“Literature offers the thrill of minds of great clarity wrestling with the endless problems and delights of being human. To engage with them is to engage with oneself, and the lasting rewards are not confined to specific career paths.”― Jonathan Stroud. The Course English Literature is a linear A Level course, ensuring both depth of study as well as breadth; over the two years students will read the following texts for examination: pre-1900 poetry and drama texts; a full Shakespeare play; two Gothic novels; and an extensive range of Gothic texts in extract form in order to master subject knowledge. However, it is important to us that all students with a love of literature continue to discover reading for pleasure whilst developing critical skills. To facilitate this, we offer the broadest possible choice of texts for independent coursework study and we are especially proud that the variety of texts and topics chosen for coursework was commended in a positive Summer 2017 examiner’s report. The course offers excellent opportunities for extension and extra-curricular learning; over the last two years the study of Shakespeare has entailed a visit to the Globe Theatre to see exciting new productions of Twelfth Night as well as a British Library exhibition. The English Department at UCGS is committed to supporting students with developing their subject knowledge and study skills in the form of external lecture days, such as the educational visit to the English and Media Centre Conference in and an internal series of cross-disciplinary lectures in the spring term, which are designed to introduce students to undergraduate-style learning. Assessment In the Sixth Form, we offer the new OCR A-Level linear qualification in English Literature (H472). The A-Level examination is exciting and offers a broad range of thematic groups from which texts are drawn. These thematic groups include topics such as Women in Literature, Dystopia, The Gothic, American Literature and The Immigrant Experience. Students study set and unseen texts for one of these groups (currently we study The Gothic). The two-year course includes a 20% coursework component alongside two longer examination papers, all of which is examined in the summer of Year 13. The coursework component is particularly exciting, as it offers students the opportunity to guide their own reading choices, and they study three texts in detail for two pieces of coursework.