Curriculum
As a student of English literature, you will immerse yourself in texts that will allow you to engage with big ideas about life and wrestle with how these ideas might have been received differently over time by different readers in sometimes controversial ways. You will study the theories of others and apply them to your texts to help you develop into a critical thinker.
You will engage with texts from significant and formative periods in history and explore how writers reflect and challenge their lived experiences through their writing.
You will be encouraged to respond emotionally to poetry, prose and drama finding your own voice in your analysis. You will learn to understand not only what writers write about, but how they communicate meaning and why they are driven to express to themselves in their chosen ways.
We aspire to provide exciting experiences both inside the classroom and outside it, to develop your cultural capital. We will explore how artistic movements interconnect and how diverse and seminal works of literature permeate our daily lives and inform our cultural consciousness.
You will become an independent reader and thinker for life; finding areas of interest and specialism to explore and investigate out of genuine pleasure, curiosity and a hunger for learning about the world.
Progression
In addition to university degrees in literature both as a single honour, or as a joint honour, this A-level is regarded as an academic choice that will support a range of university options such as law, philosophy or history.
Careers
Teacher; lawyer; journalist; media and television; politics; writer. English opens doors!
Entry Requirements
Students must achieve six GCSE grades or equivalent at 6,6,5,5,4,4 including Grade 5 in English Language and Grade 6 in English Literature.
Assessment
The Exam Board is AQA.
Assessment includes external exams and a coursework element.
Opportunities for work related activities
Theatre and lecture trips linked to course elements. Visit to Bristol Theatre Collection Archive. Participation in National Theatre Connections Festival.
