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English
Student websiteGCSE Course (OCR 1900/1901)
All students are entered for the Higher Tier of both English and English Literature which are taught as a combined subject through two years for three hours a week.
The combined syllabuses will consist of the following features, which will be developed by teachers and their classes in as wide-ranging a way as possible:
Speaking and Listening - continuous assessment which will involve drama-based activities, group collaborative work and extended individual presentation.
Media, non-fiction and information texts which will be read for extraction and assimilarion of information, synthesis of arguments and response by students to the discussion points raised by these arguments.
Fictional texts from other cultures which will be read to develop awareness of 'other people, other lands', through writing by authors whose experiences are culturally different to our own. Students will have the opportunity to respond in their own writing to multi-cultural issues raised.
Students will also be required to write to exploire, describe and entertain and such writing will often be linked to their experiences both in their own lives and in the literature they are reading.
For their assessment in English, students will also be asked to exploire the English Literary Heritage by means of a study of a play by Shakespeare (currently either Macbeth or Romeo and Juliet) and English poetry written before 1914.
Both items mentioned in the preceding paragraph will also contribute to coursework for English Literature, this assessment unit completed by the study of a pre-1914 prose text, probably a novel by Jane Austen, Charles Dickens or Robert Louis Stevenson, or a collection of short stories.
The English Literature examination will then focus exclusively on poetry, prose and drama published since 1914. At present we are working with OCR anthologies of poetry (Opening Lines) and prose (Opening Worlds). It is likely that the drama text will be Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman or R C Sherriff's Journey's End.
A-Level Course (OCR AS 3828, A 7828)
Full specificationAS and A Level English Literature is a very popular choice at CRGS: over 40 students opted for the course beginning in September 2005. Results are remarkably high: over the past two years, 85% of students have achieved A or B (and 66% have gained A). Studying literature is not easy, but it is intellectually challenging, intensely personal and immensely rewarding. If you enjoy reading and talking about books and the ideas they contain, then this course is for you. You will acquire the valuable and transferable skills of analysis, argument, critical thinking and teamwork; you will be expected to form and voice your own opinions, and to evaluate the opinions of others. English is widely recognised as a highly desirable qualification, both at university and beyond.
AS-Level Course
AS English Literatue consists of three modules worth in total 50% (300 marks) of the A level. You will study four texts of different types and periods in considerable depth, working closely with two expert teachers. Your assessment will be by examination in June (two papers) and by coursework completed by the end of the Spring Term.
Module 2707 (90 marks): Shakespeare
You will study one play from a list including The Tempest (which all three sets are doing this year), Henry IV Part 2, As You Like It and Antony and Cleopatra. Tasks will include looking at details of character and theme, exploring the contexts in which the play was writen, and investigating Shakespeare's poetic and dramatic techniques. Where possible, we will take you to see a production of your set play. The 90-minute exam in the summer will ask you to (i) tackle a short extract focusing on language, and (ii) write an essay convering the whole text and looking at a particular character or theme running through the play.
Module 2708 (120 marks): Poetry and Prose
Two texts, one of which must be pre-1900, will be selected from a long list. Current choices include Chaucer: The Franklin's Tale and TS Eliot: Selected Poems for poetry; Austen: Persuasion, Conrad: Heart of Darkness and Forster: A Passage to India for prose. You can expect to tackle the same areas of study as for 2707, with special emphasis on making connections between different poems or parts of the novel. The exam, again 90 minutes, will ask you to write one answer on each text using short extracts as a starting point.
Module 2709 (90 marks): Complementary Study
This coursework unit allows the class to study any text from any period. The choice for all three sets this year is Fitzgerald: The Great Gatsby. You will be asked to submit two essays, each of about 1,000 words, by the the end of hte Spring Term; one will focus on an extract and the other on the whole text.
A2-Level Course
The second part of the A Level course, or A2, extends and develops the analytical and critical skills you will have acquired during AS. Beginning directly after public exams in the Summer Term of Year 12, you will study a minimum of five texts for three modules; the first will be examined in the January of Year 13, coursework will be due by the end of the Autumn Term, and the final unit will be examinted in the June of Year 13.
Module 2710 (90 marks): Poetry and Drama pre-1900
This two-hour exam will test your knowledge of two texts, one of which must be pre-1770. The current list includes Milton: Paradise Lost Books 9 & 10; and Shakespeare's Hamlet. Again, we will take you to see a production where available. The emphasis in this unit is on seeing more than one side of the coin: you will need to weigh competing interpretations of the text against each other.
Module 2711 (90 marks): Poetry post-1914
You will study a modern novel, written originally in English but not necessarily by and English writer, and wirte one long or two shorter coursework essays. Texts likely to be tackled this year include Iain Banks: The Crow Road (Scottish) and Kazuo Ishiguro: The Remains of the Day (Japanese/English).
Module 2713 (120 marks): Comparative and Contextual Study
This synoptic paper, drawing together all the skills you have acquired during the A Level course, will be examined in the January of Year 13 (and again in the June if necessary). It is topic-based, and the two parts of the 135-minute exam ask you to (i) respond critically to an unseen text, using your knowledge of the topic; (ii) write an essay comparing the two main texts you study during the Summer and Autumn Terms. The topic selected for this year is Writings of the Romantic Era, focusing in particular on Wordsworth and Coleridge: Lyrical Ballads and Keats: Poems and Letters. This module is, as you would expect, the most challenging of the course, but is also the most rewarding, and prepares you well for the broader approach to study common in university courses.
We hope you will consider seriously the benefits and delights of studying literature to an advanced level. Whether you intend to choose similar subjects such as History, Modern Languages or Classics, or to focus on the physical or social sciences, English Literature will complement and support your interests and give you essential skills. Perhaps chiefly, you will become a more rounded and open individual, ready to take an active part in our remarkably rich cultural environment.