Essays for Excellence: A collection of GCSE essays to support students and teachers in achieving success

‘The most powerful tool in GCSE English Literature is to show students high quality essays that truly illustrate excellence. A student never fully understands what they need to achieve, or aspire to achieve, until they have seen it.’

Essays for Excellence: A collection of GCSE essays to support students and teachers in achieving success by Becky Jones and Laura Webb, published by John Catt Educational, is an indispensable collection of essays, formulated to develop teachers’ subject knowledge, raise the academic aspirations of students and help alleviate teacher workload.  

This time-saving resource considers the importance of a balanced approach to language and literature, building writing skills alongside understanding critical analysis. Itexplores three texts: Macbeth; A Christmas Carol; and An Inspector Calls; followed by a section on comparative poetry.

In the introduction, Becky and Laura discuss the importance of text choice, the effective use of modelling writing, ways to plan essays and other easily accessible writing tips: building students’ vocabulary and phrasing; conceptualised responses; and creating knowledge organisers for selected evidence.

The exemplar essays are designed to help standardise the writing process and improve teacher and student subject knowledge. They encompass all of the major exam board expectations, and are ranked based on board criteria for each level, with examiner commentary and student-friendly phrasing. The essays illustrate three levels of responses: critical, a high level response, top of the mark scheme; thoughtful, a mid-high response just below critical; and clear, a response that sits within the middle of the mark schemes aimed at showing the required level for a standard pass, that will be aspirational for students aiming to pass their English Literature GCSE. Accompanying annotations explain the skills exemplified in the answer, with questions to expand discussion for both the teacher and students and a summary of how it would be assessed according to levelled criteria.

This collection offers a wide range of opportunities to improve subject knowledge for teachers, to help unlock the potential in students of every ability, or for use as a standardised resource in any English department.

Commenting on the book, Becky and Laura said, ‘We have aimed to write this book with both teachers and students in mind, considering what we most need as teachers who teach students every day. We hope the essays in here will provide valuable teaching tools, an opportunity to push students to excellence, and to enhance your own subject knowledge of the texts you teach.’

To learn more about ‘Essays for Excellence: A collection of GCSE essays to support students and teachers in achieving success’, priced at just £15, please click here.