1. What is the curriculum rationale in English?

Intent: purpose and values of English

At Wilmslow High School our intent is for all students to be effective communicators and discerning readers. The journey to our intent is underpinned by our core belief that all young people are entitled to engage with a range of texts with confidence and to be encouraged to think conceptually and philosophically about the world they live in. We intend to open all students’ minds to a broad, deep knowledge and understanding of English language and literature from a diverse range of ambitious and challenging texts and exposure to language in use.

Our curriculum recognises the school’s unique local context: our students represent a diverse range of experiences. Our intent is to ensure that every student has equal access to a curriculum which is carefully designed to enable them to develop and perfect the skills of communication which are key to accessing the world beyond school.

We aim for our students to leave school having been given every opportunity to read, explore and analyse stimulating texts from a range of authors, viewpoints, contexts and genres. Our curriculum ensures that the skills of writing are honed and that ample opportunities to practise writing in a wide range of forms are embedded. The explicit teaching of high-level vocabulary is immersed within the curriculum journey to add productivity to our students’ language ability. We recognise that talk is a powerful tool of communication in the classroom and that to articulate something is to know it. Thus, we give students every opportunity to practise ideas, voice opinions and to be heard.

We do not compromise on complexity, but rather we scaffold, model, deliberately practise and teach the necessary skills to ensure that a rich experience is secured for all students.

Our English curriculum will ensure that students engage with a clear journey from Year 7 to Year 11, and beyond. Units are specifically designed to build skills of reading, writing and oracy; the range of texts is carefully placed to build knowledge and understanding.

2. What is the 'big picture' in English?

The ‘big picture’ outlines how the Big Ideas and areas of knowledge of each subject fit together:

Central to the study of English, is the Big Idea that the written and spoken word is not only influenced by, but also shapes humanity and the human experience.

The curriculum is therefore sequenced so that students understand, question, critique and create rules, stories and patterns in language and literature and, more broadly, in society.

The WHS English Curriculum gives all pupils the power to understand the codes that dictate the conventions of shared language, history, art and culture as well as giving them the power to challenge, break, rebuild and create new realities that are different from their own.

In order that students develop an understanding of how English scholars think and communicate, the English curriculum at Wilmslow High School is designed cumulatively around the following,  mutually reinforcing five key areas of knowledge:

Each of these key areas of knowledge is explored through both:

• Declarative knowledge of key facts and concepts: knowing that
• Procedural knowledge of processes and techniques: knowing how to

3. What does knowledge look like in English?

4. What do we teach and when?