The aim of the English department is to inspire excitement and curiosity about the written word. Through passionate and dynamic teaching, we nurture pupils throughout their time at Warwick, encouraging them to become perceptive readers, confident speakers and talented writers.
CONFIDENT COMMUNICATORS
We are privileged to have a committed, caring and experienced team of teachers. The English department are ambitious in their outlook and believe in the opportunities study of the subject can create for pupils, cultivating their communication skills while also ensuring they are engaged with and curious about the world around them.
We are fortunate in our well-stocked bookstore and in our close links with the library, where young adult fiction, contemporary drama and novels, and well-chosen literary criticism offer all pupils opportunities for reading for pleasure and academic engagement. The department and the library are dedicated to fostering a love of reading amongst the pupils, and pupils can join book clubs, such as Reading Pioneers and Historical Fiction Society as part of our wide extra-curricular programme. Our proximity to Stratford Upon Avon and fast connections to London enable us to run a wide variety of trips to the theatre as well as exciting extra-curricular trips with other subjects. Creative writing trips to local landmarks, competitions and challenges ensure that our pupils can hone their writing for real world purposes.
We look forward to welcoming your child to Warwick and providing him with opportunities for self-discovery and intellectual challenge in English.
Our curriculum builds strong foundations in Years 7–9 and prepares pupils for success at GCSE and beyond. Through an engaging programme of study, boys develop the knowledge, skills and confidence to enjoy the subject and achieve their potential.
Year 7 – 9
In Years 7 to 9, the department encourages a great variety of reading, writing, and speaking, whilst introducing pupils to the inexhaustible richness of our literary heritage in English. The work prepares students for the Cambridge International IGCSEs in English Language and Literature, undertaken in a two-year course with final summer examinations in Year 11.
Boys enjoy 150mins of drama per fortnight in Year 7, 100 mins in Year 8 and 200 mins in Year 9 (as an optional subject choice). Our schemes link directly to the skills required at GCSE.
GCSE
Study of the English Language and Literature Cambridge International IGCSEs in Year 10 and 11 offers pupils the opportunity to develop as critical and informed readers and imaginative, versatile writers. Lessons are enlivened by debate and discussion, enhancing pupils’ abilities to explain, persuade, empathise and reflect. Pupils learn how to analyse in depth the way writers use linguistic tools to convey their meanings, as well as how they can employ these in their own writing. They refine their literacy skills, develop their vocabulary and become more articulate in expressing their viewpoints. Pupils will learn more about themselves and the world around them through exploration of some of the great works of literature, including study of a novel, poetry and drama.
BEYOND THE CLASSROOM
Beyond the classroom, we extend learners’ knowledge and skills with a rich supra-curricular programme of activities such as our Cogito Lecture series for Year 11, the Reading Excellence Award, the Ink and Intrigue writing competition as well as theatre trips, screenings and clinics.
