English

Farnborough Hill has a very busy, thriving English Department. English incorporates literature and language, speaking and listening, creating and consuming, and as such allows pupils manifold opportunities to use their imaginations, develop their critical faculties and improve their communication skills. Not only is it part of the core curriculum up to GCSE, but it remains a very popular subject at A level and one that is highly regarded by universities and employers alike.  

English also has much to offer beyond the curriculum. Girls across the School are invited to take part in Debating and Public Speaking Club which trains them in the art of British Parliamentary Debating. Often this means our Sixth Form students are able to compete in the Oxford Schools Debating Competition in which we have seen some success with girls reaching the final rounds. Many girls of various age groups have excelled while taking part in both the Rotary Youth Speaks competition and the ESU Churchill Public Speaking Competition, both of which we have won in previous years.

Within school, the Department celebrates National Poetry Day and World Book Day each year, with past events including a Poetry Slam, a workshop from a visiting poet and many opportunities to get involved creatively by producing writing on the theme of the day.

Theatre trips and visits by theatre companies are also a feature of the department, including visits to Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, and a visit from The Handlebards in recent years.

Literature is where I go to explore the highest and lowest places in human society and in the human spirit, where I hope to find not absolute truth but the truth of the tale, of the imagination and of the heart.

Salman Rushdie