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English Department - an introduction
The English department is firmly committed to encouraging all our pupils to enjoy expressing themselves in words, whether orally or on paper, and to introducing them to as wide a range of literature as possible.
Years 7 to 9: The First Three Years
The English Department use these first three years to develop the oral and written abilities of our pupils, to encourage their creative writing and to introduce them to the range of English literature. Old and Middle English texts are introduced (in adapted forms); classical epics (Iliad and Odyssey) and there is also some study of the Bible as a literary text. These are all placed alongside an ever-increasing range of modern texts, including some post-colonial novels, which aim to satisfy the reading needs of boys as well as girls. We now have, for example, several sets of crime fiction and allegorical writing. A different Shakespeare play is studied in every year of the school. All pupils are encouraged to become familiar with different poetic forms and to experiment with them. We are constantly expanding the range of other dramatic texts. All members of Year 9 take part in a reading project.
GCSE English and English Literature (AQA)
All students take both English and English Literature. In the past few years several of our students have been among those achieving the best marks in the country. The Department aims to give students the communication skills that are essential for their other subjects as well as providing them with an enthusiasm for reading literature which will last throughout their lives. Equally, we aim to create an enthusiasm for the study of literature that will lead many students to continue its study at Advanced Level.
Advanced Level (A2 and AS): WJEC English Language
Starting this September the English Department are introducing this A Level alongside Literature as we felt that students with interests in the media and journalism were not well served by the Literature course alone. Also, students with an interest in the creative elements of the Language GCSE had nothing obvious to move on to. Interest has been considerable, with some students wishing to study both A levels.
Advanced Level (A2 and AS): OCR English Literature
Our results are consistenty outstanding. We have taken care to allow students a wide, but supervised, choice of books for the A2 coursework and the result is that most of the A2 coursework has been of a very high standard.
Many of our pupils have gone on to read English at university, either as single or joint honours: we have had conspicuous successes in the last few years at, for example, Durham, UCL, UEA and Manchester, as well as Oxford and Cambridge.
We are pleased that the OCR specification offers scope for a further special interest in American literature to be developed in the synoptic unit. Our declared aim has been to prepare our pupils for university work, and to train them in the skills required for independent research, seminar discussion and the organisation of dissertations.
KES Short Story Competition 2012 - entries by Fri 30 March
Submissions are invited for the 2012 KES Short Story Competition which will be judged this year by novelist and tutor on the MA in Creative Writing at Bath Spa University, Julia Green.
There are two age groups: Years 7 – 9 and Years 10 – 13. Staff entries also welcome.
Word Limit: Stories should be no longer than 1,500 words
Theme: Light and Dark. Entrants can interpret this as loosely as they like!
Deadline for entries: Friday 30th March
Entries to be handed to: Mrs Bruton or any member of the English Department
King Edward’s Senior School Poetry Competition 2011
The winners of this year’s annual Poetry Competition were announced in whole School assembly on Tuesday 17th January.
The theme was Brave New World which resulted in over 150 entries from all year groups.
Head of English, Mrs Sylvia Cooper, commented:
“Poetry isn’t meant to be bland or safe and these entries certainly weren’t!
Some writers took the theme at face value, producing poems about exciting planets, underwater discoveries and even falling in love, the prevailing mood was somewhat serious – warfare, environmental catastrophe, political revolutions all featured strongly, remind me to choose something a bit cheerier next year!
As ever, it was an agonising but also exhilarating process, trying to make the final decisions as to who would win one of the six prizes.”
All the winning entries were characterised by inventive use of language and form, adventurous and sometimes risqué subject matter and – most important – a unique personal voice.”
The winners were as follows:
Category Years 7-9
3rd Prize: Ben Santhouse 7L
2nd Prize: Auriol Reddaway 9M
1st Prize: Anna Thomas 9J – this was a particularly SUPERB poem – well done!
Category Year 10-13
3rd Prize: Georgina Worrall 13SAC
2nd Prize: Bishan Morgan 11J
1st Prize: Max Lury – more of a rap than a conventional poem, but brilliant, nonetheless!
