GCSE English and Literature
Welcome
23rd May 2017
Some key changes to GCSEs
• Exams will be graded on 1-9 GCSE scale ( 9 is the highest grade)
• There is no controlled assessment in most subjects, where it remains
the marking has changed
• Exams will be longer in length – English Literature is up to 2 ½ hours
• There is more content and more complex content
• All exams are now terminal (they will be taken at the end of Year 11)
Aims of the Language and Literature Courses
The Language and Literature courses aim to:
• inspire, challenge and motivate every student, no matter what their level of ability
• assessment students’ achievement in an untiered, closed book context through the
use of extract-based questions in the assessment of the 19th-century novel and the
Shakespeare plays.
• Provide a skills-based approach to the study of English and English literature that is
consistent across the genres
• Prepare students for AS and A-level English Literature and Language, as well as giving
students a grounding in a wide variety of literature that will stay with them for life
• Give students transferable skills across the two subjects and for life
Language Assessment Objectives
• critical reading and comprehension
• summary and synthesis
• evaluation of a writer’s choice of vocabulary, form, grammatical
and structural features
• comparing texts
• producing clear and coherent text- but different focus
• writing for impact: selecting, organising and emphasising facts,
ideas and key points; citing evidence and quotation effectively and
pertinently to support views; creating emotional impact; using
language creatively, imaginatively and persuasively, including
rhetorical devices (such as rhetorical questions, antithesis,
parenthesis).
Language Exams
• Two papers or components
• Papers ask students to relate reading sources to the topic
• Asked to write imaginatively and persuasively
Literature Assessment Objectives
• Reading comprehension and reading critically
• using understanding of writers’ social, historical and cultural contexts to inform
evaluation
• evaluation of a writer’s choice of vocabulary, grammatical and structural
features
• Comparing texts: comparing theme, characterisation, context (where known),
style and literary quality
• Writing: producing clear and coherent text
• Using accurate Standard English: accurate spelling, punctuation and grammar.

Texts and Authors
At present, for Literature students study:
• Macbeth
"Literature adds to reality, it does not
simply describe it. It enriches the
necessary competencies that daily life
requires and provides; and in this
respect, it irrigates the deserts that our
lives have already become."
- C.S. Lewis
• An Inspector Calls or Blood Brothers
• A Christmas Carol
• An anthology of poems selected by the exam board
• Unseen poetry – in preparation for questions asking
students to analyse and compare poems they have
not seen before
Literature Exams
Reading is to the mind what
exercise is to the body. – Joseph
Addison
Closed book! Two components up with exams up to 2 1/2 hours
Best advice?
• Keep up with the workload
• Make good quality revision materials as text are covered
• Respond to teachers’ comments
• Any missed work needs to be completed
In a nutshell…
‘One looks back with appreciation to the brilliant teachers, but with
gratitude to those who touched our human feelings. The curriculum is so
much necessary raw material, but warmth is the vital element for the
growing plant and for the soul of the child.’ Carl Jung
We want Crofton students to:
• read a wide range of classic literature fluently and with good understanding, and
make connections across their reading
• read in depth, critically and evaluatively, and be able to discuss and explain their
understanding and ideas
• develop the habit of reading widely and often
• appreciate the depth and power of the English literary heritage
• write accurately using Standard English
• acquire and use a wide vocabulary, including the grammatical terminology and
other literary and linguistic terms they need to criticise and analyse what they
read and express themselves coherently, articulately and persuasively in any
context
How can you help your child?
Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I
remember. Involve me and I learn. –
Benjamin Franklin
• Organise a fully resourced work area: highlighters, post-its, buy set texts
• Encourage them to watch the news, read an article/ paper once a week and
discuss ideas with you
• Ask ‘big questions’ e.g. how far do you agree young people are all ….? What’s
the point of education? Should everyone get an education? Should everyone
be entitled to health care/ police protection/ nursery education/ access to
parks and green areas? How would you improve your local area for….(specific
group of people) How would you feel if…..?
• Ask them to describe smells, tastes, sounds etc. with a wider vocabulary
• Encourage them to make revision resources as they go and use them to test
them/ ask questions: flashcards, mind maps, annotations
• Read the texts with them
• Buy revision guides
• Play word games etc.
• Fingers!