English GCSE

Is this subject right for me?
Do you need a grade C or above in GCSE English for a career or a course in Higher Education?
Are you willing to listen to good advice?
Are you determined to improve your work?

We offer this one-year course for those people who have not, for one reason or another, been able previously to gain this important key to Further Education and employment. It is designed to cover much the same ground as the course done in schools but is constructed to be completed in a single year.

How will your work be assessed?

Written Coursework

There are three units of written work to produce in the year:

• a unit of autobiographical or creative writing
• a unit where you respond to some aspect of the Media
• a unit where your work stems from a Shakespeare play.

This coursework folder counts for 20% of your final mark.

Oral Coursework
You will be given a range of opportunities to develop and show your communication skills: everything from discussions of books, through whole class debates on issues in the news to individual presentations and role-plays. Your teacher will mark you on these and it will be worth 20% of your final mark.

How will your work be assessed?

Examinations

There are two exam papers:

One is called Unprepared Non-fiction and requires you to respond in writing to previously unseen examples of texts like biography, autobiography and travel writing, or indeed anything else the exam board chooses to put in front of you!

The second paper is called The Craft of the Writer and will involve essay questions on pieces of published writing that you have seen before (they will be in a pre-released booklet issued to you in class and studied with your teacher.) The two exams are worth 30% of your final mark each.

What are the entry requirements?

Two grade Ds and three Es at GCSE

10/09