Well done to all who entered.
For a downloadable copy of their poems please see below.
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Click to download the attached file(s):
- f_-_Ben_Santhouse_-_7L_7_to_9.pdf
- e_-_Auriol_Reddaway_9M_7_to_9.pdf
- d_-_Anna_Thomas_9J_7_to_9.pdf
- c_-_Georgina_Worrall_13_SAC.pdf
- b_-_Bishan_Morgan_11J.pdf
- a_-_Max_Lury.pdf
Year 7 Box Factor Final
The Grand Final of King Edward’s School’s Box Factor 'Book in a Box' Year 7 Interform Competition took place on Mon 12 December in The Wroughton Theatre.
Judged by a panel of 'celebrity' judges, including award winning teen novelist, Joanna Nadin, the Box Factor 'Book in a Box' Grand Final aimed to promote and celebrate reading in Year 7.
The winner was Tamlyn Knight with The Star of Kazan.
Runners up Thomas Harcourt The Curious Incident of the Dog and the Night time and Tobin Lee with Shadow
Best box went to Ben Brookes and Fliss Reed.
Best Letter went to Arden Farrow
Over the last few weeks, every member of Year 7 has been working to create a 'book in a box' based on their favourite reads. Each student gave a class presentation about their 'box factor' book using their box and its contents as the basis for their talk. The two best from each form were chosen to compete in The Grand Final, competing for form points, and form honour.
Judges included the head boy and head girl, librarian Lisa Bowman and celebrated novelist Joanna Nadin - author of 'My So Called Life' 'Buttercup Mash' 'Paradise' ' Wonderland' and many others. Prizes were books donated by a variety of novelists and publishers - many of them signed by the authors.
The eight finalists were:-
August Pemberton The Hunger Games
Isabella Bride Girl Missing
George Forster The Hobbit
Zoe Weimar The Mysterious Benedict Society
Thomas Harcourt The Curious Incident of the Dog and the Night-time
Tamlyn Knight The Star of Kazan
Tobin Lee Shadow
Will Prescott Young Samurai The Way of the Warrior
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Book Week visit from three authors
Where does an author’s inspiration come from?
David Almond, acclaimed author of Skellig, revealed to pupils in Years 8 & 9 in a moment of spontaneous clarity that it was only after his book was filmed that he realized the character of Skellig channelled memories of his own mother.
David Almond was joined in a panel discussion with two other outspoken award-winning authors, Melvin Burgess and Meg Rosoff and hosted by John McLay, Bath Children’s Literature Festival organiser.
The talk, held in the Wroughton Theatre on Monday 26 September, was open and relaxed. The authors mused over their own teenage experiences, at times groaning with disbelief and all agreeing that being a teenager has never been easy.
Burgess, author of Junk and the novelisation for Billy Elliot, stressed the need for self-belief and hard work: two things that pulled him through moments of doubt and scrutiny.
Meg Rosoff, How I Live Now, reiterated advice from Malcolm Gladwell that success in any area takes 10,000 hours of practice to achieve. She cited her own eclectic background of jobs and experiences that have contributed to her personal 10,000 hours of practice to become the well-known writer she is today.
King Edward’s was pleased to host this exciting event as part of the Bath Children’s Lit Fest outreach to schools.
Martin Boden, Headmaster, commented
“King Edward’s School was delighted to host three internationally renowned authors as part of the Bath Festival of Children’s Literature.
Melvin Burgess, David Almond and Meg Rosoff all spoke eloquently about their latest books and fielded questions from a very interested group of King Edward’s pupils about their work as authors, their reflections on growing up and what inspired them to write their most recent novels.
It proved to be a very stimulating and rewarding session which gave the pupils much food for thought, as well as providing an insight into the craft of such gifted writers.”
Copies are available from the Senior School Porter Library of the new titles from all three authors: Almond’s The True Tale of Monster Billy Dean, Burgess’s Kill All Enemies, and There Is No Dog from Rosoff.
