The English Department
GCSE >
A Level >
An English Department has responsibility for one of the most important subjects on the school curriculum: the study of language (including the language of literature) used to communicate knowledge, experience, thoughts and feelings. The statutory aim of an English Department must be to deliver the subject effectively and successfully as part of the National Curriculum, enabling each student to achieve his or her full potential.
The English Department at Stowe School aims fully to develop each student's confidence and competence in speaking and listening, reading and writing, stressing the importance of fluency and the precise use of language in both spoken and written English. Teachers in the Department foster the taste and critical judgement of their pupils by encouraging the enjoyment and analysis of a wide variety of written, spoken and visual texts.
Head of Department, Dr P S Miller



GCSE Content
All Stowe candidates follow the AQA English Specification B course.

Assessment
Candidates are prepared for two English papers that are scheduled for the second half of the Summer Term of their Fifth Form year. Both papers are designed to test candidates' reading and writing abilities. Reading is tested with reference to media texts, non-fiction texts and poetry from different cultures and traditions. For the two separate writing assignments, candidates should be able to argue, persuade and advise (first question) as well as to analyse, review and comment (second question). Each of these two English papers carries 30% of the total marks.
Written coursework accounts for a further 20% of the total marks for the course. Two pieces of personal writing are required, one designed to explore, imagine and entertain, and the other to inform, explain and describe. Evidence of appreciation of a play by Shakespeare and of a prose-work is also required.
The final 20% is awarded for various speaking and listening activities undertaken throughout the course.

Tiers of Entry
The Higher tier allows the award of grades A to D. The Foundation tier allows the award of grades C to G. Most candidates at Stowe take the Higher tier English qualification and the separate Higher tier qualification in English Literature. A small minority may be entered for English at Foundation tier level. Some or all of these candidates may not be entered for the separate English Literature qualification.

English Literature
For the AQA English Literature Specification B course, six texts are studied. These may include two (Shakespeare and prose) also studied for the English course. Two texts are chosen from each of the three genres: drama, poetry and prose. In each case, one of the two texts must have been published before 1914 and the other after 1914. Questions must be answered on three texts in the single examination (worth 70% of the total marks) in the Summer Term in the Fifth Form. The remaining three texts are studied for coursework, comprising 30% of the total.
< Back to top



A Level The Course
The A-Level English Literature course comprises reading, considering, discussing and writing about literary texts. Students who make a success of the course usually enjoy reading good literature in an alert and analytical manner. They are likely to have a high grade at GCSE in English and perhaps a further high grade in English Literature.
The intermediate AS qualification in English Literature is completed in the first year of the Sixth Form, with the final A2 examinations being taken at the end of the Upper Sixth year to complete the full A-Level qualification. As was the case at GCSE in English Literature, the A-Level qualification comprises both written coursework and written examinations.
New syllabuses in English Literature are to be introduced by all examining boards in the autumn of 2008. Once those syllabuses have been fully published, allowing the choice of set-texts to be considered, it will be possible to decide on the best English Literature course for Stowe. Whichever course is chosen, drama, poetry and prose texts will be studied from a range of historical periods and practical criticism of 'unseen' passages will be part of the final examination.
If, for example, the AQA A English Literature course were chosen, three text representing the three genres (poetry, prose and drama) would be studied for AS, together with a wider-reading component on a set theme (e.g. Victorian Literature). The prose and drama set-text and the wider reading would be assessed in a written examination.
At A2 Level, there would be a requirement to submit coursework comparing and contrasting two texts of any genre of the candidate's choice, and a further requirement for a piece of coursework on a Shakespeare play. The final examination would be based on practical criticism of unseen passages, and essay-writing based on wider reading around the theme of 'Love Through the Ages.'

The Literary Society
All A-Level English Literature students at Stowe are members of the Literary Society. Two or three times a term, distinguished guest-speakers offer a paper to the Society. Members may be invited to dine with the guest subsequent to the talk. Recent guests have included Sir Peter Hall (founder of the RSC) and Professor Jonathan Bates (Warwick University).
The Literacy Society also stages annual events such as the Creative Writing Forum recitations (a showcase for Stowe's young poets and short-story writers).
Stowe is well placed for theatres in Stratford, Oxford, Northampton, London, Birmingham and Milton Keynes. Theatre trips (and occasional excursions to galleries or museums) are included in Literary Society schedules.

< Back to top