English

Our curriculum works backwards from our goal of creating confident, articulate and culturally and emotionally literate students, with outstanding exam results.

 In the Sixth-Form, we teach the OCR English Literature A-Level and the SQA Higher English Qualifications. Each allows us to teach a broad range of canonical texts and so to address weighty cultural issues. For the A-Level, we cover the Gothic genre, Shakespearean drama, a range of poetry spanning seven centuries and a novel written within the students' own lifetimes. For the Higher, we cover some Scottish poetry, contemporary drama and a Great American Novel. Success in either qualification requires significant powers of expression, and in the Sixth-Form we work closely with the boys to hone their writing skills, and to develop them beyond GCSE.

In the Fifth and Shell Forms, we teach the Edexcel IGCSE Qualifications: English Literature and English Language. The worldliness of these qualifications means they complement one another well, with themes emerging in the Language course's non-fiction anthology that permeate the texts and poems studied on the Literature course. As well as Shakespeare, we cover modern drama for the extended Literature coursework and a modern novel and poetry for the exam. The Language course also has a coursework component, assessing poetry and creative writing, as well as the exam, which assesses the boys' ability to engage with non-fiction texts and to write in a formal, transactional style.

From J4 to IV Form, the Department concentrates on building the boys' skills and knowledge such that their GCSE and, in some cases, A-Level study appears as a natural extension of what has gone before. In the youngest years, the focus is on core literacy skills while embedding a love of reading, inspired by the wonderful resources of the Spawforth Library. From Second to Fourth Form, students are exposed to increasingly complex texts and are supported in engaging with these in an increasingly critical, analytic way. Some highlights are: Shakespeare (of course!), Burns, When the Guns Fall Silent and the poetry of the First World War, Nineteen Eighty-Four.

The Department regards the teaching of oracy as central to good English teaching. Historically, we have offered the ESB Qualification. This is currently being reviewed but giving students opportunities to present, recite, read-aloud and, most of all, question is a cornerstone of our practice. 

In addition to external competitions (e.g. 500 Words short stories, Young Writers Poetry, Mini-Saga and Short Story Competitions,The Staton Essay Prize), the Department also administers four School Prizes with Pringle (I, II, III), Junior (IV, Shell, V), and Senior (LVI, UVI) categories for each:

• The Kingsley Darling Verse Prize for verse composition (first awarded 1934)
• The Edwards Reading Prize for reading aloud (first awarded 1944)
• The School Fiction Prize for prose fiction (first awarded 1998)
• The Peyrebrune Declamations for public recitation (first awarded 1999) (linked to the Shakespeare Speaking Initiative in IV Form)

The winning entry for the School Fiction Prize is published in the School magazine, as are the winning poems in each category of the Kingsley Darling Verse Prize.

We have partnered with the Edinburgh Bookshop to provide opportunities for author visits and our termly ‘Bag-a-Book’ bookfairs are always popular. The department supports the Spawforth Librarian with the School Book Groups, each of which meets twice a term to discuss a range of titles.

We frequently take boys to the theatre, supplementing the Arts Programme with visits to productions of particular educational value. The annual Lower Sixth trip to Stratford-upon-Avon celebrated its twentieth anniversary in 2019: this excursion not only provides an opportunity to watch two RSC productions, but also brings to life the historical context in which Shakespeare lived and worked.