|
Welcome to the English Department! And a warm welcome is what we
hope our young people receive when they come to us as they spend
a generous proportion of their time at Woodfarm learning to
enhance their skills of reading, writing, listening and talking.
Pupils are set or
broad-banded in ways designed to maximise the potential of every
pupil in our care and homework is an integral part of this
process.
Reading is practised through study of literature as diverse as
that of Shakespeare, Orwell and Dahl and modern Scottish authors
such as Anne Fine and Catherine MacPhail. Our young people learn
to skim, scan, highlight, annotate and note-take as part of
independent study as well as close reading and identifying
writing techniques. Personal reading is encouraged and younger
pupils borrow from the school library as part of our "Ready,
Steady, Read! " programme.
Writing is practised through workshop approaches, where pupils
develop their skills through exploring the writing of published
authors and each other's work. ICT is used for researching,
word-processing and e-mailing work to audiences in other
schools. Our interactive Promethean Boards allow pupils to learn
and develop their writing and reading techniques in a
stimulating and participative fashion. We also employ software
to help pupils with spelling, grammar and punctuation. Pupils
are encouraged too to write for meaningful purposes including
competitions.
Talking and listening are just as important as reading and writing in today's
workplace. Group discussions help pupils social interaction as
well as honing critical thinking. In this way too, they explore
values and citizenship. Solo talk enhances skills needed to be
the sales and P.R. personnel of tomorrow as well as the pub
raconteur.
The English staff are an experienced and enthusiastic team who
work closely with pupil support groups and parents to ensure all
pupils leave Woodfarm with the best qualification in English.
I
wish you all the very best in your studies at Woodfarm High
School and hope your time in English is productive,
intellectually stimulating and above all, enjoyable!
Anne Jeyes (Principal Teacher)
Click here to go to the English
Department Homepage
|