction and non-fiction books and texts.