English

In the English Department we strive to communicate a deep love of the written word to our students.  With this purpose firmly in mind, we look at a variety of literature and consider how a writer communicates his or her passion to the reader. 

Through a number of activities we aim to help pupils discover their own voice, encouraging girls to articulate their thoughts both orally and on paper. This can take the form of a creative response through story telling, for example, and it can also include formal analysis of a text.  Through public speaking, a number of pupils have discovered the ability to express an opinion verbally in front of a sizeable audience helping to develop their confidence. 

Year 7: We undertake different kinds of writing, for example, descriptive and informative writing.  As a class, we study a novel, we also read and discuss poetry as well as looking at different types of fiction.

Year 8: Building on work undertaken in Year 7, pupils look at writing different kinds of letter writing.  They also continue with speaking and listening work and study non-literary genres, for example, marketing leaflets.  Poetry is again studied and different genres of fiction are explored.

Year 9:  Pupils examine how suspense is created; they also look at newspapers and travel writing producing written work in each of these genre.  A Shakespeare text is studied together with a number of short stories.