English Literature GCE A Level (Single Option) Block E

Applications Open: - 7th November 2025

Applications Close: - 31st March 2026. If you require any further information after our closing date please do contact nicola.owenhughes@swale.at

Entry Requirements: - Grade 4 and above in 5 GCSEs Including English and Maths for Level 3 programmes, higher grades are required for some subjects

How to Apply: - Please apply via KentChoices

Details of our Pathways and Option Blocks can be seen in the Gallery or viewed here

If you have any questions regarding the Sixth Form, our courses, facilities or our application process, please do contact us, either by telephone (01233 614613) or email (tns-sixthform-team@swale.at). We will be happy to arrange either a telephone call or meeting to answer these. We are happy to forward subject specific questions to subject leaders who may be better placed to answer your queries. We look forward to hearing from you and to meeting you.

English Literature is one of the oldest and mostly highly regarded qualifications in the world. It is a subject for true book lovers; those people who always say ‘the book was better than the film’, those of us who pity the ‘muggles’ in society and who wish there really was a way of holidaying in narratives rather than Europe.

This brand new English Literature A Level takes students on a journey. It covers a broad range of texts from the plays of William Shakespeare to the dystopian future of The Handmaid’s Tale.

The course also expects students to gain understanding of the relationship between texts and the time in which they are created and received.

You will study:

• • Othello by William Shakespeare
• • The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
• • Pre-1900 poetry
• • The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
• • Feminine Gospels by Carol Ann Duffy
• • A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams

80% Examination at the end of the two year course.

20% Coursework.

Students will require a minimum of five A*-C/9-4 grades at GCSE, including English Language AND English Literature at grade 6 or above.

English Literature is deemed to be a facilitating A Level, this means it is a subject that is a requirement or a preferred option for a variety of degrees such as Law, Classics, Theology, Languages and History. The subject also has clear links to subjects such as Drama and Media Studies.

English Literature A Level and an English degree (of which there are many varieties) can often lead to careers such as journalism, teaching, writing or working for a publisher.