English

Please remind students to bring the correct equipment to lessons: A fully stocked pencil case with highlighters and glue, headphones,a reading book from the LRC or home and their Chromebook.

Texts for the school year 2025/26

Through each topic in KS3, students will study a variety of texts, including poetry, fiction and non-fiction extracts and writing opportunities, literary heritage, novels and exploration of the world around them with a key focus on vocabulary.

Year 7

• Autumn:  'The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe' and 'Elf'
• Spring:  Myths and Legends
• Summer:  'A Midsummer Night's Dream'

Year 8

• Autumn:  Gothic
• Spring:  The World Around Us Poetry & Spoken Language
• Summer:  'The Merchant of Venice' & Murder Mysteries

Year 9

• Autumn:  Of Mice and Men
• Spring:  Year 9 Exam prep and Unseen Poetry
• Summer:  Language Paper 1

Support and encourage your child to take responsibility for and complete their Independent Study. Encourage them to try tasks of a higher Challenge Level (Level 2 or 3). https://sites.google.com/tringschool.org/ks3-english-independent-study/home

How can I support my child through KS3 English?

Use the SIR - Strength, Improvement, Response marking sheets in assessment books to reflect with your child on their strengths and areas for improvement.

Encourage your child to read a wide range of texts and genres: novels, short stories, news articles, film reviews. More importantly, ask them to discuss, summarise or evaluate what they have read. Help your child to re-read and edit their work to encourage proofreading.

Help your child use new words to develop a wide vocabulary - encourage the use of a dictionary and thesaurus. Practise spelling; use errors teachers have flagged up in their work.

Introduce them to classic texts by Dickens, Carroll, Conan Doyle, Shakespeare, Tolkien etc.

Take your child on a literary day out – this could be the library, museums, galleries or the theatre - many local theatres put on great productions which are cheaper than in London. Encourage your child to engage in debates. Discuss current events with them and ask them to explain their opinions in detail.

Recommended Reading

The following books are available for students to loan from the Learning Resource Centre (open from 8.00am every weekday morning).

How will they be assessed in English during KS3?

There are two summative assessments per term, along with feedback for the students' independent study project and Accelerated Reader (just Y7 & Y8).

Students are asked to reflect on SIR marking feedback sheets to ensure they are working towards meeting their targets and making progress.

Homework is set weekly and students choose which task they wish to complete from the Independent Study Site (link above).

Peer and self assessment takes place through questioning and class work.

There is an end of year test for each year group.

Exam Board:  AQA for both Language and Literature

Two separate grades will be awarded with the new numerical grading system (9-1).

English Language and Literature

There are two GCSE qualifications to be gained by students studying English at Tring School.  All students study both English Language and English Literature as separate subjects.

How is the course assessed? 

Both Language and Literature are 100% exam:

• Two English Language exams at the end of Year 11
• Two English Literature exams at the end of Year 11

Throughout the two years we will be ensuring that students are ‘exam ready’ and many of our assessments will be completed in timed conditions to prepare students for the rigours of GCSE examinations.  All students will study both GCSEs in Year 10 and if it will be beneficial for them to continue with English Language only, that decision will be made in Year 11.

How long are the examinations?

The Language Exams:

• Paper 1:  1 hour and 45 minutes
• Paper 2:  1 hour and 45 minutes

The Literature Exams:

• Paper 1:  1 hour and 45 minutes
• Paper 2:  2 hours and 15 minutes

There are no controlled assessments or coursework in English, however, there is a Spoken Language component.

What is covered on the course?

Both courses encourage students to: be creative, to think analytically, to explore different types of writing (both fiction and non-fiction), and to broaden their understanding of the English language.  Students enjoy this subject because of its exploratory nature; they can bring their thoughts to the lessons and share their ideas and opinions. 

Literature:

Paper 1 is worth 40% and Paper 2 is worth 60%. 

Students must study a 19th century novel, a whole Shakespeare play, a variety of poetry including a set anthology and unseen poetry as well as modern prose or drama.  Exams will be closed book (i.e. no copies of the text can be taken into the examination).

Paper 1: 

• Shakespeare: Macbeth
• 19th century novel: A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

Paper 2:

• Modern drama: An Inspector Calls by J. B. Priestley
• Anthology: AQA Love and Relationships Poetry
• Unseen Poetry

Language:

Both papers are equally weighted.

Paper 1:  In Section A, students will read one unseen extract from a piece of 20th or 21st century fiction and will then answer four questions of increasing marks. In Section B (question 5), students will complete their own piece of fiction writing. 

• Q1:  Retrieval (4 marks)
• Q2:  Language analysis (8 marks)
• Q3:  Structural analysis (8 marks)
• Q4:  Evaluate the effect (20 marks)
• Q5:  Write a piece of fiction (40 marks)

Paper 2:  In Section A, students will read two unseen extracts (one text will be 19th century and the other will be a 20th or 21st text) and will then answer four questions of increasing marks. In Section B (question 5), students will complete their own piece of non-fiction writing.

• Q1:  Retrieval (4 marks)
• Q2:  Summarising (8 marks)
• Q3:  Language analysis (12 marks)
• Q4:  Compare the two texts (16 marks)
• Q5:  Write a piece of non-fiction (40 marks)

Please note that Speaking and Listening is not now directly assessed as part of the Language GCSE but will be certificated separately. We do still believe this to be a vital life skill and therefore students will still be taught a short speaking and listening unit.

What texts would you recommend?

We will write to parents to recommend purchasing their own copies of the set texts in order for the students to annotate as the text is taught. The school can also provide copies for the students to borrow, however they cannot be written in by the students.  Reading lists are available on the school website or from class teachers.

What websites would you recommend?

The Tring School KS4 revision site https://sites.google.com/tringschool.org/english

BBC Bitesize and Litcharts or Sparknotes for Literature. Class teachers will specify other websites when they are covering the syllabus. Often youtube will have examples of teachers delivering lessons on exam texts and these can be useful for revision. Resources will be available through MyChildAt School (MCAS) and Google Classroom .

What equipment should my child have?

Relevant texts for lessons.  Highlighters for close text analysis.  Glue and scissors for extract tasks.