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Specialist School
Mathematics and
Physics
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Thornhill College
Girls' Grammar School
Adveniat Regnum Tuum |
"Educating
concerned, informed, adaptable members of the world community"
Thornhill College, Culmore Road, Derry
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English
KS3 English
GCSE English Language
GCSE English Literature
A-level English
Introduction
English is a core curriculum subject which services the whole school.
Its three profile components are:
- talking and listening;
- reading;
- writing.
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Witches and Demons in a
Production of Macbeth |
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The emphasis at all time is on active learning.
The fostering and maintenance of pupils' enthusiasm for the subject is
central to the philosophy of the department.
Discussions, role-playing, empathic exercises and a
variety of other dramatic activities are used in the classroom as vital
aids to learning. wide reading is encouraged; the students maintain
reading logs in every year.
As well as
regular teacher assessment, pupil self-assessment is also encouraged as
a creative aid to real progress.
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KS3 English
At Key Stage 3 language and literature
are taught as a unified whole; the students are taught to appreciate
and produce language in a variety of contexts: functional,
transactional, literary, critical, creative and personal. Poetry,
prose and drama texts form an integral part of our teaching schemes.
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GCSE English
At present we follow the Northern Ireland GCSE English syllabus (CCEA)
which has been designed to be compatible with the CCEA English
Literature syllabus. Work submitted for the attainment targets of
Reading and Writing, where suitable may also be used for assessment in
English Literature.
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Celebrating World Book
Day at Thornhill College |
GCSE Written Exam (60%)
Paper 1 (
2 hrs) ; 30%
Paper 2
(2hrs); 30%
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Section A
– Writing*: Functional/Transactional /Practical
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Section B
– Reading: Comparison of 2 non-lit texts, one of which is
non-fiction (e.g. autobiography, travel), the other media (e.g.
newspaper article, leaflet). 3 or 4 questions: including one on
non-fiction, one on a media text and one comparison.
*NB In both writing sections one-third of the marks will be awarded for
sentence structure, punctuation and spelling.
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GCSE Talking and Listening
(Orals) 20%
The best 3 assignments are
selected for assessment. The range of tasks should provide opportunities
to :
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explain, describe,
narrate
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explore, analyse,
imagine
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discuss, argue,
persuade
The situations should
include the formal and informal.
The contexts must include :
GCSE English Coursework Folder (20%)
There are four assignments: Recommended upper limit – 2,500 words
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GCSE English Literature
At present we follow the Northern Ireland GCSE English Literature
syllabus (CCEA) which has been designed to be compatible with the CCEA
English Language syllabus.
Assessment is by
written exam (70%) and coursework (30%).
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Written Exam. (70%)
The exam is 21/2 hours long and has three sections:
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Section A - Modern
Drama: Open Book- clean text
Choice of 2 questions. Candidates will be directed to a particular
passage as a starting point for consideration of issues raised there
and elsewhere in the play.
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Section B - Modern
Prose :Closed Book
Choice of 2 questions. More general than those for Sections A and C.
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Section C- Poetry pre-1914:
Anthology One Open Book; clean text
Choice of 2 questions, (a) or (b). Both will require 2 poems to be
considered. One will be specified. In (a) type qs, candidates will
compare and contrast the specified poem with one of two others named
in the q. In (b) type qs they will compare and contrast the
specified poem with one other appropriately selected poem from the
anthology.
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Coursework Folder: (30%)
3 Assignments (max.: 2,500 words)
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A-level English
A-level English Literature students
follow the AQA syllabus which includes an attractive coursework option.
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