Overview
Our philosophy is simple: Believe. Strive. Achieve. The English Department is committed to supporting every learner with the core principals of the subject: reading, writing and spoken English. These principals form the basis of our everyday environments and experiences and being able to demonstrate a good understanding of core literacy strands is crucial to success in life. It is this which drives us and as a result, these form the foundations of our curriculum.
Simply put, English is great to study because it informs every other subject. If you get better at English, you get better at every other subject because English is at the core of our curriculum. English not only teaches you about the core principles of communication: oracy, reading and writing, but it also teaches you about life and culture.
English Literature enables you to immerse yourself in a novel set in another country or in the past and learn about it, or you can read a poem set in another world entirely and find yourself transported there. As well as reading for pleasure, you also get to express your imagination and write creatively. The pen really is mightier than the sword as you have the power to create entire worlds with a bit of ink! You will learn to inform, entertain, argue and persuade, meaning the power of language will be your greatest weapon. The possibilities really are endless and that is what makes English great to study.
Please contact Head of Department Miss S Peacock for further information.
Equipment
One of the most crucial things you will need to study English is a keen imagination!
However, as well as that, you will also need:
- Stationery: pen, pencil, ruler, rubber etc.;
- Exercise book;
- Copies of texts you are studying will be provided by the department;
- Outside of class, you may occasionally need access to a computer or the internet. The department can always support with this if necessary.
Out of Class/Extra-curricular
The English Department offers a wealth of extracurricular opportunities, including, but not limited to:
- Debating Club – we debate with a range of schools and participate in national competitions such as ESU’s MACE and Public Speaking competitions, the National Gallery's Articulation Challenge, the Historical Association's Great Historical Debate and, we take part in Model UN;
- Creative Writing Club – we produce anthologies of work and submit our writing in national competitions;
- Shakespeare Society – every year, we put on a performance of a Shakespeare play, participating in the Shakespeare Schools Festival, performing at a local professional theatre;
- Book Club – we read and discuss the latest releases in YA fiction, following the Carnegie Reading Challenge and Readathon;
- Poetry by Heart – a national poetry recitation competition with the final taking place in London;
- Performing Shakespeare – another national competition where you will get to perform Shakespearean soliloquies with the chance to get through to the final and perform at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre;
- Classics Society - we learn Latin at a beginners' level, working towards a formal qualification. We supplement our learning with tales of ancient history, mythology and trips to universities, theatres etc.
- Literacy events such as World Book Day and National Poetry Day;
- Slam Jam – a creative writing regional competition where you will get to perform your own writing in a theatre;
- Newspaper Club – producing the e-magazine The De Astonian twice a year and ending the year with a production in print on our annual Newspaper Day.
Useful Websites
We are committed to helping you achieve in English and progress to your full potential as soon as you join us in Year 7. To help with this, we have our own website to support you which can be found at www.deastonenglish.com. On the website, you will find resources to support every unit of work you study, all the way from Year 7 to A-Level!
Keeping in touch with social media is also important to us. We have our own Instagram page @deastonenglish, where we post revision tips and feature amazing work. We are also in the process of developing our own YouTube channel ‘De Aston English’ where we will post videos to support revision and class work.