English

The English Department aims to deliver creative and stimulating lessons that reflect the lives of the pupils we teach, while respecting a wide range of literature from a variety of authors, cultures, eras, and genres.

We take pride in regularly reviewing our curriculum to ensure it is fit for purpose. While we take care that our lessons complement the National Curriculum for progress and continuity, we are fortunate in being able to maintain our autonomy. This allows us to teach with greater breadth and depth as we explore texts and topics with our classes.

With this in mind, the English Department strives to develop pupils’ skills in reading, writing, and speaking and listening, as outlined below.

Reading
We aim for our pupils:

• to develop a habit of reading widely and often, for pleasure and for information;
• to read and study a range of texts written by different authors, and of differing cultures, genres, and eras;
• to develop confidence in their analytical skills that enable them to appreciate the power of textual interpretations, and to be able to explore texts critically and insightfully.

Writing
We ensure that our pupils are equipped with the skills to be able to use language discriminately, so as to write for a variety of purposes, including creative and transactional writing

Speaking and Listening
Pupils have opportunities throughout their time studying English at the Under School to develop public speaking skills, so as to allow them to thrive in society in a range of environments. For example, pupils are able to listen perceptively to the opinions of others, and are given opportunities to articulate their own views through individual speeches or group / class discussions

Book Club
Alongside the formal taught English curriculum, the Department also runs Book Club. This whole-school initiative encourages our pupils to read for pleasure. Pupils are placed into groups within their classes and each half-term, they are allocated a book to read during their free time. During a designated lesson in each half of term, pupils then join together with the other members of their group to discuss the book. This often takes place in the Under School Library to help create a relaxed atmosphere, much like in an adult book group that parents or guardians may attend. As with the set curriculum texts, those selected as Book Club texts are reviewed each year, with input from the pupils, to see how successful they have been and how much enjoyment the pupils have gained from them.

The English Department works actively to maximise the opportunity for our pupils to gain pleasure from the study of English. Our central London location makes it possible for us to take classes to see West End theatre productions – often adaptations of the literary texts that we are teaching, or those which pupils have read through our Book Club initiative or their own wider reading. In addition, we invite visiting speakers into School for workshops throughout the year, and often to coincide with key dates such as World Book Day, International Women’s Day, and National Poetry Day.

The English Department also runs a programme of clubs and societies to further enrich pupils’ study of the written and spoken word. This includes the popular weekly Junior and Senior Debating Societies, as well as lunchtime reading groups run by our Librarian. The latter includes annual shadowing of the Carnegie Medal Book Scheme, which affords another avenue for the English Department to keep abreast of new fiction for young readers.

Each year, the English Department organises a whole-school literary event. These annual events include the Reading Competition, in which pupils learn and perform a self-selected literary extract to an audience, whether this is their own class in the initial stages of the competition, or the wider School community, for those who reach the finals, which are guest judged by visiting authors and actors. In recent years, the English Department has alternated the Reading Competition with events such as Poetry Slam, in which Under School pupils, as well as children invited from state schools as part of the Platform initiative, have crafted poems and performed these to a large audience of pupils, parents, and staff, as well as visiting poets – the latter have included John Agard and Joshua Seigal.

Mrs Emma Allison
Mrs Leonie Chacksfield — Head of English
Mrs Danielle Jones — Head of Learning Development, SENCO, Director of Platform
Mrs Eleanor Kullmann — Assistant Master (Pastoral)
Ms Milly Langford — Acting Head of Juniors, 4L Class Teacher
Dr Tak Li — Assistant Master (Teaching and Learning)
Miss Georgia Monroe
Mrs Mary Raikes — 3R Class Teacher
Ms Rosie Smith — Head of Year 6
Miss Lizzie Young — 4Y Class Teacher