English

Our aim is to help each of our pupils to communicate with confidence, clarity and accuracy. Girls are encouraged to explore literature and language in a range of forms from traditional novels to multi-media advertising campaigns. We aim to foster an enduring love of literature and to enable our girls to become independent thinkers who are more aware of themselves, their relationship with others and the wider world.

We make regular theatre visits to London and attend lectures on key A Level texts. These opportunities provide a more vibrant encounter with the text than we can offer through classroom dialogue alone. We extend the girls' experiences beyond the classroom via national poetry and creative writing competitions, involve them in the Children's Lit Quiz and the Times Spelling Bee and invite external speakers to share their expertise in workshops where possible.

Our department's enjoyment of literature has resulted in consistently excellent GCSE and A Level examination results. All our girls do well but some have performed at an outstanding level in recent years, placing in the top ten of all candidates nationally at both GCSE and A Level. We support those applying for English at University through extension classes involving undergraduate level, open-ended discussion of challenging subject matter away from the prescribed curriculum.