Overall, we aim to enthuse our students with a love of language and literature, as well as develop their ability to think for themselves. Specifically, our aims can be summarised in four key points:

• To promote effective communication through reading, writing, speaking and listening.
• To stimulate our students’ creativity and imagination.
• To develop critical skills when exploring the different type of texts we come across, from reading novels to investigating the media
• To broaden students’ cultural understanding by introducing them to texts from our literary heritage as well as from other cultures.

Here at Queensway, we know our students as individuals and endeavour to catch their passion for the subject. All pupils are encouraged to develop a love of reading. We believe that the best writers progress from keen readers as they have read so many texts that patterns and flows of language have been internalised. Students are taught to extend their thinking. For example, contemplating why writers make specific language choices and the effects this can have on the reader. We read texts in multisensory and creative ways to help the words ‘jump off the page!’ Overall, we aim to equip our students with the skills to fully immerse themselves in a wide range of texts and to thoroughly enjoy themselves!

Students are taught comprehension strategies to make the learning real. Images are used to stimulate writing and to help make texts more accessible. During creative writing exercises, we pay special attention to descriptive writing. The aim is to make students’ writing as vivid and original as possible. Once they become more skilled in this area, the quality of their writing improves significantly and their enjoyment of all areas of the subject increases.

We understand that many areas within this subject can prove rather ambiguous and confusing for our students. Our aim is to increase understanding and confidence by assessing students on entry and identifying specific gaps in knowledge. We place a strong emphasis on the clarification of grammar, sentence structure and spelling. These essential skills are taught explicitly and then reinforced throughout other subjects with great success.

The English classroom is full of references to the literature they are studying, student’s work and prompts for thinking and writing. We think it is essential that students and visitors know that they have stepped into an English classroom. Students take pride over their learning and are keen to share their achievements with others. Pupils appreciate constructive feedback and take responsibility for their own progression by participating in ‘close the gap marking’ after extended pieces of writing. We strongly feel that fostering enthusiasm, curiosity and ownership makes lessons enjoyable and more rewarding. Our students are rising to the challenge and we are incredibly proud of.