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English & English Literature

At St. Aidan's we teach the AQA GCSE English and English Literature Specification A.

English: 40% coursework Literature Exam: 30% coursework

Coursework involves 5 pieces taught in Year 10 and the beginning of Year 11.

  • Original Writing (narrative/descriptive writing)
  • Media (writing to analyse, comment and review)
  • Shakespeare eg. Romeo & Juliet/Merchant of Venice etc
  • 19th Century Prose Study (Frankenstein/Jane Eyre/Hardy's short stories/Jekyll & Hyde etc
  • 20th Century Drama (Our Day Out/ Inspector Calls/The Crucible)
English Exam: 60% Literature Exam: 70%

The English exam tests reading skills using non-fiction/media texts and writing skills, (writing to argue/persuade/advise/describe/inform/explain). Students also study a selection of poems from different cultures.

The Literature exam tests the ability to understand and analyse a 20th Century set text,
eg. Lord of the Flies/To Kill A Mockingbird/Of Mice & Men etc.

Students will also study a selection of poems from both pre-20th Century and modern day,
eg. Seamus Heaney, Gillian Clarke, Simon Armitage, Carol Ann Duffy/Shakespeare's sonnets, Robert Browning, Tennyson, Thomas Hardy, William Wordsworth etc.

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