At City Academy Norwich, we use stories as the springboard for learning in English. With novels, poems, plays and film as the starting point, we take our pupils on a journey through a wide range of text types and writing styles through KS3: Years 7 – 9. Students study plays by Shakespeare; a range of novels set around the globe; and even the musical Oliver!

Our intention in every lesson is to work with our pupils to ensure they are:

1. Prepared for their further studies, at KS4 and beyond. 
2. Provided with opportunities to explore a diverse range of texts, ideas, and perspective – we want our pupils to go on to be citizens who will make our community a better place.
3. Given opportunities to apply their ideas creatively. We regularly take part in national writing competitions, and we’re very proud of the almost 200 pupils who have already been published. 
4. Fluent readers with a range of texts. We want every pupil to be able to read well, to access the world around them. 

At the end of their KS3 studies, our pupils are confident in recognising and evaluating structural features of their texts, as well as recognising archetypes and confident in the foundational knowledge they need to access KS4 English.

Year 10 and 11 is spent preparing pupils for their GCSE exams, and nurturing a love of English that students will hopefully continue at A level. We use AQA as our exam board, with the texts that pupils are examined on outlined below:

• Romeo and Juliet
• A Christmas Carol
• An Inspector Calls
• Power & Conflict Poetry

We take the time to provide high quality lessons for our pupils, and we enjoy teaching them. When our pupils engage in their home learning, and take time to read at home, they go on to achieve great GCSE results at the end of Year 11.