We offer AS/A level English Language, which is a high profile subject valued for University entrance and for high level skills.

It is especially useful for anyone interested in journalism, but has a wide range of professional applications

Students find the course refreshingly different from GCSE language study. They will follow a programme which links new linguistic knowledge and levels of understanding with their own skills in speech and writing.
The course content is carefully devised to help students develop their talents in a genuine and progressive way.

 Students are treated as young adults from the beginning and are provided at the outset with a detailed scheme of work for the two years and all the relevant mark schemes. 
Text books are provided and the school’s considerable computing and audio-visual resources are always available.

These are some of the topics organised into 4 assessed units from September 2008.

Discovering Language

Text analysis and a special topic such as children’s language acquisition.

Using Language
Analysis of written text and linked original writing

Interacting through Language
Study of effective spoken communication in theory and practice

Language investigation
Individual research project

Language Variation & Change
Study of texts from different times and issues about language in contemporary Britain

Language Debates
Text analysis and knowledge and understanding of language issues

Some of the main features of our
A level English Language course are:

• A study of language as communication and the central role it plays in all our lives.

• A range of topics which include language and identity, child language and development, social attitudes to language, change and variation.

• Input from students in terms of their own experience and observation about language, discussed alongside academic research.

• Two teachers.

• Specialist teaching by trained graduates in English.

• A dynamic, high profile course which reflects the growing interest in language study and the need for effective communication in the modern world.

• High results.  The majority of students stay on to A2, achieving grades A-C.

You should bring to this course 

•             Enjoyment in new concepts and knowledge

•             Pleasure in powerful and effective language

•             A reasonable ability (GCSE Grade B)

•             A good work pattern including self-motivation

This course will help you to be
•             Skilled in analysis and interpretation

•             Articulate in speech and writing

•             Knowledgeable about the way powerful language works

•             Well qualified for university or other futures

Other points to bear in mind:

•             A Level English Literature, Film  Studies and Media Studies are related subjects.  You could study two complementary subjects.

•             Our last OFSTED inspection praised the quality of A level teaching in English.

•             The way the course is organised and taught fully supports the school’s aim to develop confident adults whose academic qualifications and personal qualities enable them to establish themselves in the world.