Alexandra Park School

Our Objectives

The English Department aims to enable students to have the knowledge and skills to become reflective, critical and powerful users of language by being given access to an enjoyable, varied and rich curriculum. Our aims are:

• to provide and develop students’ knowledge, skills and understanding in the three attainment targets of speaking and listening, reading and writing.
• to provide students with the skills in order to develop their understanding of language at word, sentence and whole text levels.
• to help all students to develop the ability and confidence to effectively communicate ideas, thoughts and information clearly, logically and imaginatively through speech, drama, writing and ICT.
• to provide all students with the means of developing their own critical awareness of literature and through the study of literature to broaden their understanding of societies, themselves and others.

Accommodation and Resources

There are eight specialist teaching rooms for English each well equipped with, whiteboard, OHP, computer terminal, interactive whiteboard and facilities for viewing videos and DVDs. A large departmental office houses resources and stock, as well as a laptop trolley with sixteen laptops for exclusive use in English lessons.

Students are taught in mixed ability groups throughout Key Stage 3 – 5. In Years 7 & 8 they are taught in tutor groups; in Year 9 in classes of combined tutor groups. Year 10 English is taught in enhanced mixed ability groups of approximately twenty students.

In Year 7 some students are withdrawn from some English lessons in a literacy ‘catch up’ programme. These students’ needs are targeted with specific lessons that focus on developing their literacy skills as well as enhancing their understanding in order to raise their achievement.

Staffing and responsibilities