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English

We are a team of nine teachers, all of whom teach across the Key Stages.  At Queen Elizabeth’s School, the English Faculty offer popular and dynamic learning opportunities for all students to develop their creative reading and writing skills. Our aim is to enrich, inspire and develop a passion for language and literature that will stay with pupils for life. Often internal and national writing competitions are promoted from within the faculty and likewise there are regular reading challenges designed to promote a love of reading across the key stages. As well as this, staff work tirelessly to ensure all students excel and reach their potential in all aspects of their KS3, GCSE and post-16 courses.

We are very proud of our results with English Language GCSE hitting 77% in 2019 and Literature 72% with the new specifications. We continue to strive for excellence and are aiming for even better results in 2022.

Our students have opportunities to attend conferences, workshops and performances as well as participate in National Competitions. We have won a number of awards from our entries to competitions locally, regionally and nationally.  Recent trips have included visits to The Royal Shakespeare Theatre at Stratford, a performance at Poole's Lighthouse, A level Conferences and a theatre trip to London.

When students join us in Year 9 we work closely with our link schools to ensure a smooth transition and then we work to build the skills needed for the GCSE courses.  Year 9 is a preparatory year where students cover both English Language and English Literature within their 6 lessons a fortnight.  We cover a variety of extracts by Williams Shakespeare to develop a holistic view of characterisation, an introduction to context of Charles Dickens, a 20th Century novel, a selection of Poetry from the Literary Heritage and finally explore features of non-fiction extracts.

We currently offer two A Level courses:

  • Edexcel English Literature
  • AQA English Language and Literature

For more information about English Literature, please explore the specification: http://qualifications.pearson.com/en/qualifications/edexcel-a-levels/english-literature-2015.html

For more information about English Language and Literature, please explore the specification: https://www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/english/as-and-a-level/english-language-and-literature-7707/changes-for-2022

For further information please contact: Head of Faculty, Mrs Jen Farmer at jfarmer@queenelizabeths.com