English Department
J. Mather – Head of Department
Our Year 11 Curriculum at Hazel Grove
Half Termly Schemes of Work:
Autumn 1:
Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet (Literature)
All homework based on 19th Century Novel: A Christmas Carol (Literature)
Autumn 2:
Writing: Creative and Discursive (Language Paper 1 and 2)
All homework based on Modern British Drama: DNA (Literature)
Mock Exams: Literature Paper 1 and Language (Writing) Paper 1 and 2
Our Year 11 Curriculum at Hazel Grove
Half Termly Schemes of Work:
Spring 1 :
Poetry Anthology and Unseen Poetry(Literature)
Spring 2:
Reading Skills (Language Paper 1 and 2)
Additional mocks in February and March for Language and Literature
Summer 1:
Revision – DNA and A Christmas Carol
Summer 2:
Revision and Examinations
Our Year 11 Curriculum at Hazel Grove
• This year, your child is studying a new GCSE specification.
• All students will be entered for Language and Literature
• The courses are now linear and 100% exam based. All exams are ‘closed
book’ so students will not have access to any texts during the examinations
• All examinations will take place in the summer term of Year 11
• All students will receive a separate grade (1-9) for English Language and
English Literature
Sample Exam Question
Read the following extract from Act 3 Scene 5 of
Romeo and Juliet and then answer the question that
follows.
At this point in the play Tybalt has been killed by
Romeo and Lord Capulet has agreed and arranged for
Juliet to be married to Paris to cheer her up.
Starting with this speech, explore how Shakespeare
presents attitudes towards father-daughter
relationships in Romeo and Juliet
Write about:
• how Shakespeare presents attitudes towards
father-daughter relationships in this speech
• how Shakespeare presents attitudes towards
father-daughter relationships in the play as a whole
45 minutes
CAPULET
God’s bread! It makes me mad.
Day, night, hour, tide, time, work, play,
Alone, in company, still my care hath been
To have her matched. And having now provided
A gentleman of noble parentage,
Of fair demesnes, youthful, and nobly trained,
Stuffed, as they say, with honorable parts,
Proportioned as one’s thought would wish a man—
And then to have a wretched puling fool,
A whining mammet, in her fortune’s tender,
To answer “I’ll not wed,” “I cannot love,”
“I am too young,” “I pray you, pardon me.”—
But, an you will not wed, I’ll pardon you.
Graze where you will, you shall not house with me.
Look to ’t, think on ’t, I do not use to jest.
Thursday is near. Lay hand on heart, advise.
An you be mine, I’ll give you to my friend.
An you be not, hang, beg, starve, die in the streets,
For, by my soul, I’ll ne'er acknowledge thee,
Nor what is mine shall never do thee good.
Trust to ’t, bethink you. I’ll not be forsworn.
Sample Exam Question – Closed Book Exam
How does Kelly explore the effects of peer pressure
in DNA?
Write about:
• How some of the characters respond to peer pressure.
• How Kelly presents the effects of peer pressure.
‘I don’t really like reading…’
‘Reading is boring…’
Reading can be a hard sell!
But…reading is more
important than ever now.
English Language
• Students will have to read and respond to three texts from the 19th, 20th
and 21st Century both Literary Fiction and non-fiction across both exam
papers.
• One source will always be a piece of high quality journalism, taken from a
broadsheet newspaper. Therefore, we recommend that students read a
selection of newspaper articles on a regular basis.
• Students must be able to unpick the texts, write about the language and
structure and make detailed comparisons.
• Let’s look at the examples together.
What should you see your child doing on
the run up to the exams?
• Reading a variety of texts (fiction and non-fiction)
• Making independent revision notes/cards on the content of Literature
texts
• Reviewing marked class work and/or homework and developing it
• Planning and/or completing practice exam questions
• Making a list of key quotations for each text and learning them (perhaps
use the ‘Memrise’ App to help
• Revising skills for writing by planning and completing paragraphs of
creative and discursive writing
In addition, you can support your child by:
• Reading the Literature texts studied in class with them
• Testing their knowledge of key quotes, events, characters, settings,
language and structural techniques for each exam
• Exploding quotations with them
• Timing your children to respond to exam style questions
• Purchase revision guides – e.g. York Notes or CGP Guides
• Present your child with an image or a newspaper headline, quote or
statement and ask them to write in a creative or discursive way