Our Aim

• We recognise that not all of our students share a positive experience of English GCSE, so encourage a positive mental attitude to increase students’ motivation and confidence to retake their GCSE with a ‘Not yet’ mantra – ‘You haven’t got your Grade 4 in English yet, but you will get it.’ The GCSE lift course allows for a different approach, designed with post-16 learners in mind. 
• We want students to build on their resilience, particularly when they struggle with reading or with writing for long periods of time.
• We expose students to a wide variety of texts, far beyond what the Edexcel Specification stipulates.  We want to immerse students in the written word and teach them how to enjoy reading.  We firmly believe that reading is not only vital to the successful attainment of their English GCSE qualification but also their wellbeing and life chances 
• We want students to be capable of using spoken and written English with confidence, imagination and accuracy in order to ensure they are equipped for their next steps, whether this be in their studies, job interviews or traditional academic pathways and university.
• We want students to know how to approach creative, non-fiction, analytical, comparative and evaluative written tasks.
• We want students to know about the world around them because broadening their knowledge base increases ambition and aspiration.
• We want students to not only be able to pick out information from texts, but develop the confidence to make inferences and think critically about what they are reading.
• In essence, we want students to understand it is a journey and with the right mind-set, they will reach the end of that journey with success.
• We want all pupils to understand how English links to the world beyond school; we want them to know and understand professional competencies that are gained through studying English. 

Our Delivery

• Teachers will read aloud every lesson, bringing texts to life, and, in turn, all students will read aloud once per week.
• We model effective reading, showing students how to annotate.
• We model how to write (with the option of a visualiser) using consistent approaches across the department.
• As well as learning how to write analytically, students will complete at least 1 piece of creative or non-fiction every week.  50% of the English Language GCSE is awarded for writing and this is reflected in the curriculum time we give it. 
• Students will work in exercise books, clearly labelled with the qualification and course component.  Twice per half term, students will write extended pieces which will be kept in portfolio folders.
• The course has been sequenced in such a way as to provide a strong foundation in the study of language, which then leads onto increasingly challenging topics.  We want to ensure students can use prior and existing knowledge to help them access increasingly complex material, building meaningful schema throughout.
• A range of DNAs are used at the start of every lesson; these reflect best practice in terms of daily, weekly and monthly reviews.
• Vocabulary is taught explicitly, in line with best practice.  Students are given and tested regularly on Tier 2 and Tier 3 vocabulary for every unit of work and keep a bank of vocabulary. 
• The teaching of SPaG is fully embedded into courses of study and through effective questioning in lessons.
• Prep is used to consolidate knowledge of what students have learnt and will always be reviewed in the following lesson. Prep will be given and reviewed on a weekly basis.