English

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The English Department’s aim is to ensure that FHS students become skilful, confident and perceptive in using and responding to English in all of its aspects.

The English Language course is designed to nurture our students’ skills in written communication and to develop an appreciation of the various ways in which English can be used. There is an emphasis on broadening the range of the students’ vocabulary and promoting accurate spelling, punctuation and grammar. There is also a focus on reading skills, in particular those that are required in the analysis of both non-fiction and literary texts, including inference. Students develop their speaking and listening skills through class discussion and formal assessments. After GCSE, students’ writing and communication skills will be enhanced. We aim to develop enthusiasm for wider reading and an interest in interpreting and discussing texts in a variety of media.

In English Literature, students are invited to explore a variety of texts across genres, including drama, poetry and novels. The IGCSE course develops students’ understanding of these texts, encouraging them to consider implicit meanings, relevant contexts, themes and authorial attitudes. In doing so, students’ communication skills and appreciation of cultural and moral values are enhanced. We also focus on developing sophistication of textual analysis and encouraging reading for pleasure. The A Level course prepares the girls for the demands of A Level English Literature. It also teaches students how to structure cogent and coherent essays, which is a skill required in many other A Level subjects and at university. A Level English Literature is a popular subject choice in the Sixth Form and students from Francis Holland often go on to read English at undergraduate level.

Dame Rose Tremain Short Story Prize

In 2023, our Head of Literacy Ms Shevah established the Dame Rose Tremain Short Story Prize, bestowed by critically acclaimed, multi-award-winning novelist and Class of 1961 FHS alumna Dame Rose Tremain, who in an interview with Ms Shevah at FHS in April 2023 said her top tip for short story writing is ‘knowing where it’s going to land’. Now in its third year, the competition draws entries from across the Senior School. These are shortlisted to ten, and a guest judge chooses the winners.

Huge congratulations to the 2023-24 winner, Georgia L in Year 8, and to Phoebe S in Year 11, who is this year’s runner-up!

Key Stage 3

The Department offers a stimulating curriculum in Years 7, 8 and 9, which provides many opportunities for enrichment. Students can expect to explore a Shakespeare play in each year and a range of prose and poetry, including nineteenth-century novels and more contemporary texts. They will also study a range of non-fiction and media texts, including newspapers, advertising and film. Presentations are regularly given by the students, which complements the School’s strengths in Debating and Public Speaking. Many of our Lower School students participate in our Debating Society, as well as internal and external Debating and Public Speaking competitions. The Department also nurtures creative writing, and we place an emphasis on the acquisition of new vocabulary. Basic skills (spelling, punctuation and grammar) are taught alongside core texts in each year.

GCSE

At Key Stage 4, we follow Edexcel IGCSE English Language (Specification A) and CIE IGCSE English Literature (Specification 0992), which offer breadth in terms of coverage of a range of traditional and contemporary texts, as well as development of reading and writing skills. In Literature, students study a range of pre and post-1914 drama, poetry and prose texts, including at least one Shakespeare play. The Language course is assessed through a wide range of non-fiction texts, as well as poetry and prose. Students develop their writing skills in a number of contexts for examination purposes, including transactional and imaginative writing.

A Level

We follow the linear OCR English Literature syllabus (H472). Students read set texts in conjunction with literary criticism, and gain a wider understanding of the periods in which texts are set. The A Level is assessed by 80% examination and 20% coursework. We actively encourage the students to read as widely as possible and the study of English Literature in the Sixth Form is complemented by a range of co-curricular literary opportunities, both in and out of the school. Many of our students have gone on to read English at university, including Oxford, University College London, Bristol and York.

Our central location allows us to make use of the numerous theatre productions on offer in London. Both course texts and extension texts are enlivened by each of these visits.

We take every opportunity to build upon the students’ wider reading, and the FHS Reading Tree helps each student to encounter a rewarding range of texts. A variety of book clubs are run to help each student engage with their texts in an enjoyable, communal environment. In Year 7, students spend one of their English lessons every week reading in the Library. Along with the support of the school librarians, we organise annual school-wide celebrations of World Book Day and wider enrichment opportunities that range from Shakespeare workshops, internal visiting theatre companies to guest literary speakers.  We also encourage students to enter a range of literary competitions with some stellar successes in recent years.

Elsewhere, every year, students participate in the school’s Morison Verse poetry recitation competition. We also support the students’ participation in the School’s Debating Club, and in internal and external Debating and Public Speaking competitions.

The English Department also has a range of reading groups for students in all year groups. These are buttressed by literary speakers on the Sixth Form Speaker Programme. Talks by the likes of Professor John Mullan, Professor Sarah Churchwell and Professor Claire Preston have been well-attended by our students and their parents, as well as visitors from other schools and the wider community.

The Department has a suite of classrooms, all equipped with computer and projection equipment. We work very closely with the school library to ensure that students have access to a wide variety of books and advice on choosing suitable titles. The Library is also extremely well-resourced to enhance the study of English at IGCSE and A level. Articles from English journals can be located there, and students also have online access to these.

The Department is run by Ms R Cadman-Beaumont, with Mrs N Buchanan serving as Second-in-Department. The following members of staff complete the Department: Ms A Diamond, Ms C Chan, Mrs T Faircliff, Mr W Galloway, Mr A Macdonald-Brown, and Mrs E Shevah, Miss E Le Roy-Lewis and Mrs S. Withey Jones. We are a highly-qualified team, having undertaken qualifications in addition to our English undergraduate degrees, with interests ranging from medieval literature and the Victorian novel to children’s literature and modern poetry.

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