The Key Stage 5 Curriculum follows the AQA English Literature A Level course providing students with the opportunity to read and explore a range of genres, themes, characters, and contexts. Studying English literature opens up a world of inspiration and creativity, while also developing skills that are essential for today's global environment. It is a chance to discover how literature makes sense of the world through stories, poems, novels, and plays. Students are encouraged to read for pleasure, and teachers recommend novels that will broaden their understanding of the set texts as well as their knowledge and perception of the world around them. By the end of the course, students have a rich knowledge base and a deep understanding of the subject. Students undertake a learning journey during their two-year study of English Literature and are genuinely ready and prepared for the next step in their education. In Year 12, students focus on the following topic: Modern times: literature from 1945 to the present day. Whilst following this scheme of work, students will primarily focus on reading The Help by Kathryn Stockett and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof by Tennessee Williams. Students will also study a wide range of prose extracts from this era to further develop their knowledge and understanding of the overriding themes, characteristics, contextual issues, and styles of this period in English Literature. In addition to their examination texts, students are also encouraged to read widely outside of the College environment to enhance their learning. Teachers provide a suggested reading list and students are given copies of Colson Whitehead’s The Underground Railroad to read in term 1 as an optional class reader. In year 12, students are also required to complete their Non-Exam Assessment. For this compulsory assessment, students must submit an extended assignment that compares an aspect of two texts of their choice, including one pre-1900 text. Students are encouraged to read and choose texts that they enjoy and are passionate about which could be poems, plays, prose texts, or a collection of short stories. Students are assigned an NEA tutor who will guide them throughout the process and assist them with key decisions around text and task choices. In Year 13, students focus on the following topic: Love Through the Ages. Initially, students will read and study The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald and a collection of pre-1900 love poems. Students will develop their knowledge and understanding of the author’s craft and will carefully consider how many different aspects of love are explored and presented in both the novel and the poetry. Teachers will guide students to draw out the similarities and differences between The Great Gatsby and the poetry and students will learn how to analyze and explore connections between texts whilst also drawing on the social and historical contexts of each text. In addition to this, students will also be expected to draw on their knowledge of poetry to analyze unseen poetry and demonstrate that their understanding is embedded and can be drawn upon outside of the anthology poems. The final text students will study for their Literature A Level is William Shakespeare’s Othello. Students will explore the themes, characteristics, dramatic structure, and methods within the play and will again draw upon their knowledge of love through the ages and examine which aspects are relevant within the play. Wherever possible, students will be invited to watch the play being performed to enhance their knowledge and understanding but other options are available when the play is not being performed locally