English
The English Department is one of the largest departments in the school, comprising of five full time members plus support teachers in the Learning Support Department.
All classes are Mixed Ability and whilst classes in Years 7 and 8 are divided into two cohorts, Year 9 & 10 have four groups and the final year of GCSE has currently three groups.
The Lower School girls have written reviews of their visit to Hamlet and you can read their reviews - Hamlet at the Octagon Theatre
GCSE
At St. Mary's all girls take both GCSE English and English Literature at Higher Level.
For both English and English Literature we follow the AQA specification. The syllabus codes are 4705 (Language) and 4710 (Literature).
AS and A2 Level
This is an extremely popular A Level option, usually all students continue through to A2 and excellent results.
We follow the OCR English Literature F661 and F662 for AS and F663 and F664 for A2.
Often, the most enjoyable part of this course is the coursework which allows for individual exploration and originality.
Further Activities
Whilst at St. Mary's girls have the opportunity to take part in regular competitions, debates and societies. For example:
There is a Pupil Mentoring system which operates within the class room and across the years to enable girls to share their skills and strengths and to learn from each other.
