HEAD OF DEPARTMENT Mr Martin Smith

At Northwood Prep we recognise that English is the cornerstone of teaching and learning throughout the school. The understanding and enjoyment of language in all its forms enables the pupils to communicate their thoughts and feelings effectively and thrive as confident and independent learners.

The English curriculum focuses on the learning of fundamental accuracy skills and the development of an engaging and creative style, while fostering a lasting enjoyment of the spoken and written word. Sharing the wonder and power of the subject is at the forefront of our aims.

READING

Reading and literature are given a high priority. The boys work through structured schemes but also explore a wide range of enrichment materials from the earliest years. Reading is celebrated and appreciated in a host of activities, ranging from the presentation of the boys’ work to the Literary Festivals and Book Weeks, which feature visiting authors, poets, illustrators and theatre companies. Recent authors to have visited include: Jeremy Strong, Chris Ryan, Caroline Lawrence, Chris d’Lacey and Marcus Sedgwick. The older boys enjoy listening to and supporting the younger readers.  Years 7 and 8 have recently developed the Author Matrix: an online author reference system, which provides an ever-expanding wealth of information, recommendations and hyperlinks to author websites. Our thriving Learning Resource Centre is run by a professional librarian, ably assisted by Year 8 volunteer librarians, and is busy from early morning until evening.

WRITING

Spelling, handwriting, vocabulary, grammatical accuracy and creative style are all developed to high standards. The boys’ writing is regularly shared and celebrated at Northwood Prep. As well as participating successfully in national poetry competitions, we also have in-house awards for ‘Purple Prose’. We are currently working on the production of an anthology of short stories by the boys to celebrate one hundred years of young authors at Northwood Prep. In addition to short stories and poetry, the boys have excelled in other forms of composition, winning both the ‘Times’ Newspaper and Website competitions in recent years.

SPEECH and DRAMA

Speech and Drama of a high quality are a longstanding tradition at Northwood Prep and the addition of our purpose-built theatre in 2008 has raised their profile still further. Specialist teachers, regular Drama within the curriculum and award winning guest directors have lifted our dramatic productions to great heights. Boys enjoy meaningful integration within the curriculum as well as spectacular presentations throughout their school life here. Recent Senior School productions have included ‘Hiawatha’, ‘The Ragged Child’ and the ‘Prodigious Snob’. Our ‘Beale Clear Speaking’ competition for years 3-8 has been running for over seventy years and is a great favourite with boys and staff alike.

English, in all its forms, is taught with methodical rigour and enjoyed with open hearts. This is a combination which delivers outstanding results at Entrance and Scholarship examinations and hopefully lasts a lifetime.