The ethos of our lively department is to encourage all pupils to enjoy language and to be creative. At the same time we encourage children to read widely and improve their literacy skills.

Lower IV (Year 7)

At the beginning of the year pupils focus on skills relating to their personal lives. These centre on writing tasks about their lives and the creation of a personal collage. We move into the world of make believe where fantastical new worlds are created with wild, imaginary creatures. We explore the world of the Jabberwock by Lewis Carroll and pupils invent the lair of the Bandersnatch and the world of the curious Tumtum tree! They also write a letter complaining about the death of the Jabberwock. All of this builds to a small project on dragons where each pupil draws their own monster and creates a habitat and myth.
The Lent Term begins with the creation of a ghost handbook. We explore the ghostly world of the Harry Potter novels and pupils produce their own Hogwarts for young ghosts. School subjects, houses, adverts, poetry, recipes, holiday destinations, diaries and lots more make this an exciting project for everyone. Pupils will read Michael Murpurgo's lovely novel 'Kensuke's Kingdom', which is used as a springboard for imaginative writing about desert islands, shipwrecks, turtles, orang-utans, communication and World War Two.
Finally, in the Summer Term much of the focus is project based on creating an imaginative creature. This requires artwork, research into scientific and biological facts, descriptions and poetry as well as oral presentations.

Upper IV (Year 8)

The main focus of the Michaelmas Term is reading and studying the play version of 'The diary of Anne Frank'. This story has particular importance for this age group as Anne was thirteen when she went into hiding in the secret annexe. This well-known story is as gripping as it is tragic. Anne had no idea of the horrors that awaited her in the concentration camp at Bergen-Belsen when she wrote, "despite everything I believe that people are good at heart."
Pupils explore the Franks' experiences in hiding and the Nazi hatred of the Jews through diaries, letters, journals, interviews, video commentaries and creative writing.
This work is also supported by exploring a variety of other writing styles based on 'The diary of a Teenage Health Freak', the monologues of Joyce Grenfell, Ghost stories by Robert Westall and Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka.
The Lent Term has a completely different focus and is based on Science Fiction. This always produces lovely work as the pupils are encouraged to create new planets, aliens and their spacecrafts. A definite high point is the production of group radio plays with sound effects, based on an alien invasion of Earth. We read extracts of 'The Time Machine' and 'War of the Worlds' by H. G. Wells as well as listening to the Orson Welles' Radio Broadcast.
The Summer Term inolves a study of Shakespeare's 'Macbeth' and a variety of creative writing including horoscopes, storyboarding, letters. poetry, character plans, newspaper reports and Alex Rider type spy documents and inventive weapons. This certainly brings Shakespeare alive in the classroom.

Lower V (Year 9)

Much of the focus of the Michaelmas Term is 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' combined with modern texts, such as accounts of life in Afghanistan. Students write sonnets, fairy stories, diaries based on Lysander and Hermia and also study other cultural stories where intolerance is a key issue. We will also study Tennyson's poem 'The Lady of Shalott' and students will look at Pre-Raphaelite artists and write a monologue based on the Lady's experiences.
The Lent Term focuses on studying Arthur Miller's 'The Crucible' and writing will be based on understanding the Salem witch hunts and character analysis . At the same time language work will centre around advertising and students will create a new product and a marketing project. John Keats' poem 'La Belle Dame Sans Merci' will provide a perfect contrast to 'The Lady of Shalott' by considering the knight's experience.
In the Summer Term the main focus is First World War poetry and students study recruiting poems as well as Wilfred Owen's and Siegfried Sassoon's writing. All of these courses will use techniques needed at GCSE to ensure a smooth transition into this work.

Recommended Reading List

These books can and should be read by anyone from the age of 11-111! They deal with wide ranging issues. Children's literature is currently benefiting from a wonderful range of new authors and books. Here are some to begin with. See how many you can tick. This list will be regularly updated.

These deal with thought-provoking life issues and worlds of fantasy.