English
English is not only a ‘subject’ as such; it is a means of broadening our cultural experience and ability to understand the world in which we live through our use of expressive and informed communication skills. The study of literature, in a wide variety of forms, lies at the heart of our teaching and learning.
We hope to encourage the love of English as an individual pursuit, such as taking pleasure in personal reading, critical interpretation, and creative writing, but also as a collaborative activity through debate and discussion. The simple principles and overriding aims of our teaching in English are that all pupils will enrich their lives during and after schooldays, through awareness and appreciation of the breadth and variety of language and literature, and will acquire and develop confidence in their reading, writing, speaking and listening skills.
The new GCSE curriculum in English Language and English Literature enable us to offer a stimulating and interwoven two-year course that challenges students to transfer their analytical and creative skills across a variety of activities. Students work towards four examinations: two literature papers and two language papers. In preparing for the literature examination, we study a play by Shakespeare; a nineteenth-century novel; a contemporary drama or novel; and a wide range of poetry. The language papers enable us to hone our analytical skills as well as our creative expression in response to a wide variety of fictional and non-fictional extracts.
The study of literature at A-Level is an exciting, creative and challenging pursuit that exposes students to a wide selection of fiction and poetry from across periods and genres.
The course invites and supports candidates to become independent, insightful and critical readers who make fruitful connections between contexts and textual meaning, who are able to entertain and critique a variety of different interpretations and theoretical paradigms, and who are adept at conducting their own, original coursework research. As well as enriching students as critical literary readers and creative thinkers, the skills developed in this course directly support university-style study and research in a wide range of subjects.
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