Aspirational and Ambitious Students

We are lucky to have so many highly talented students at BCCS. All of us need support in realising our potential, even when we possess so many gifts.

On this page, you will find some resources to challenge your skills and behaviours for success in English and offer you transitional skills to prepare you for onward study.  These resources are not just aimed at future A Level English candidates, but anyone aiming for a 7-9 / with ambitions to study at Oxbridge or Russell Group universities. 

What an Excellent English student looks like:

A practical check list of behaviours and actions important for success. This guide also includes advice for Oxbridge and Russell Group university aspirants.

Step up to A Level Literature:

Top Tips on what to read and what the course involves.

Thinking of Studying A Level English Literature?

If you enjoyed English at GCSE and want to take your reading, thinking and writing to the next level, A Level Literature could be a great choice.

What to Expect

  • Challenging Texts: You’ll study classics like Othello, Dracula or The Picture of Dorian Gray, alongside modern works such as A Streetcar Named Desire and poetry by Philip Larkin or contemporary poets. These texts ask you to think deeply about human behaviour, society and big ideas.

  • Critical Thinking: At GCSE you focus on analysis and technique; at A Level you’ll go further—considering different interpretations, critical perspectives and how texts fit into historical, cultural or philosophical contexts.

  • Independent Reading: You’ll need to read more widely and often more quickly than at GCSE. Sometimes you’ll be asked to compare texts, so being confident in your knowledge of each one is essential.

  • Discussion & Debate: Lessons often involve exploring multiple viewpoints. There isn’t always a single “right” answer—what matters is how well you support your ideas with evidence.

  • Essay Writing: Essays are longer and require structured arguments. You’ll be expected to plan carefully, use quotations fluently and show a bigger picture awareness of writer’s purpose and literary tradition.

How It Differs from GCSE

  • More texts and a greater variety of genres.

  • A bigger emphasis on context—thinking about when and why a text was written.

  • Greater independence: you’ll do more preparation outside lessons.

  • Assessment rewards originality and critical debate, not just spotting techniques.

Advice for Students

  • Read a little every day—don’t leave whole plays or novels until the last minute.

  • Make brief notes on themes, characters and key quotations as you read.

  • Be open to new perspectives: literature is about exploring complexity, not finding simple answers.

  • Talk about what you’re reading—discussion sharpens your thinking.

Advice for Parents

  • Encourage independent reading at home.

  • Ask your child to explain what they’ve read—it helps them process ideas.

  • Support them in developing a study routine, as the workload is heavier than GCSE.

Looking Ahead

A Level Literature develops skills valued by universities and employers—critical thinking, communication, empathy, and the ability to construct clear, persuasive arguments. It can lead to careers in law, teaching, publishing, media, business, and beyond.

 

Visit the college homepage for more information about career paths and opportunities linked to English Literature.

Top Tip: Pick your college based on texts that appeal - not trends in popularity of college reputation!

Step up to A Level Language

Thinking of Studying A Level English Language?

If you’re curious about how language really works, how we use it every day, how it changes, and how it shapes identity and society, then English Language could be the right choice for you.

What to Expect

  • A New Approach: Unlike GCSE Language (which focused on analysing extracts and practising writing skills), A Level English Language is more like a social science. You’ll study language as data—exploring how people speak, write, and communicate.

  • Big Topics: You might explore child language development, language and gender, accents and dialects, how language has changed over time, or how it’s used in the media.

  • Critical Investigation: You’ll learn to analyse transcripts, adverts, articles, and even everyday conversations. Expect to look closely at grammar, lexis, and discourse features in a way that’s very different from GCSE.

  • Creative and Analytical Writing: You’ll produce both analytical essays and original writing pieces (for example, articles or opinion columns and some courses allow you to produce fiction or poetry in a style model) where you adapt your style for specific audiences.

  • Independent Research: Some exam boards include a coursework project where you investigate a topic of your choice, such as how teenagers use slang, or how politicians use rhetoric.

