English Curriculum Statement 2025
Intent
In the English departments at Brookfield School, we aim to provide pupils with an inclusive and nurturing learning environment, tailored to the specific needs of pupils with Social, Emotional, and Mental Health (SEMH) challenges.
Our aims are to:
- Provide bespoke qualification pathways so all learners progress from their starting points and achieve academic success (through GCSE and/or Functional Skills qualifications).
- Increase cultural capital through exposure to diverse, high-quality texts and enrichment opportunities.
- Address social and personal issues relevant to pupils in an SEMH context through carefully chosen schemes of learning.
- Ensure pupils develop the core English skills needed by the end of Year 11, including:
- Reading, understanding and analysing texts (including fiction, non-fiction, literary non-fiction, 19th century, contemporary, Shakespeare);
- Writing about texts using PEE (Point–Evidence–Explain);
- Comparing and evaluating texts;
- Producing imaginative writing and transactional texts for different purposes and audiences;
- Writing with accuracy and fluency;
- Speaking in formal situations.
Three curriculum drivers underpin this intent:
- Personal Development – Building resilience, self-esteem, and social understanding through literature, spoken language, and structured routines.
- Reading – Raising reading ages and fluency through scaffolded access to complex texts, structured interventions, and fostering a love of reading.
- Retention and Retrieval – Closing attainment gaps by embedding strategies that strengthen memory, retrieval, and exam skills.
Implementation
Personal Development
- Schemes of learning incorporate themes with moral, social, spiritual, and cultural relevance, linking with PSHE where possible.
- Structured routines and familiar practices support cognitive focus and self-confidence.
- Resilience-building: extended reading and writing tasks, incremental increases in concentration time, and scaffolds to manage anxiety around assessments.
- Structured talk sessions develop code-switching, turn-taking, constructive contributions, and use of Standard English in formal contexts.
- Reading for pleasure and carefully chosen texts provide springboards for exploring personal attitudes and real-world issues.
- Links with other subjects such as Work Skills demonstrate to pupils how proficiency in reading, writing and speaking and listening can help with applying for jobs and succeeding in interviews.
- CEIAG links (Gatsby Benchmarks) show the relevance of English skills to careers (e.g. police reports, journalism, marketing, law).
Reading
- Explicit teaching of reading skills and metacognitive strategies through live modelling and Text Dependent Questions.
- Access to complex texts supported by scaffolding, pre-teaching Tier 2/3 vocabulary, intensive phonics-based short programmes and interventions at KS3, and morphology/etymology work.
- Variety of texts interleaved across fiction, non-fiction, literary non-fiction, poetry, drama, contemporary, Shakespeare, and Victorian literature.
- Whole-school reading initiatives:
- Weekly literacy sessions led by form tutors.
- Group reading of carefully chosen texts.
- Explicit links between mental health and reading.
- For KS3 English lessons once per week, ERIC (everyone reading in class) is expected.
- Reading mentors pairing high-attaining and developing readers. These are used for some groups during reading intervention.
- Onsite library access.
- KS3 Phonics Intervention to support gaps in learning from previous educational settings, increasing knowledge and support of progress for core English lessons.
- KS3 Reading Intervention to guide ‘free readers’ into a variety of reading, including GCSE plays and texts outside of our curriculum.
- Enrichment: local library trips, author talks, theatre trips, literary events, World Book Day, and National Poetry Day.
Retention and Retrieval
- Frequent opportunities for retrieval: low/no stakes quizzes, explicit links to prior learning, targeted Q&A, and dual-coding resources.
- Mastery approach to learning, using Onwards & Upwards to monitor and assess whether and how effectively skills have been embedded across KS3 and KS4.
- Strategies for recall (mnemonics, revision cards, word associations) taught across KS3 and KS4.
- Mock exams across all subjects at KS4 at identified points in the year and data obtained from exams used to inform planning and intervention.
- Exam concessions (scribes, readers, extra time) are embedded to reflect “usual way of working.”
- Reading age assessments and GL data used to track progress throughout the school year. (Reading and writing assessments for KS3 are end of term and recorded as summative assessments for O&U)
Impact
Academic Outcomes
- Measurable improvements in reading ages.
- Summative assessments from Year 8 onwards provide consistent evidence of progression. (Year 7 complete summative assessments at the end of each term and English specialist will mark them to record on O&U- helps monitor progress and prepares necessary support or intervention when transitioning to Year 8)
- Pupils achieve qualifications suited to their pathway (GCSE and/or Functional Skills qualifications).
Personal Development
- Improvements in resilience, self-esteem, and confidence shown through:
- SNAP data, EHCPs, and PDI measures;
- Teacher assessments of speaking and listening;
- Successful completion of extended reading/writing tasks.
- Increased ability to adapt spoken language (code-switching) for different contexts.
- Improved behaviour and engagement, measured by positive points and reduced anxiety in assessment settings.
Reading
- Greater fluency, comprehension, and enjoyment of reading.
- Positive pupil evaluations of reading sessions, enrichment, and library use.
- Raised profile of reading across the school, contributing to improved vocabulary, general knowledge, and cultural awareness.
- Increase cultural capital through exposure to diverse, high-quality texts and enrichment opportunities
Retention and Retrieval
- Pupils demonstrate secure retention of knowledge and skills through retrieval activities, targeted questioning, and summative assessments.
- Exam readiness improved through mock exams, embedded revision strategies, and approved concessions.
- Progress trackers (Onwards & Upwards, Arbor, half-termly subject comments) and end-of-year assessments show steady progress towards endpoints.