English

Head of Department: Mrs M Hyland mhyland@prsbucks.com
(Mrs A Gardner is on maternity leave)

Our Vision

We are committed to providing every student with a curriculum that is adaptable, inclusive, and inspiring; one that encourages curiosity, builds confidence, and fosters independence. Our goal is to help all students reach their full potential through teaching that is collaborative, reflective, and responsive. By implementing strategic, focused assessment and offering a diverse and ambitious curriculum, we ensure that learners of all ages and abilities are equipped with the tools to succeed. At the heart of everything we do are our students

KS3

Our KS3 English curriculum is designed to ignite a passion for the subject while laying the groundwork for success at GCSE. Through a diverse range of texts, it broadens students’ cultural understanding and encourages them to explore different perspectives. Beginning with the rich traditions of mythology, students progress to the Victorian worlds of Sherlock Holmes and Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. They encounter iconic Shakespearean characters in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Romeo and Juliet, and engage with thought-provoking contemporary poems and speeches. Year 9 serves as a pivotal transition, introducing greater academic challenge in preparation for GCSE. Students study a wide array of texts, including The Crucible, Coram Boy, gothic fiction extracts, and unseen poetry, fostering deeper literary analysis and critical thinking skills.

KS4

All students study both AQA English Language and AQA English Literature at GCSE. Building on the strong foundation established at KS3, our KS4 curriculum develops key skills in reading, analysis, spoken language, creative writing, and transactional writing. These are assessed through four exam papers: two for English Language and two for English Literature.

Students will explore:

A Shakespeare play (Macbeth)
A 19th-century novel (Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde)
A modern drama (An Inspector Calls)
The Power and Conflict poetry anthology
A range of fiction and non-fiction extracts

The KS4 curriculum is both rigorous and aspirational, equipping students with the analytical and communication skills essential for success at A Level and beyond.

KS5

A Level English Language

Exam Board: AQA

A Level English Language approaches language as a social science, encouraging students to explore how meaning is shaped by context and situation. Throughout the course, students examine the relationship between language and factors such as gender, occupation, social class, and regional variation. In Year 13, the focus shifts to the study of child language acquisition and the evolution of language over time. The coursework component allows students to engage creatively and analytically by producing original writing and conducting an independent language investigation in an area of personal interest.

Film Studies:

Exam board: WJEC

Throughout the course, students explore a rich selection of both national and international films. The curriculum is designed to reflect a diverse range of voices, styles, and stories, encouraging thoughtful engagement with different cultures and perspectives.

Current films studied include:

Casablanca (Curtiz, 1942)
Do the Right Thing (Lee, 1989)
Memento (Nolan, 2000)
Selma (DuVernay, 2015)
Captain Fantastic (Ross, 2016)
Fish Tank (Arnold, 2009)
Shaun of the Dead (Wright, 2004)
Pan’s Labyrinth (Del Toro, 2006)
Wild Tales (Szifrón, 2014)
Sunrise (Murnau, 1927)
Amy (Kapadia, 2015)
Joker (Phillips, 2019)

In addition to analysing each film through the key elements of film form, students apply critical frameworks such as spectatorship, ideology, and narrative theory. The course also includes a substantial practical component, giving students the opportunity to create their own independent film projects.

English Literature:

Exam Board: AQA

Our A Level English Literature course focuses on two key genres: Aspects of Tragedy and Political and Social Protest Writing. Students engage with a wide range of texts, both seen and unseen, developing critical and comparative analysis skills.

Texts currently studied include:

Othello – William Shakespeare
The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald
Richard II – William Shakespeare
The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood
The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini
Songs of Innocence and of Experience – William Blake

The course also features a coursework component, allowing students to explore a text of their own choosing through a critical lens such as feminist theory, Marxist theory, or post-colonial theory, fostering independent thought and deeper literary insight.