How It Differs from GCSE

  • It’s less about creative writing stories or descriptive tasks and more about scientific-style analysis of language.

  • You’ll need to learn a new set of linguistic terminology (e.g., pragmatics, phonology, morphology).

  • You’ll collect and analyse real-life data, much like a scientist would run an experiment.

  • The subject rewards independent research and curiosity about how language works in the real world.

Advice for Students

  • Be ready to learn a new technical vocabulary to describe language accurately.

  • Read widely—newspapers, blogs, social media, and research articles all give you real-world examples.

  • Stay curious: notice how people around you use language differently, and ask yourself why.

  • Keep organised notes on key linguistic theories and case studies—you’ll need these for essays.

Advice for Parents

  • Understand that this is not a “hard science,” but it is very much a data-based subject with analysis and evidence at its core.

  • Encourage your child to read a variety of media texts and to discuss how language is being used.

  • Support them in researching and exploring real-world language examples—they’ll need to show initiative.

Looking Ahead

A Level English Language develops skills in analysis, research, communication, and adaptability. These are highly valued in careers such as journalism, media, teaching, law, publishing, speech therapy, marketing, and business.

 

 Visit the college homepage for information on career paths and opportunities linked to English Language.

Stepping up to A Level Literature and Language Combined.

Thinking of Studying A Level English Language & Literature?

If you’re torn between English Language and English Literature, this combined course lets you study the best of both worlds. It blends literary analysis with the study of everyday language, so you explore how writers craft texts and how people really use language in society.

What You’ll Study

  • Literary Texts: You’ll still read great works—novels, plays, poetry—such as Othello, Frankenstein, A Streetcar Named Desire, The Great Gatsby or poetry by a range of writers. You’ll analyse them in depth, much like in Literature.

  • Non-Literary Texts: Alongside literature, you’ll study texts like journalism, speeches, blogs, travel writing or conversations. This is where the Language side comes in—you’ll explore how real-world language works.

  • Voices in Speech and Writing: You’ll look closely at how writers and speakers create distinctive voices, both in literature and in everyday texts.

  • Creative Writing: You’ll produce your own writing—both imaginative pieces (like re-telling part of a novel from a new perspective) and more analytical essays.

  • Coursework (Non-Exam Assessment): You usually compare one literary text with non-literary material, and you’ll also produce your own creative writing with commentary. This allows real independence and choice.

How It Differs from Pure Literature or Language

  • More Variety: You won’t just study traditional literary texts, but also a wide range of non-fiction and spoken texts.

  • Balanced Approach: You’ll still enjoy close reading of novels and plays, but with the added skills of linguistic analysis.

  • Creative Freedom: The coursework often allows you to experiment with your own writing styles and features some creative writing.

  • Applied Focus: You’ll explore how language operates in real life—politics, the media, conversation—while still engaging with big literary ideas and themes.

Why Pick This Course?

  • Flexibility: Perfect if you enjoy both Literature and Language and don’t want to give one up.

  • Transferable Skills: You’ll build both the deep critical thinking of Literature and the analytical precision of Language.

  • Enjoyment of Variety: If you like moving between classic novels, modern poetry, and a blog post or a newspaper column in the same week, this is ideal.

  • Future Options: Universities and employers see it as rigorous and versatile. It keeps doors open for careers in journalism, media, law, education, business, publishing, and more.

 

Visit the college homepage for more information about the course and career pathways. Our local colleges, QMC, Peter Symonds and Farnborough offer this course.

Case Studies:

Top advice from students past and present...

 

"English at BCCS has given me the confidence to find my voice. I secured grades 8 at GCSE and I now I study Literature at our local college and love the worlds and characters I can learn about. My favourite experiences have been in studying 'Dracula' and 'The Picture of Dorian Gray'.  I hope to achieve top grades at A Level and intend to study at degree level and pursue a future career in publishing."