English

About the Department

“I conthider that I lay down the philothophy of the thubject when I thay to you, Thquire, make the betht of uth, not the wurtht.”
Mr Sleary in chapter 6 of ‘Hard Times’by Charles Dickens.

Mr Sleary speaks his mind in an asthmatic lisp. His spelling looks rotten but obviously that is not the point; it is his ‘philothophy’ that is important.

English is taught at Loretto in ways that allow our pupils to make real sense of language generally and to make the best use of their language, according to purpose and audience.

It matters to us that they get it ‘right’ as they choose between the formal requirements of standard English and those of other conventions, of drama work in role, for instance, or of a web page. It matters that they learn to read and write English that is more expert and more powerful than their own. It matters that they read old and new books and that they become self-directed, independent readers, well able to value and to articulate what they understand or would question.

At present there are four full-time teachers of English. Two of us also teach Drama, to GCSE, and Theatre Studies in the Sixth Form. We teach in cheerful, ‘lived-in’ classrooms with lots of books in them. The rooms are networked and have TV and video. Drama teaching uses studio and theatre space when required.

Teaching and Learning

The English Curriculum is introductory and broadly based in the Third Form. Classes are in three or four sets, grouped by known competencies. There is some movement between sets over the school year.

From the Fourth Form English classes are taught according to the requirements of GCSE and GCE. We try hard to align exam demands with the needs and interests of the pupil. We are therefore more likely to teach A Clockwork Orange or The Handmaid’s Tale than Dryden or Pound. The Department prepares pupils for GCSEs in English, OCR 1900, and English Literature, OCR 1901. At GCE we offer AS English Literature, OCR 3828, and A2 English Literature, OCR 7828.

Activities

Frequent visits are made to drama productions in Musselburgh, Edinburgh and Glasgow. The GCSE, AS and A2 courses in Drama offer students opportunities to explore some exciting ideas and to create their own dynamic pieces of theatre.

What Pupils Say

“The choice of books and plays is immense but yet relates closely to my life.”
“I feel I have discovered myself by reading these great books.”
“These books have taught us a number of things: we have read a lot of Death; [therefore] don’t take life for granted and don’t let money run your life.”
“We learn to communicate with others and to stand alone and to speak out loud.”
“English at Loretto is not just a subject but a way of communication & of enrichment.”

Alan Brown (Head of Department)

Teaching experience – seven years at George Green’s School, Tower Hamlets, London E14; eight years at Crown Woods School, Greenwich London SE9, ten years at Loretto. He last read Dirt Music by Tim Winton, W.Aus.; considers Polanski’s The Pianist a good film; admires and enjoys the work of many fine poets of Emily Dickinson and Ted Hughes for instance and likes strong plays, Henry V, National Theatre 2003 and The Whale, a one-man Moby Dick, 78^th Street Lab, New York City, are recent, remarkable, examples.

Dorothy Barbour

Teaching experience – Abbey School; St Columba’s; St Bride’s; Lomond School and Selkirk High. Sixteen years at Loretto. Former Head of Department here. Apart from teaching she enjoys theatre, film, books, hill walking and family holidays.

Daniel McLean-Steel

Teaching experience – four years at Monmouth School; eight years at Loretto, teaching English and Drama/Theatre Arts. He enjoys bleak dystopian fiction, most recently Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake; was disappointed by The Seagull at The Edinburgh International Festival and directed Carlo Goldoni’s A Servant to Two Masters, which he hoped would be funny.

Elaine Middlemass

Teaching experience – three years at Viewforth School, Kirkcaldy; fourteen years at Dollar Academy, Clackmannanshire, three years at Loretto teaching English and Drama/Theatre Arts. She would dance in Chicago, would read Sunset Song again and again but Ian Rankin’s Dead Souls just once. She likes to watch A Touch of Frost and Coronation Street.

Peter Middleton

Teaching experience – this is Peter’s second year teaching English at Loretto. He taught in South Africa following his degree completion at the University of Bristol, although only occasionally lapses into Xhosa in the classroom. Likes to read, amongst others, the great ‘Papa’ Hemingway, but was most recently impressed by Jon McGregor’s If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things’. In his spare time, Peter runs marathons for fun, and looks after his family of 68 adolescent boys (as Assistant Housemaster of Hope House). Like his namesake, Peter Pan, he hopes to never grow up.