Having already revised the English Department’s programmes of study to ensure the teaching of rigorous and challenging texts, we are now in our second year of the PTI Associate Department Scheme. Our chosen research project focuses on raising standards in literacy and on developing closer partnerships with local Primary Schools.
As part of The Teaching Schools initiative, we are also currently engaged in a cross-phase writing project, focusing on the teaching of Grammar .This involves working with primary and secondary colleagues, implementing the latest research and resources. We continue to be committed to teaching English as creatively as possible and also building on the skills now being taught in the new Primary Curriculum.
The English Department continues to promote quality /challenge for all students, maintaining a broad range of extra-curricular activities such as: BBC News Report (Year 9), Sixth-Form Independent Reading Day, visiting authors every term, drama workshops and regular theatre trips as well as an annual residential visit to Stratford-Upon-Avon.
We encourage our students to take part in at least one of the following clubs at lunchtime: Youth Speaks (public speaking competition), Debating Society, Poetry Club and Sixth-Formers run a Creative Writing Magazine. In 2013, one of our Year 13 pupils was awarded ‘Foyle Young Poet of The Year’.
Dame Alice Owen's School is a mixed school for students aged 11-18 in Potters Bar, Hertfordshire.