The Castle School
Taunton
Somerset
TA1 5AU
Taunton
Somerset
TA1 5AU
01823 274073
English
We are a team of full and part time teachers totally committed to conveying our passion for literature, non-fiction and media texts to every year group in the school.
We all teach across the age and ability range. Our aim is to share our passion for English with our students by ensuring that our curriculum is well structured, fun, engaging and caters for all abilities. We foster independent learning by using a mixture of whole class, pair and group work. Every classroom has an inter-active white board.
In Year 7 students are taught in mixed ability tutor groups, then banded in Year 8 and Year 9. In Years 10 and 11 we teach in single sex classes, which again are broadly set. Students receive 7 lessons a fortnight in Years 7, 10 and 11 and 6 lessons in Years 8 and 9.
In Key Stage 3 students will study fiction, non-fiction, media, creative writing and speaking and listening modules. They will have regular formal assessments which are assessed against the reading and writing assessment focuses of the Assessing Pupils' Progress strategy (APP). Students are given strengths/weaknesses/target feedback and then regularly evaluate their own progress and set themselves targets for future learning.
In Years 10 and 11 students are usually entered for GCSE English Language and Literature. We have used the AQA syllabus but from September 2010 we are moving to Edexcel. Our results are consistently some of the highest in the county and we are proud of the number of students who continue to study English Language and Literature at sixth form level.
The department offers a wide range of clubs - Philosophy, Creative Writing, Public Speaking, to name a few. Our Public Speaking Teams have reached the national finals of the Rotary Club competition in each of the last 3 years. Students regularly participate in creative writing competitions with great success and we have visiting authors, poets and theatre groups working with us in school. We also hold an annual Inter House Creative Writing competition which is showcased at an English Celebration Evening held each Autumn.
We have recently been involved in a project working with the author Sue Purkiss for Project Taunton and have produced poems and short stories which are being used as publicity for this major Taunton initiative.
The department regularly takes groups of students to London and to more local theatres to see drama/musical productions.
We all love our jobs and students here really enjoy their English.
We all teach across the age and ability range. Our aim is to share our passion for English with our students by ensuring that our curriculum is well structured, fun, engaging and caters for all abilities. We foster independent learning by using a mixture of whole class, pair and group work. Every classroom has an inter-active white board.
In Year 7 students are taught in mixed ability tutor groups, then banded in Year 8 and Year 9. In Years 10 and 11 we teach in single sex classes, which again are broadly set. Students receive 7 lessons a fortnight in Years 7, 10 and 11 and 6 lessons in Years 8 and 9.
In Key Stage 3 students will study fiction, non-fiction, media, creative writing and speaking and listening modules. They will have regular formal assessments which are assessed against the reading and writing assessment focuses of the Assessing Pupils' Progress strategy (APP). Students are given strengths/weaknesses/target feedback and then regularly evaluate their own progress and set themselves targets for future learning.
In Years 10 and 11 students are usually entered for GCSE English Language and Literature. We have used the AQA syllabus but from September 2010 we are moving to Edexcel. Our results are consistently some of the highest in the county and we are proud of the number of students who continue to study English Language and Literature at sixth form level.
The department offers a wide range of clubs - Philosophy, Creative Writing, Public Speaking, to name a few. Our Public Speaking Teams have reached the national finals of the Rotary Club competition in each of the last 3 years. Students regularly participate in creative writing competitions with great success and we have visiting authors, poets and theatre groups working with us in school. We also hold an annual Inter House Creative Writing competition which is showcased at an English Celebration Evening held each Autumn.
We have recently been involved in a project working with the author Sue Purkiss for Project Taunton and have produced poems and short stories which are being used as publicity for this major Taunton initiative.
The department regularly takes groups of students to London and to more local theatres to see drama/musical productions.
We all love our jobs and students here really enjoy their English.
Students themselves judge the school as outstanding, valuing in particular the excellent relationships they share with leaders, teachers and other staff.
- OfSTED 2009
