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At SJH, we are passionate about English and aim to inspire a lifelong love of literature and language in our students. Our curriculum develops confident readers, writers, and communicators who understand the power of language in shaping identity and...

English Curriculum Intent

The English curriculum at Sir John Hunt is ambitious for all students. It is built upon two disciplines: English Language and English Literature, with the delivery of each discipline planned to ensure that students learn the most important knowledge and skills, in order to achieve academic success and to open up future learning pathways and employment.

The curriculum ensures that all students become effective readers, writers and communicators: fundamental skills to facilitate access to the whole curriculum and to ensure that our students achieve their future potential. Students also learn how to make sense of the world through language, whether through the written or spoken word and they learn how to become part of a local and global community.

Students explore a wide range of texts from all genres and, through experiencing this curriculum, they develop a greater understanding of their own identity, as well as the importance of embracing social diversity. By exploring sensitive topics such as race, social divide, slavery and prejudice, students learn the importance of compassion and understanding. They also gain a comprehensive understanding of the world, both constructed and literal, across the ages, and why writers use language to express their inner thoughts, in response to the context of place and time.

This approach not only builds a wide domain of knowledge around language and literature skills but also equips our students with the tools they need to succeed academically. The sequencing of the curriculum engenders a deeper understanding of the subject, with students becoming more thoughtful, perceptive and confident, as they prepare for success in their GCSEs and beyond.

The National Curriculum States that:

A high-quality education in English will teach pupils to speak and write fluently so that they can communicate their ideas and emotions to others, and through their reading and listening, others can communicate with them. Through reading in particular, pupils have a chance to develop culturally, emotionally, intellectually, socially and spiritually. Literature, especially, plays a key role in such development. Reading also enables pupils both to acquire knowledge and to build on what they already know. All the skills of language are essential to participating fully as a member of society; pupils who do not learn to speak, read and write fluently and confidently are effectively disenfranchised.

Big Ideas:

The big ideas in English are reading, writing, speaking and listening, through which all students will:

Curriculum Overview:

Through a rich variety of texts, students explore key human experiences—such as love, fear, and identity—while gaining insight into social issues like race, inequality, and prejudice. This fosters empathy, cultural awareness, and a deeper understanding of both historical and contemporary contexts.

Our structured lessons follow a clear four-phase model: retrieval, instruction, deliberate practice, and consolidation. High-quality modelling of reading and writing is central to our approach, helping students build strong analytical and expressive skills.

Organisation of classes and lesson structure:

All students are organised into sets and they are challenged and supported (as appropriate) in lessons. Our lessons are designed to meet the needs of students of all abilities. Lessons are based on the SJH Principles of Teaching and planned according to the College agreed lesson structure.

There are four distinct lesson phases, which demonstrate: retrieval in the form of a quiz at the start of the lesson, to assess prior knowledge and retention; high-quality instruction from the teacher; followed by deliberate practice (students working independently to practise a skill) and, finally, consolidation of learning. This lesson structure allows all students to learn effectively and lends itself to the modelling and development of reading analysis and writing.

Modelling of reading and writing:

We firmly believe that students should be exposed to high-quality models of reading analysis and writing. All staff are expected to live-model or pre-prepare model answers for students to access, so that they can view the thinking process and mechanics of writing, as well as the accuracy in spelling, punctuation and grammar. All staff are expected to model the reading and writing process, as part of the instructional phase of the lesson.

Facilities & Enrichment:

We offer seven dedicated English classrooms, access to ICT, and visualisers to support interactive teaching. Enrichment opportunities include author visits, theatre trips, live performances of GCSE texts, and clubs such as Creative Writing and LitFlix. Students are also encouraged to enter writing competitions and share their work beyond the classroom.