English

English Overview

English at Bensham has evolved alongside student voice to create an exciting, enriching and challenging curriculum that enables each and every student to take ownership of their learning, empowering them and nurturing them into confident and respected members of their community. Our aim is for every pupil to achieve their full potential in reading, writing and speaking and listening whilst cultivating empathy and developing vital critical thinking skills, enhancing their ability to infer, reason and rationalise and strengthen their emotional intelligence.

This is achieved through:

1. Diverse, inclusive and stimulating modules, in line with the national curriculum, differentiated to the requirements of all our pupils.

2. A holistic, multi-sensory approach to learning.

3. Personalised literacy interventions for pupils who require extra support, working closely with our multi-disciplinary

4. Learning outside the classroom – an integral part of the curriculum which includes theatre trips, visiting authors and poets, competitions, like author of the month and celebrating various awareness days such as World Book Day and National Poetry Day, plus important events on the cultural calendar including Black History Month and our annual Poetry Jam. We also have our own Pupil Poet Laureate.

5. Embedding literacy across the school and working ardently towards every pupil becoming an independent reader.

6. Encouraging the pleasure of reading by using the first 15 minutes of every lesson 5 across the school to create a culture of ‘reading for enjoyment’.

7. Offering a variety of accreditations so every pupil achieves recognition at the level best suited for them, which they can take to support them in college and assist them towards successful, independent living.

8. Celebration of our school’s cultural diversity through the numerous novels, poetry, plays and non-fiction current affairs that we study, to help our pupils understand and participate in the richness and challenges of the world around them.