KS4 Specification - WJEC
The English Department at West Kirby Grammar School consists of ten teachers, who are all subject specialists. At Key Stage 3, the curriculum provides students with four English lessons a week in order to effectively develop their key skills in reading, writing, speaking and listening. They will read a range of fiction and non-fiction texts, which may include popular choices such as ‘The Hunger Games’, ‘Wolf Hollow’ and ‘Blood Brothers’. Students will also study at least two Shakespeare plays. The topics and literature studied at Key Stage 3 ensure progression and schemes of work are carefully constructed to develop the necessary skills for Key Stage 4. As a core department, we provide two courses at GCSE: English Language and English Literature, which all students study. English Language and English Literature are also popular A-level courses. In addition, we offer Film Studies at A-level.
The department boasts excellent public examination results with 100% pass rate at GCSE including 86% of students achieving grades 9-6 in English Literature and 80% in English Language. At A-level, 100% of English Literature and English Language students passed with 91% in Literature and 83% in Language achieving top grades A *- B. In Film Studies, all students passed and an impressive 86% achieved A* - B.
We are proud of the opportunities we offer our students to enrich their learning including workshops with visiting authors, regular theatre visits, competitions such as Poetry by Heart and the competition for Wirral’s Young Poet Laureate. As well as holding an internal Spelling Bee competition for Year 7 pupils, we also compete in the Kid’s Lit Quiz.
Many extra-curricular activities are offered by the department, such as creative writing club, Harry Potter reading club and the Carnegie Medal awards. Sixth Form students have also had the sought after experience of meeting experts in their A-level subjects, such as celebrated linguist David Crystal.
examination results
of GCSE students achieved grades 9-7
of GCSE students achieved grades 9-6
of GCSE students achieved grades 9-4
What we’ve been up to…
Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Trial Expedition 2023
86 WKGS students spent the weekend in Wales completing their trial expedition for the Bronze Duke of Edinburgh award. With such beautiful weather a good time was had by all learning essential skills for survival in the open air!
Spanish Exchange
The Spanish Department resumed 2019’s successful student exchange with our partner secondary school, IES Garcilaso de la Vega a mixed secondary school located in Torrelavega, a town in Cantabria in northern Spain: The Spanish Exchange presents students with a unique opportunity to improve their spoken Spanish and see Spanish daily life at first hand. Students from Calday Grammar School collaborated with us and students were accompanied by teaching staff from West Kirby Grammar School and Calday Grange Grammar School. The Spanish students hosted their English partners and a programme of events was organised during the school day for the visiting students. The students visited Santander, experienced a day at the Altamira Museum, an exact replica of the Altamira Caves with Palaeolithic cave paintings. They took part in a workshop in which they learned how to make and throw spears to hunt deer and bison. This was followed by a visit to Santillana del Mar. During their visit they also visited El Soplao, a site of great geographical importance, and the beautiful Santillana del Mar and the Parque Naturaleza de Carbaceno.
Year 12 North West Regional Forum European Youth Parliament at L
The North West European Forum 2023 is one of the fourteen regional EYP forums which take place in the UK, with many more taking place in other countries. There were a number of debates throughout the day. The forum gave students an opportunity to debate a range of topics affecting young people across Europe. Two schools were selected at this regional forum and to also send a team of eight students over the age of sixteen to either the Summer or Autumn National Selection Conference, held at Liverpool Hope University for a long weekend in July 2023. Big well done to both of our EYP teams who performed at a consistently high standard throughout the debates. Special congratulations to our 2nd team who made it through to the national finals in July!
With one more week to go, we are really looking forward to our first #WKGS PTA Quiz / Fish & Chips Night. Tickets are still available from: ticketsource.co.uk/west-kirby-gra… https://t.co/bsxLFRr7Ko
We are very proud of Mia, Grace, Peggy and Hannah (#WKGSY12) who have made the finals of the Samsung 'Solve for Tomorrow' competition. They have made the last 5 in their age group. We wish them the best of luck for their final pitch which takes place next month. https://t.co/LIrkB9eLik
We are very proud of Mia, Grace, Peggy and Hannah (#WKGSY12) who have made the finals of the Samsung 'Solve for Tomorrow' competition. They have made the last 5 in their age group. We wish them the best of luck for their final pitch which takes place next month. https://t.co/5OJXnqatwU
A photo stop on the Great Wall of China, July 2015 for this week's #ThrowbackThursday https://t.co/Wp4YLzTHlA
We are delighted to announce the release of the second episode of our WKGS Student Podcast. Episode 2 will be live on Friday 28th April and will feature local artist (and former #WKGS student) Michael Aldag. Subscribe to our Student Podcast now at: spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/ogLOQbBw7yb https://t.co/u2O0Brp90O
Congratulations to Mia (#WKGSY12) and her horse MS Mastro who competed in the National Schools Equestrian Association dressage at Kelsall Hill. Mia won her Novice class and has qualified for the National Championships at Hickstead in May. We wish Mia every success. https://t.co/qiK2vL2FmG
Congratulations to Mia (#WKGSY12) and her horse MS Mastro who competed in the National Schools Equestrian Association dressage at Kelsall Hill. Mia won her Novice class and has qualified for the National Championships at Hickstead in May. We wish Mia every success. https://t.co/r3ADJ8ZnP4
A walk to Hilbre Island with German Exchange partners (around 1994) for this week's #ThrowbackThursday https://t.co/dYjHAwt6TU
It's back to 2018 for this week's #ThrowbackThursday for a Student Fashion Show.... https://t.co/uiNwudPObr
Drama visit to Paris
Students from our GCSE Drama group visited Paris to see a theatre production and take part in a Drama workshop. They also had the fantastic opportunity to experience a guided backstage tour of the Opera Garnier, the inspiration for Phantom of the Oprea. The visit included a guided tour of Paris exploring the sights and shops; they saw a production of the Lion King – The Musical at Théâtre Mogador and enjoyed a day in Disneyland Paris.
We’re so impressed with 7S’s thought-provoking poetry! They’ve used language from their class reader, Wolf Hollow, and some linked poetry they have studied! Wow! 👏👏👏@LaurenWolkBooks https://t.co/5CbUknkQAY
Wishing our students and staff a happy Easter break. All year groups will return on Monday 17th April which will be a Week A. https://t.co/IbnomcGX4a