English Literature

Course summary

If you’re a keen reader who likes to explore the social, historical, and literary contexts of the things you read, then you are likely to enjoy the Literature course. We studied 6 texts across the two-year course. In Y12 our focus is comedy, and our texts are: ● The Importance of Being Earnest, a play by Oscar Wilde; ● Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare; ● Small Island, a novel by Andrea Levy. In Y13, the focus turns to Political and Social Protest Writing (PASP), and our texts are: ● The Kite Runner, a novel by Khaled Hosseini; ● Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience, poetry by William Blake; ● A Doll’s House, a play by Henrik Ibsen. You are taught for 5 hours per week, in one 2-hour and one 3-hour session. All reading of the texts is completed independently outside school time. You will be expected to complete a further 5 hours per week of independent study: this can include reading, set homework, research, consolidation and revision of classwork, and wider reading.