English

General
The school’s English Department is staffed entirely by specialists, five full‑time and one part‑time, all of whom teach throughout the school. Each department member has their own principal teaching base, and five of these rooms occupy the bright and airy south east corner of the first floor close to departmental offices and resources. The sixth room on the north side doubles as the stage Green Room and is at the heart of the resource area for Drama. The department shares access to the school’s five ICT suites with other departments, and a booking system is in operation. The large space of the Old Gym is used for Drama where possible.

Each colleague makes a significant contribution to the work of the department as a whole, and all play an active part in the development of policies, schemes of work and resources. We hold regular department meetings and always include the sharing of good practice as an agenda item. We have a policy of open peer‑review of planning, record-keeping and assessment. The team is an honestly reflective, good‑humoured and supportive one to work within.

Curriculum
We believe that it is important for teachers, as well as students, to have the scope to express their individuality in the classroom; at the same time we believe that all our students are entitled to expect that we will cover the whole curriculum in appropriate detail, both those parts that appeal to us most as teachers and those that we find less appealing.

At Key Stage 3 we have developed shared schemes of work which identify what we want the students to learn. These schemes suggest possible resources and pedagogical approaches. We use an agreed common assessment task every half-term to summarise and celebrate students’ learning in a particular unit. We share ideas and resources informally, and are developing a bank of successful materials – both paper and e-resources - for common use.

We believe in the value of personal reading and run a scheme designed to help students read reflectively and widely.

At GCSE we enter all of our students for the Higher Tier of the AQA ‘A’ English and English Literature Specifications. We encourage students to keep their coursework in perspective by making it a part of their normal classwork and homework, by offering structured advice for completion, and by setting clear and regular deadlines.

We currently run two to three sets at AS and A2. We shall be offering the new AQA English Literature Specification A from September 2008.

While this is a selective school, the range of ability can be quite broad at all levels, and we do our best to ensure that students who need support of whatever kind are identified and assisted. We try to challenge and ‘stretch’ all our students. We believe that it is crucial in a selective school such as this that relatively weaker students do not lose heart, and that the most able are given scope to develop their individual talents. We do not group by ability.

We believe in the value of Drama both within and beyond the English classroom. At Key Stage 3 Drama is the focus for one of the six annual units of work.

In September 2007 the school appointed a Drama specialist to work within and alongside the department. We intend to offer Drama GCSE for the first time in September 2008.

Outside the Classroom
The department is involved in the broader life of the school. We stage school productions in collaboration with the Art and Music Departments. We participate in the Year 7 Activities Week, taking students to Hurst Castle for an observation walk as a starting point for descriptive writing and historical drama. We take advantage of being close to ‘Hardy country’ and to two good theatres. In the Sixth Form a Theatre Club offers regular opportunities to see productions at Salisbury, Poole and Chichester. The Senior Debating Society operates with the neighbouring girls’ grammar school, and meets roughly once a fortnight out of the exam season. The department also runs the school’s public speaking competition.

The school librarians offer excellent support both for reading and for academic studies. They run a ‘shadowing group’ for the Carnegie medal, for dedicated younger readers; and they help students and staff alike to celebrate Poetry Day and World Book Day.