"The human mind seems exquisitely tuned to understand and remember stories as 'psychologically privileged' meaning they are treated differently in memory than other types of material"

-Daniel Willingham

“We think in terms of cause and effect, heroes and villains and unifying morals which give meaning to otherwise random events. We tend to conform to a particular way of structuring our stories – chronology, climaxes, resolutions – and by doing so we make it easier for those around us to understand our experiences”

-David Didau

Ruskin students follow an aspirational and diverse English curriculum that enables them to encounter, understand and question stories - reading examples through time, from this country and from around the world. This enables our students to tell their own stories, becoming adept at communicating their own lived experiences, and the experiences of others - in both speech and writing. We enfranchise our students to become co-constructors of our country’s and the global story, enabling them with the skills to have their voice heard.

Our students experience high quality texts that demonstrate story telling on the stage and on the page - in novels, short stories, plays, poetry and in non-fiction texts - to learn how experiences have been constructed. This develops them into students who know about both canonical texts and modern texts, and the literary contexts that have shaped the writers who have constructed them. Our students know how to present their thoughts effectively, both in speech and writing.

Ruskin students can critically deconstruct the stories they experience, questioning the themes and intentions behind them. They write about their observations in an academic manner, with technical accuracy in a range of forms, enabling them to seize future life chances.

As a result of experiencing the English curriculum, our students appreciate the Human Condition, encountering different aspects of it in a range of diverse stories. Their lives will be enriched by visiting authors, poets and illustrators, theatre groups and the opportunity to see stories come alive with visits to see staged productions.

Our students can participate in, be active in and question the stories of the world around them, from an informed status. In this way, the English curriculum enhances the Priory mission statement of improving our students’ life chances so they become true citizens of the world.

Please click on the link below to see a Curriculum Overview of Key Stages 3, 4 and 5.  This details the goals for each key stage, what students will be learning in lessons and an articulation of the wider curriculum.