English

There is no doubt that English is the most important subject in any preparatory school. Without the necessary grasp of our shared language – both spoken and written – a pupil will struggle in almost every other area of academic life and beyond. Preparing children for exams is important; however, our main aim is to provide pupils with the tools and shared enthusiasm to become fluent listeners, speakers, readers and writers, young people who are inventive, imaginative and articulate.

Every English lesson should provide pupils with opportunities to expand or enhance their linguistic skills. While great emphasis is placed on the creative sides to the subject, it is equally important that the basic language skills are in place; if this is not the case, we will be constructing the proverbial house built on sand.

Pupils are encouraged to:

• Listen carefully
• Respond clearly, concisely and constructively
• Ask relevant questions
• Read widely
• Extract and interpret information from texts
• Find implicit (as well as explicit) meanings
• Write accurately, descriptively, interestingly and persuasively
• Expand personal vocabulary

Topic Aims:

Poem of the Week: English teaching can become ‘bitty’ or compartmentalised, unlike more topic-driven subjects such as History, Geography or Science. The basic idea is to offer a central focal point which can bind the week’s teaching together and then take the class in a number of different directions. The poem can provide a lively starting point for a general class discussion, be used as the text for a comprehension, or as the launching pad for a piece of creative writing.

Comprehension: There will be some factual questions which involve the extraction of information (the ‘Who?’ ‘When?’ ‘What?’ type questions). However, for the most part, students will be asked to find implicit meanings in texts as well as being challenged by questions requiring deductive reasoning and imaginative responses; there will also be vocabulary-based questions and often the need to extract, re-use and transfer material into a different form, e.g. creating a letter, diary extract or short play.

Creative Writing: often – though by no means always – directly linked to the weekly poem. As the children get older more emphasis is placed on writing realistic, detailed, descriptive stories. Sometimes a story may evolve from personal experience, or from a subject discussed in class, e.g. bullying. Pupils are encouraged to PDRP: plan, draft, revise/edit, proof-read their stories (or poems etc.) on scrap paper, before producing a final version in their exercise book; they may then be asked to present (i.e. read it aloud) and discuss it. Like any ideas, creative writing needs to be developed. 

Spelling and Vocabulary: Most of our weekly spelling lists are taken from the Nelson Spelling Scheme which incorporates some grammar and punctuation learning. Pupils must be aware of the meaning of any word which they have been asked to spell. In addition, surprise homophone spelling tests will be offered from time to time. Work on synonyms – as vocabulary expansion – takes place on a regular basis and this should involve quite complex words.

Class Reader: varies according to age and set.

Department Competitions: the OFTSED report in 2007 highlighted the importance of language and literature competitions in order to enrich the syllabus and stimulate pupils. We have a number of English-related competitions throughout the academic year in which all Year 4 to 8 pupils compete: a reading competition; poetry recital and creative writing events.