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 English
The Department of English at St. James' School is a small but highly successful one, with two full-time teachers and one part-time.
The Department also includes a teacher of EFL who provides support for our foreign language students. We offer English and English Literature at GCSE (AQA) and English Literature at GCE AS and A2 level; and in the last three years we ahve introduced a combined English Language and Literature course and achieved very good results.
St. James' demands very highly of its pupils and, although we
are a non-selective school, our results in English at all levels consistently exceed the national average and equal the two local selective schools, reflecting the commitment and quality of the members of the Department.
Our well-resourced Department is revitalised regularly, allowing new ideas and requirements of the National Curriculum to be introduced effectively. The PTA have helped us to keep our audio-visual and ICT equipment up to date and each English room fitted with TV, video/DVD player and multi-media system. A member of the Department also has responsibility for the library, which is regularly re-stocked. As part of the curriculum for Year 7, we provide a course in library and research skills; the library is also used regularly for independent reading within curriculum time for Years 7 and 8.
Pupils who require learning support are given individual tuition by qualified staff. Such is the success of this system that many pupils who had previously been underachieving go on to achieve Grade C and above at GCSE. At the same time, we are constantly exploring ways in which to support and challenge the most able students in the school.
Years 7 and 8 are usually taught in mixed ability groups, with Year 9 and above being set. We aim to introduce pupils to a wide range and variety of texts and writers, giving them the opportunity to develop themselves as individual readers and writers. This is supported by a strong emphasis on pupils' own independent reading, through which we aim to develop their life-long enjoyment of reading; to improve their ability to evaluate their own choice of reading and to provide a broad range of reference for their critical reading at GCSE and beyond.
The English Department is responsible for regular dramatic productions, sometimes in conjunction with the Music Department. Recent successful productions have included Blood Brothers, an adaptation of A Tale of Two Cities, West Side Story and Guys and Dolls. Rehearsals for J B Priestley's An Inspector Calls have recently begun, in preparation for a performance at the end of the Easter Term. We also provide opportunities for pupils to develop formal speaking and listening skills through an annual Inter-House Public Speaking Competition. The standard is very high and we regularly take a senior team to compete in the distnct competition. The English Department, with the help of senior pupils, produces the annual School Magazine; extracts of The Jacobean can be viewed on the website.
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