English Literature

Course summary

The department aims to imbue in all students a love of English and its literature through a range of texts, genres, cultures, and tasks across the age ranges. Our primary aim is to create an ambitious and thoughtful curriculum so that all students, regardless of their background can develop into independent, creative, and critical thinkers. Our intention is to explore the rich and varied literary canon, using texts and genres to teach students about the human condition as well as the functionality of the subject. Crucially, we endeavor to provide all students with a language toolkit that will support and facilitate their lives beyond The Royal School. At KS5, we use the AQA English Literature B specification. There are two components that we study – Aspects of Tragedy and Elements of Crime. Within the Tragedy component, students will be exposed to a range of ideas including racism, social and economic inequality, and gender inequality.