English

Like most, if not all, departments in the school, the name by which our department is known -hardly even hints at the breadth of activities, events and learning opportunities that take place in English lessons.

 

Think of an English lesson and what springs to mind?  Learning about sentence constructions, spelling and punctuation?    Writing essays, analysing poetry and reading novels?  Well, yes, these activities are the 'nuts and bolts' of the subject, but there's more, much more, planned into the English calendar every year.

 

We try to organise at least one theatre trip every academic year.  Students also take part in GCSE poetry conferences, where they attend seminars hosted by poets, as well as tutorials given by examiners.  This is a brilliant opportunity for the students to question the poets and pick up really useful exam tips.

 

The lower years aren't left out. Theatre companies visit the school and the actors act out scenes and run workshops, where the students become involved in the behind-the-scenes dramatic techniques and choices made by directors, as well as taking part in discussions on the themes explored in the plays.

 

There are also visits by a published authors, organised by the librarian, Mrs. Jones.  

 

All these activities and events run alongside our usual poetry competitions and reading competitions.  Plus, every year we choose our brightest students from year 9 to form the English Express Group, a teaching group that takes their English GCSE in year 10  - a whole year early.  This, of course, means a lot of hard work on the part of the students (and their teacher), including an extra lesson after school.  Results, however, demonstrate that the hard work is well worth while and the beams of delight on the students' faces on results day is ample reward for their proud teacher.

 

                                             So, English is just "reading and writing" eh?  Wrong!