English A Level at Hellesdon: Language, Literature or both?
The course leaflets available from the menu will give you an indication of the match between these subjects and careers. As a rule of thumb you might consider taking both Language and Literature if you wish to have a career in "writing" or "speaking" professions, such as Teaching, the Law, or Journalism. Language is not easier than Literature, but it overlaps with many disciplines with wider career paths than the traditionally academic Literature. If you want to work in Journalism, Advertising or become a freelance writer, you might consider enrolling for Creative Writing.
English Literature (OCR)
The highly respected OCR course is being introduced this year for the first time, and provides students with an interesting and varied selection of classical and modern texts. The AS modules focus on novels and poetry from 1800-1945 for the exam, while the coursework compares texts from after 1900, including one post-1990.The A2 exam concentrates on Shakespeare and pre-1800 Poetry and Drama, while the coursework, "Texts in Time", is an extended study of literary texts across genres.
English Literature (Edexcel)
The Edexcel English Literature will continue to be taught to present A2 students until the examination. Information and resources are available from the menu link.
English Language (Edexcel)
AS Language coursework as taught at Hellesdon consists of two creative pieces—a choice from a story based on an anecdote, a journalistic interview, and from a dramatic monologue or a speech about a language topic—together with
At A2 you produce a linguistic investigation into an area of language of your choosing, plus a stylistic imitation of a newspaper or magazine article, where you write about your topic for a target audience.
The exam at AS consists of a variety of questions testing your expertise in Linguistics, while at A2 you use historical and global knowledge of English to analyse and compare texts, while the second part tests knowledge of Child Language Acquision.
Read the Specifications available from the menu for more details.
Full access to the complete online Oxford English Dictionary is granted to students on this course.
Creative Writing (AQA)
Only just accredited, and so new we couldn't timetable it for this year, is AQA's innovative Creative Writing, offering an AS qualification to this year's A2 students of Language or Literature, or an AS or A2 qualification to this year's Lower Sixth.Note that the course's late accreditation means that for the foreseeable future it will be taught as an extracurricular option, with either (depending on numbers) dedicated twilight mentoring sessions, or classroom lessons.
For those who don't want to pursue it as a formal qualification, the course will also be available as an Enrichment opportunity to any Sixth Former who simply enjoys creative writing.