Course information
English Literature
Mander Portman Woodward School - Kensington and Chelsea
02078351355
90-92 Queen's Gate, LONDON, SW7 5AB
Course summary

The pleasure of seeing what is under the surface of a literary text is something you will have experienced at GCSE. You have been exposed to Shakespeare at GCSE and it is now time to build on this firm basis by adding to your repertoire of his plays, while also tracking English literature to its sources by making the acquaintance of the first poet to choose to write poetry in English: Geoffrey Chaucer. The first year of English studies also takes account of an exciting mid-to-late twentieth-century writer: Angela Carter and her adventurous and definitively adult re-telling of fairy tales in her collection of Gothic short (but interlocking) stories The Bloody Chamber which draws on psychoanalytical interpretations of what these stories mean! In the first year, you will study two texts in preparation for the exams to be sat in the second year of A-level studies. These are The Tempest (Shakespeare), and The Bloody Chamber (Angela Carter). In addition, students will be offered an induction to Chaucer’s The Merchant’s Tale. This will take the form of a study of Chaucer’s The General Prologue and The Merchant’s Tale in preparation for the study of the latter work in Year 13. In the second year, you will build on the topics studied in the first year. You will continue your study of The Tempest and develop your familiarity with early modern drama by adding Webster’s The Duchess of Malfi. This latter text will be compared and contrasted to The Merchant’s Tale. You will similarly develop your understanding of the Gothic genre by studying Bram Stoker’s Dracula alongside Carter’s The Bloody Chamber. You will also study three literary texts in respect of the coursework option, one being a prose text, one a poetic text and one a dramatic text. We will be comparing and contrasting Ted Lewis’ Jack’s Return Home to and with Harold Pinter’s The Homecoming. The poetry text is Damian Walford Davies’ 2012 poetical sequence, Witch.

Entry requirements

To be eligible for the MPW University Foundation Programme you must: • Be aged 17+ at the start of the programme* • Entry requirements: Successful completion of local high school (either 11 or 12-year system) with good grades • Meet our English entry requirements: • January 2 term programme 5.5 IELTS or equivalent (with no less than 5.0 in any single band) – Pearson PTE (42-49), TOEFL iBT (46-59) or Cambridge (162) also accepted. • September 3 term programme 5.0 IELTS or equivalent (with no less than 4.5 in any single band) – Pearson PTE (36-41), TOEFL iBT (35-45) or Cambridge (154) also accepted. You will need at least a B in GCSE English. You will need a love of literature and the desire to study it in depth. Not all students beginning the course are particularly keen readers; it is hoped that they will become so by the end of the course!

How you'll be assessed

The A level is assessed in a linear way in the Summer term of year 13 by two exams and the submission of a coursework folder. The exam for Part 1 (Shakespeare and Poetry pre-1900) has two sections. Section 1 is on The Tempest. You will answer a question on the whole play. Section 2 will examine your understanding of The Duchess of Malfi in relation to The Merchant’s Tale. The exam for Part 2 (Drama and Prose post-1900) will examine your understanding of The Bloody Chamber and Dracula. You will be asked to compare and contrast them. Part 3 is a coursework unit requiring you to engage in a close reading totalling 1,000 words of a passage chosen from one text in the first instance and in the second instance to compare and contrast two texts which have connected themes with one another in an essay totalling 2,000 words. The two exams are 2 hours 30 minutes in duration and are each worth 40% of the A level. The Part 3 coursework component is worth 20%.

School Info

About Education Provider

RegionLondon
Local AuthorityKensington and Chelsea
Ofsted Rating
Gender TypeCo-Educational
ISI ReportView Report
Boarding FeeUnknown
Sixth Form Fee£34,233
Address90-92 Queen's Gate, LONDON, SW7 5AB