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English Department

The purpose of the English curriculum at Corby Technical School is motivated by three central, guiding principles:

  • To inspire aspirational attitudes by providing students with the opportunity to see beyond the current limits of their own world.
  • To ensure that all students develop the ability to communicate clearly and engage critically with the world around them.
  • To insist upon students becoming the authors of their own narratives, assuming the role of ‘writer’ at every opportunity to best understand the varied thought processes that influence the texts they engage with daily.

At Corby Technical School, we know that ‘memory is the residue of thought’ and as such, our English curriculum is intentionally designed to allow students the opportunity to delve deeply into the linguistic and emotionally motivated decisions made by writers from a range of times, backgrounds and perspectives, from both literary and non-literary genres. While providing the scaffolding and support necessary to engage with the threshold concepts that constitute English as a subject from the outset, the English Team at Corby Technical School have designed our curriculum to encourage students to eventually think independently, drawing their own thorough, critical conclusions. 

The English curricular journey begins with students developing an understanding of themselves, exploring themes of morality and identify through various forms of storytelling, before transitioning to arguments relating to social justice and the roles we play as individuals in ensuring that equality of opportunity in our community. Having developed an understanding of themselves and honing their ability to communicate their experiences, students develop their empathic reasoning by exploring conflict in both literary and non-literary forms.

Facilities

The English department have a range of reading textbooks for all ages. This varies from classics, modern fiction, non-fiction, poetry- all covering a wide range of topics for the students to both obtain a varied diet of texts and literature and also develop their own interests in reading. The department strongly promote reading for pleasure, so always have relevant and engaging books at hand to recommend and share with the students.

The English department consists of several large and spacious classrooms and a dedicated drama studio with lighting rig, and sound system as well as a fully weighted curtains that provide professional stage spacing. There is plenty of space and opportunity for students to develop their English skills in wide variety of learning styles.

The media department has a brand new state of the art media suite containing 26 Apple iMacs and three HD plasma screens. Perfectly suited to all aspects of design the students will undertake, the iMacs host a range of design software, including the full Adobe suite with programmes such as Photoshop, Premiere and Lightroom.

The media suite also has photography facilities such as studio lights and multi-coloured backdrops suitable for photography and more advanced chroma-key green-screen editing.

Events/Trips/Visits

The English department works closely with the library to ensure there is always something “bookish” for the students to get involved in (author visits, Carnegie awards, big book quizzes, just to name a few). Alongside this, we offer a range of after school clubs, including a creative writing and debate club.

We also have a range of events throughout the year, such as World Book Day, The Spelling Bee and Readathons to encourage a love of reading and literacy throughout the wider school.

We have collaborated with other subjects in the past, such as History and offered school trips to places that have a historical legacy steeped in literature, i.e. Shakespeare’s Globe.

We also offer an opportunity for students to become ‘Literacy Leaders,’ where students can get involved in a whole host of literacy-based activities, promoting literacy around the wider school.

Online Resources:

The following websites are recommended as revision tools for our GCSE students:

  • -BBC Bitesize
  • -Sparknotes
  • -Shmoop
  • -Yorknotes
  • -Cliffnotes
  • -Revision World
  • -Youtube-Now have a wide range of experienced teachers and examiners offering exam advice.

Career Links:

The skills English literature and language provide have relevance and importance for all career routes (literacy, written and verbal communication, reading and comprehension, etc).

Common career pathways are listed below:

  • Journalism
  • Media
  • Advertising and Marketing
  • Education (Teaching)
  • Publishing / Writing
  • Public Relations
  • Law
  • Public Sector (Civil Service / Government)
  • Politics