English
The English faculty's aim is to help our students develop as happy, thoughtful, confident and tolerant young people. Our intent is to foster the skill, interest, curiosity and determination required for students to become lifelong learners.
We want all students to share our love of the English language and its literature. We want them to understand and appreciate the power and beauty of the written word in the texts they read and the writing they produce. We also develop effective communication skills which are essential to happiness and success. Literature is at the heart of our teaching but spoken and media texts are important elements.
There is an impressive breadth of knowledge and experience within the faculty and the team comprises talented practitioners who teach with flair and passion and who are extremely proud of recent GCSE results.
Lower School
Throughout Lower School there is a focus on written accuracy and grammar and on the development of students’ vocabulary. Students are given regular opportunities to write creatively and express themselves via the written and spoken word.
Year 7
The theme for Year 7 in English is ‘Literature through the Ages’. Students study novels such as ‘The Odyssey’ and ‘Moonfleet’, as well as a range of poetry and a play.
Year 8
In Year 8 students move on to the theme of ‘Response and Rebellion’. Students explore a range of texts from the classic ‘A Christmas Carol’, to more contemporary texts such as ‘The Hunger Games’ as part of a dystopian unit.
Year 9
The focus in Year 9 is ‘Identity and Belonging’. Students begin to explore an even wider range of texts expressing diverse voices and views. Historical context is interwoven throughout these units to enable students to appreciate the time and place in which the texts were written.
Upper School
In Upper School, all students study Edexcel Language and Literature. The courses include engagement with classic novels, plays and poems from the literary canon as well as equipping students to analyse non-fiction texts. These topics are assessed through final examinations.
The faculty offers a comprehensive range of support programmes for students to achieve their full potential at GCSE and runs a series of revision workshops throughout Year 11. There is a relaxed, professional atmosphere within the faculty and students feel comfortable to speak to teaching staff about any concerns they might have.
Facilities and Resources
The English faculty is fortunate to have excellent facilities. Our newly refurbished rooms are grouped together and all allow access to ICT including class sets of Chromebooks. The faculty subscribes to several online providers to support students at GCSE, including GCSEPod and Edisodes.
The faculty makes use of a wonderful library which is the envy of many schools in the county. On joining Mountbatten, students are encouraged to develop their library referencing skills and are given expert tuition on this by the school's librarian who has an encyclopaedic knowledge of children's and young adult fiction.
The library has so many books and Mrs Comer has read them all!"
Trips and Extra-Curricular Activities
The faculty regularly pursues opportunities to take learning out of the classroom. Current enrichment opportunities include:
- Creative writing club
- Book club
- Deb-osophy Club (a mixture of debate and philosophy jointly run with the RE Department)
- Shadowing the Hampshire Book Award
- World Book Day celebrations
- Regular library quizzes
- Theatre trips, including to Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, London
- Scrabble Club
- Student Librarian leadership opportunity
Contact
Mrs Ludgate is the Head of English, you can contact her through this email with the subject line marked "FAO: Mrs Ludgate Head of English".
You can always see what The Mountbatten English faculty are up to on their Instagram account too!