We are a large and dynamic department, offering a wide
range of courses throughout the school.
At KS3 girls follow a varied curriculum in which they study
different texts including novels, poetry, plays, biography and
travel writing. Girls also explore aspects of media, including
television, film, newspapers and advertising and increasingly use
ICT to enhance their learning experiences.
Each teaching group has a weekly drama lesson in our
purpose-built theatre; they learn about staging and acting as well
as developing confidence in speaking and team work. We follow a
language and literacy programme in Years 7, 8 and 9, a prominent
feature of which is oral work, both formal and informal.
All girls take English and English Literature in Years 10 and
11, following AQA Specification A. At AS and A2 we offer English
Literature, English Language and Drama and Theatre Studies. These
courses prove very popular with students and many of our students
go on to take English and related subjects at degree level. We
offer extra lunchtime sessions to support these students as well as
those applying to Oxford and Cambridge. Recently, one of our former
students was not only awarded a "double first" in English
Literature at Cambridge but was also the only student ever to have
received the top mark in two consecutive years. Last year two of
our students at Cambridge directed end of year college productions
of Shakespeare plays.
Extending our teaching beyond the classroom experience we
organise frequent theatre visits as well as inviting writers, poets
and theatre companies into school. Recent visitors have included
The Manchester Actors' Company, former pupil Monica Ali, Jamila
Gavin and Jackie Kay. We also offer a residential writing course at
the Arvon Foundation to Years 10, 11 and the Sixth Form and a
residential visit to Stratford for the Sixth Form.
We are committed to offering a broad range of extra-curricular
activities. These include Middle School Drama Clubs, Middle and
Senior Literary and Debating Societies and Sixth Form Reading
Groups as well as The Definite Article, a school newspaper, edited
by the Sixth Form, to which all girls can contribute. In addition,
we promote numerous competitions and offer prizes throughout the
year to celebrate the considerable achievement of our pupils.