The English course at Dauntsey’s focuses on two main areas, ‘Extended and Whole Texts’ and ‘Language Study’, and the work in each year group is equally divided between these.

The aim in ‘Extended and Whole Texts’ is to introduce pupils to a wide range of literature, covering all three literary genres and giving pupils a sense of what has been written from Beowulf onwards.   The teaching of this part of the course and the schemes of work produced for it place strong emphasis on the response of the pupil and initiatives he or she might be encouraged to take.  The National Curriculum programmes of study (at KS3 and KS4) for Speaking and Listening, Reading and Writing are a constant point of reference in the planning of this work.

The work in ‘Language Study’ has at its centre the close and structured examination of the language of short passages of fiction and non-fiction.  The aim of this part of the course is to make pupils much more conscious of the particular flavour and resonance of words, giving them an enhanced sense of what is possible when they speak, read and write.  We want them to be able to think critically and self-critically about expression and construction, to have a sound foundation of knowledge and practice in such areas as punctuation, spelling and syntax.

These two categories of work are seen as complementary to each other, and there is often an overlap between them.  Opportunities for creative writing - to take one important instance - are likely to occur in both categories; and it is expected that the close reading that is central to ‘Language Study’ will become more and more central to ‘Extended and Whole Texts’ as the course goes on.  It is hoped that in the course of time there will be a convergence of the two.

Private reading is seen as essential to development in English, and it is encouraged in frequent discussion, the writing of book reviews and regular visits to the school library.

No KS3 examination is taken in Form 3, but the 3rd Year stage is seen by the Department as transitional, and quite a lot of the work is directed to the preparation of pupils for the very crowded KS4 course, which begins formally in Form 4.  There is thus a new emphasis in the teaching, on the study of ‘media texts’ (Advertising, Newspapers, etc), the planning and structuring of what is written and the acquisition of a basic critical vocabulary.

R.S.

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