Welcome to English!

Our team is committed to improving the literacy and communication skills of every learner at Castlebrook. We provide each learner with the language skills they need to negotiate and navigate the modern information age. The learner's flexibility with skills, texts and styles is encouraged through our varied and focused schemes of work.

We are currently taking advantage of the recent GCSE specification changes to update and further improve our schemes of work for relevance and engagement. This involves more modern texts and innovative approaches to the classics.

The English Department team is a mixture of youth and experience and all possess an enthusiasm and passion for the subject. We work hard each year to convey the joy of reading and communication in the most effective ways possible.

Beginning our GCSE courses in Year 9 enables us to prepare the learners for GCSE English when they are ready. This leads to over half of our learners being entered for and passing at grades A*-C by the end of Year 10. All learners are offered support in after school and holiday revision sessions if this is required for them to achieve their targets.

We strive for the Castlebrook English learner to leave school a competent, creative, analytical and reflective communicator with openness to new ideas. 

Meet the team

Key Stage 3

In studying English for three hours each week, learners develop the skills in speaking, listening, reading and writing that they will need to participate in society and employment. Learners learn to express themselves creatively and imaginatively and to communicate with others confidently and effectively.

In Years 7 and 8 our learners become enthusiastic and critical readers of stories, poetry and drama as well as non-fiction and media texts, gaining access to the pleasure and world of knowledge that reading offers. Looking at the patterns, structures, origins and conventions of English helps learners understand how language works. Using this understanding, learners can choose and adapt what they say and write in different situations, as well as appreciate and interpret the choices made by other writers and speakers.

Key Stage 4

At GCSE, studied for three hours per week, the skills established in Key Stage 3 are expanded and deepened within Speaking and Listening, Reading and Writing. Learners are frequently assessed in both exam and controlled assessments and encouraged to aim for their individual targets.

Whilst controlled assessment is new to the GCSE courses this year, it has provided opportunities for several new and engaging topics, particularly in creative writing and the study of spoken language.

Extra curricular and enrichment activities

Pantomime visit

Theatre visits

Film Club

Reading Club