The English Faculty is always looking for ways to broaden the range of experiences and opportunities available to students to enhance their learning. One strategy has been to direct KS5 students to the wealth of online courses that complement our A level offers. Many of the courses are short, free and can be completed alongside their regular studies. They are written by a range of universities, as a way to encourage us all to engage with ongoing learning.

Our Year 13 Literature students were asked to sum up the benefits of the courses they have taken. This week we look at their response to poetry…

Several took the What is Poetry? An Introduction to Literary Analysis unit by Reading University

Hannah said: “The course was centred around learning how to approach unseen poetry questions and learning about the creative process of poetry. Doing this course was a really insightful and interesting experience as I learnt about poetic traditions and a wide range of different genres. It challenged me to write my own poetry and learn how to unpick poetry written by others to uncover different layers of meaning. The course linked well with my A-level English literature course as it aids the section we do on unseen poetry which can often be one of the most challenging parts of the paper. Overall, it was a very useful course to have done and I would recommend it to others wanting to/or currently studying English for A-level and anyone else who would like to learn more about and get into poetry.”

Gabriel said: “This course included ideas such as: carpe diem, storytelling and what actually is poetry? The course studies both contemporary and traditional poetry, demonstrating the techniques/style being discussed. This course has helped me further my understanding of poetry, it’s techniques (e.g. metre and rhyme) and how to analyse a poem.”

Gaby said: “This course helped me understand the benefits of wider reading, especially that of poetry as well as the key factors and features which would boost my analysis into the top bands. The main advice I received was the emphasis on the importance of structure when approaching an unseen poem regardless of its age and writer.

Overall this was a very helpful course that aided me further in my English Literature course at A-Level.”

Lily said: “This course was incredibly useful as it provided support on how to successfully analyse unseen poetry in addition to insight about how the work is created. This opportunity aided my learning, as prior to my completion of the course, I was rather apprehensive about the unseen poetry section of my English Literature A level. However, I now feel adequately equipped to tackle unseen poetry questions. I really enjoyed how, in addition to analysing poetry, there were opportunities to write your own because this is an aspect of English I miss from the lower school.”

Duly noted Lily, we’ll see what we can do about maintaining those creative opportunities.

Well done to the students for making the extra effort to boost their learning and for sharing their insights.

In the next article, we’ll hear from two more students about their Future Learn journey.