Members of the Department
Dr M Kelly (HOD)
Mrs B Donnelly (Literacy Co-ordinator)
Mr M Crossan
Mrs S McLaughlin
Mrs B McLaughlin
Miss C Owens

Miss E Gray

Aims

The English Department is committed to promoting effective teaching and learning so that all students reach their full potential.

Our teachers aim to foster and develop:

• the skills of talking and listening, reading and writing
• appreciation, enjoyment and understanding of the spoken and written word, including multimedia texts
• creativity through a variety of different forms, genres and methods of communication.

In doing so we aim to equip our students with the necessary skills to analyse texts critically and communicate effectively in oral, visual and written formats (including ICT and the moving image) showing clear awareness of audience and purpose and attention to accuracy.

In a warm and welcoming environment, students engage in enjoyable and challenging activities which are achievable and motivating.

Key Stage 3

Across the key stage students engage with a range of stimuli including poetry, prose, drama, non-fiction, media and multimedia.

In talking and listening tasks students participate in group and pair discussions, role-plays and both individually and as part of a team make presentations to their fellow classmates. Talking and listening tasks enable students to demonstrate their ability to inform, explain, describe, respond, argue or persuade. They learn about matching tone and content appropriately for a variety of different audiences.

Reading for enjoyment is encouraged. Students are given opportunities to read literary and non-literary texts. Media texts, including film, are also utilised.

Texts are interrogated so that students gain an understanding of how meaning is created. The skills of analysis and evaluation are imparted. Students also read for research purposes. Students are regularly tasked with locating, selecting and synthesising information for different purposes.

Students are introduced to a variety of different writing types and their purposes. Personal, narrative and creative writing tasks require students describe, reflect and entertain. Functional and transactional writing tasks require students explain, inform and instruct.

Discursive and persuasive writing tasks require students argue, persuade, discuss and analyse.

Across the key stage knowledge about language - spelling, punctuation, sentence structure and grammar are specifically focused on once a fortnight to make students more aware of the conventions of language and how its various constituent parts are utilised by writers to not only clarify meaning but to deliberately create an impact with their audience.

Key Stage 4 (GCSE)

All students take GCSEs in English Language and English Literature. Students follow CCEA s English Language and English Literature specification. Further detail about both GCSEs can be found at CCEA s microsites for English Language and English Literature.

For specific information on GCSE English Language go to http://www.rewardinglearning.org.uk/microsites/english_language/revised_gcse/index.asp
(GCSE Revised since 2017) and scroll down the page for further relevant links.

For specific information on GCSE English Literature go to http://www.rewardinglearning.org.uk/microsites/english_literature/revised_gce/index.asp

(GCSE Revised since 2017) and scroll down the page for further relevant links.

Key Stage 5 (GCE)

Students follow CCEA s English Literature specification. Further detail can be found at CCEA s English microsite. For specific information go to (GCE Revised since 2016) and scroll down the page for further relevant links.

Extra-curricular

The English department offers a wide variety of extra-curricular activities. We have two media clubs - a film club whose members watch and review films and a film making club whose members make short films. The film club annually form part of a group of students taking part in BBC s School Report. We have two book clubs - one specifically for comic books.

Form time reading takes place on Tuesdays for seniors and Wednesdays for juniors. Throughout the year there is a Book of the Month competition offering a book voucher for the best monthly review. Every October the department organises a Book Week. This involves competitions, external visits, guest speakers and culminates in staff dressing up as characters from their favourite book. Annually students participate in Read On , raising funds for the Northern Ireland Cancer Fund for Children.

There is a junior and senior debating club. An internal annual Spelling Bee and numerous internal and external competitions are offered. The department takes opportunities to organise theatre trips and other educational visits.

Career Opportunities

The study of English Literature at A Level demonstrates to a potential employer that you possess a range of intellectual and interpersonal skills: the interpretation of material, the capacity to explain it logically on paper or orally, the ability to exercise initiative without constant supervision, to work under pressure and meet deadlines. These are skills that many employers seek.

A degree in English Literature does not mean that you can only teach English, or become a journalist, or join the highly competitive world of the media. Graduates have done all of these things; but others have gone on to careers in social work, advertising and marketing, banking and finance, the law, the civil service and the criminal justice system. English Literature, at A Level, is seen as a facilitating subject by the Russell Group of Universities.