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The curriculum in English

English at 11+ and 13+

The boys follow a stimulating general course, with plenty of reading across the range of poetry, prose and drama. A wide range of literature is studied, from Shakespeare through to Twentieth Century Classics like Lord of the Flies. Lots of use is made of the Library, ICT and the Studio Theatre. We balance the demands of analytical and creative writing and teach spelling and grammar as an integral part of our courses, pausing to cover with particular thoroughness anything that the boys find tricky (such as the use of colon and semi-colon). Each teacher follows a broadly similar course, although some prefer to teach particular writers rather than others, all choose from a common menu, drawn up to ensure that boys encounter writers of similar complexity. There is also plenty of class discussion, debating and drama (also taught separately in Years 7 and 8). In Year 9 there is a more explicit focus on different forms of media text to prepare boys for GCSE.

GCSE English

English and English Literature constitute two separately certificated GCSE qualifications.  However, the nature of the subject and of our approach has always encouraged teaching the two interactively.  All syllabuses are designed to this end. Our current 5^th Form, Year 11, 2007-2008, follow the OCR exam specifications and our Divisions (Year 10) will be doing the IGCSE specification in English and English Literature. Both courses practise the fundamental skills of reading, writing, speaking and listening

The details of Examination Board syllabuses can seem dauntingly complex, so please don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any queries.  There is certainly no need for you to be concerned about all these details; clearly we are designing a programme of study to meet all the requirements more than adequately. 

A Level English

We offer three separate English courses:

• English Literature

• English Language and Literature

• English Language

Though there are significant differences, English Literature clearly has most in common with the equivalent course at GCSE. Boys study at least one Shakespeare play, for instance, but also some modern drama, and the course will include the reading of some challenging novels and poetry, both modern and pre-twentieth century.  They study a minimum of 8 texts in all, including coursework in both years.

English Language aims to develop your sense of the way English is used in a wide variety of contexts, and to provide a framework for the study of the language.  A good deal of what is done in this course is linguistic analysis of specific texts, and these will include spoken as well as written English. There is also some opportunity for original writing, though always with an accompanying analysis, and the course includes an individual research project in A2.

English Language & Literature obviously combines aspects of both courses.  The aim is to study language and literature in an interconnecting way.  Again analysis of texts - both spoken and written English - will form the basis of the course.  It shares with English Literature the study of major literary texts (including all 3 genres - prose, poetry and drama - and some pre-20^th century writing, including Shakespeare at A2). While language study is an important element of this course, it is probably fair to say that its bias remains literary.

University application

University English courses are continually evolving, and it is possible to read a version of English from any of these courses.  However, English Language would lead to a linguistically-based course; either of the other two would provide a good basis for the literary English courses, which are still the most common.  If a boy has Oxbridge English ambitions, it is still on balance safer to take English Literature, although we have also had successful candidates from Language and Literature. Any of the three makes a perfectly acceptable A level for applying to read another subject at university.