Carol Service, St Mary's Church (pupils may leave after the Service)
We want our pupils to be meticulous in their study of language and to be fearless in their creative endeavours. Most importantly, we help our pupils to find their written voice and to express themselves with confidence and accuracy. We achieve this through the study of challenging texts taught with passion but without pretension.
In the 3rd Form, we study a wide-ranging curriculum beginning with the joint History trip to the Battlefields of the Western-Front and ending with the study of Macbeth; at every turn, we focus on developing writing skills and mastery of sentence forms. Pupils study AQA GCSE English Language and AQA GCSE English Literature. A good number of these choose to stay with us to study AQA A Level English Literature (B).
The literary enrichment group The Oultonian Society enriches and broadens literary horizons through a series of academic lectures and seminars for interested 5th and 6th Form pupils.
GCSE pupils follow the AQA GCSE English Language syllabus. This is a challenging, but accessible course which encourages pupils to emerge as confident and able writers. For English Literature, all pupils will study for the AQA GCSE English Literature Qualification which examines pupils on a range of poetry, prose, drama, and unseen texts. Here, pupils will experience literature from Shakespeare right up to the present day.
Links to GCSE specifications:
At A Level, we build upon the analytical skills developed at GCSE and focus the pupils’ minds upon the wider issues of context and literary criticism. Here, pupils take the opportunity to specialise in a literary genre and study a range of texts around this. The course comprises of recognised literary greats and those emerging as such. It is here that the seeds of a more complex and individual relationship with literature are sown. Our pupils achieve strong academic results and emerge as developed thinkers, writers, and communicators