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, English Language and Literature, and
Drama and Theatre Studies. These courses prove very popular with
students and many of them 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. Two of our students at Cambridge have 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
Annabel Pitcher, Bali Rai, Carol Ann Duffy, Luke Wright and Mike
Garry. 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. In addition, we offer a
Creative Writing course for Year 11-12 boys and girls with a
professional writer.
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.