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English

ENGLISH STATEMENT

Our vision is to develop well-rounded, confident and involved individuals who strive to achieve their full potential.

We will do this by providing a welcoming, safe, calm and purposeful learning environment in which everyone is equal, and all achievements are celebrated.

At Westfield Academy, we believe that English offers more than a means of communication. At times, it affords students the opportunity to journey to the past, whilst other times we look ahead to the future and consider what life and society might be like. English is a tool with which we learn to shape and share our ideas and voices, to challenge and refine our own opinions and those of others, to foster empathy and cultural sensitivity, to understand the world around us and to educate and empower ourselves.

English is compulsory at Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4 at Westfield, with the option to complete an English Literature A-Level at Key Stage 5. Students are taught to develop a range of skills across the curriculum, including reading comprehension skills, writing skills and spoken language skills. Students study novels, short stories, plays (including Shakespeare), extracts from contemporary and seminal texts and poetry. Some texts are canon, others are contemporary, but all choices have been found to be stimulating and intellectually demanding. There are opportunities to explore a range of fiction and non-fiction texts across a wide array of genres and epochs.

There are a range of skills we aim for students to develop through the curriculum. In terms of reading comprehension, these skills include the ability to respond to texts, to think critically and produce writing in the appropriate style of a critique. Students are expected to engage with elements of the writer’s craft and process at both a micro and macro level. When it comes to writing, students are encouraged to bring their imagination to bear in creative short stories, sometimes even in poetry writing, and to write persuasively for various non-fiction audiences. Students further their vocabulary and their knowledge of punctuation and grammar. For spoken language, students learn to build their confidence, communicate views and to generate thought for their listener, to understand the importance of listening attentively and responding with sensitivity, as well as to understand the foundations of an effective presentation. Alongside this, we hope to draw out in our students a passion for the written word.

Our intent is the curriculum:

  • Enables high standards of progress to be made in relation to academic achievement where, at Key Stage 5, outcomes empower students to progress to Higher or Further Education in accordance with their ambitions. 
  • Provides a broad, diversified and knowledge-rich curriculum that is stimulating, comprehensive and accessible for all students . 
  • Centres texts that promote British values, including democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect, and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs.
  • Delivers opportunities for students to learn from their mistakes and misconceptions, as well as to gain useful transferable skills. 
  • Expands students' perspectives through a range of curated texts and extracts that allow for spiritual, moral, social and cultural discursive opportunities, in turn promoting their sense of moral and social responsibility. 
  • Ensures that all students are able to thrive & develop as healthy individuals and good citizens. 
  • Ensures that all students are safe and understand how to stay safe. 
  • Provides an appropriate range of learning in regard to opportunities and experiences that may inspire students to succeed in the next stage in their education, training or employment. 
  • Reduces the gap between disadvantaged students and their peers. 

Curriculum Map

Learning Journey