English & Media

The capacity to communicate in various modes is the central skill of modern civilisation.

At Gosforth Academy there is a heartfelt sense of pride and confidence that, from first enrolment to graduation our students develop this skill via their English provision. In conjunction, we are driven in our quest to expose our students to revered, and high prestige, examples of English literature from different periods and genre. The socio-cultural benefits fostered from engagement with Victorian novels and the plays of Shakespeare exists in tandem with the requirements of examination preparation. Beyond the application of English language study to the specific course requirements, the interpretative capacities the subject engenders in students is a vital key for fuller appreciation of, and function within, their post- education world.

Central to our approach is student acquisition of advanced vocabulary facilitated during preparation, completion and responding to all written work. Intrinsic to the development of their capacity within English Language, we see the acquisition of technically standard, written and spoken, communication as central to the curriculum that students experience. The critical appreciation of culturally significant literary exemplars is a central objective within English Literature provision, not simply because it is prescribed, but because of the development of interpretation, imagination such content facilitates. It is also supportive of students’ character education with its emphasis on empathy.

The contribution of the study of English to the wider curriculum can hardly be overestimated, as it is the medium within which all other subjects are engaged and understood. Student forward development in English often fosters correlative forward development in other curriculum areas.

With its close focus upon British texts, we see the study of English literature as a means by which students can engage with pride in their socio-cultural heritage, with an increased awareness of core British values and morals.

Such study allows a wider range of engagement than the increasingly technologically narrowed reading and viewing bases of many students, exposing them, often for the first time, to contexts and resolutions with similar equivalents in the Britain of today. The mastery of the use, and appreciation, of English is a central future life skill. The capacities required to read for understanding sensitively, to present contentious issues verbally, or interpret complex texts precisely are key skills in both the life-long learning process and, perhaps more importantly, successful functionality within adult life.

We are proud to be able to offer Film Studies and Media Studies as options. The subjects encourage students to not only engage with film and media texts themselves as artefacts expressing an individual or collaborative aesthetic and artistic vision, but also to appreciate the broader social, cultural, political and historical contexts that underpin the production processes, content and messages inherent in those artefacts.

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English & Media

Curriculum Outline - Main School

Curriculum Outline - Sixth Form

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