english & film studies

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 99% pass rate at GCSE including 83% of students achieving grades 9-6 in English Literature and 81% in English Language. At A-level, 100% of English Literature and English Language students passed with 71% in Literature and 95% in Language achieving top grades A *- B. In Film Studies, all students passed and an impressive 88% 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.