English Language & Literature - A Level

Student entry into our Sixth Form requires 5 grade 4 GCSE's or above including English and Maths.

If you studied the applied subject at GCSE we are asking for a grade 5 in that subject (Grade 6 in Maths and Sciences)

English Language and Literature lessons combine close analysis, discussion and creativity. You might investigate the language of a speech, compare two very different writers, explore how a novelist creates a particular voice, analyse a conversation or experiment with creating your own text. You’ll learn to think carefully about audience, purpose, context, language choices and effects, while developing your ability to analyse, argue, research and write creatively. OCR's course specifically combines linguistic and literary approaches and includes opportunities to produce original fiction and non-fiction writing.

The course focuses on how language is used both in every life and in literature, and students will produce their own fiction and non-fiction writing alongside studying literature and non-literary texts. Students will study Othello, by William Shakespeare, poetry by William Blake and Carol Ann Duffy and read The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald. Alongside this, students will study an anthology of real life English use, as well as a non-fiction text. Students will be introduced to different levels of language analysis, including grammar, semantics, pragmatics and discourse.

In Year 12 students are assessed by in class assessments only, but in Year 13 they are assessed by both exam (80%) and non-exam coursework components (e.g. essays that will be assessed by your teacher and then moderated by AQA) which are worth 20%.

Student entry into our Sixth Form requires 5 grade 4 GCSE's or above including English and Maths.

To study this course, we prefer students to have a minimum Grade 5 or higher at both GCSE English Language and English Literature.

The combination of language, literature, analysis and creative writing gives you a broad range of transferable skills. Typical pathways include: Journalism and publishing; Advertising and marketing; Law; Teaching; Media and communications; Writing and the creative industries; Public relations; Politics and the public sector; Copywriting and content creation; Business; University and research