The English Department
Standards
In most lessons inspected and in the sample of work scrutinised, the standards achieved in reading and writing, speaking and listening are above average for schools in the UK and in line with students’ capabilities. Some students, particularly from Troisieme upwards, achieve very high standards, including many who speak English as a second or additional language.
The average point scores for GCSE English language and literature are well above the average for all maintained schools in the UK and slightly below the average for selective schools. These represent good levels of achievement given the language background of many students.
Students achieve good standards in the International Option of the French Baccalaureate (OIB). They sustain comparable standards year on year and achieve in line with the levels expected in A-level examinations in the UK. Many students achieve very high standards of critical analysis of literary texts and their spoken and written expression are very fluent.
Speaking and listening
Most students speak well in formal and informal situations, including the majority of those students in the section for whom English is an additional language. Across all year groups, students make well-planned presentations to their peers, respond thoughtfully to teachers’ questions and discuss ideas in pairs and groups energetically. Most classes contain a mixture of keen and confident speakers who express their ideas well, and more reticent students, mostly those who are less fluent or confident in English. Boys tend to be less keen to speak unless prompted in many classes, though this is rather more marked among younger students. Where teachers employ appropriate strategies, such as research or pair work in preparation for discussion or presentation to the whole class, reticent students are more likely to participate actively in discussion. For example, a Quatrieme class had prepared questions to ‘hotseat ‘ characters from Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice. Students took on roles of characters from the play confidently and responded fully to questions from their peers and from the teacher, showing good knowledge of the characters in the play.
Reading
Students read a variety of challenging literary texts and some non-literary material from Sixieme upwards. They meet a good range of the British literary heritage, including texts written before 1900, and of literary forms, including poetry. Most students read independently and in many lessons they are well supported by the teaching in tackling difficult texts. A Premiere group, for example, who were finding Conrad’s Heart of Darkness difficult, benefited from a series of questions that helped them to consolidate their knowledge of the book and acted as a basis for discussing its themes and structure. Opportunities to discuss focused questions in pairs enable students to explore and deepen their understanding of the texts they study. In a Seconde class, for example, where students were reading Patrick Dickinson’s poem The Dam, preparatory discussion in pairs on the themes and emotions of the poem enabled them to contribute fully to discussion as a class with the teacher.
Most students read independently, and some read widely for pleasure. Unprepared reading aloud is mostly accurate and often fluent but for, non-native speakers, rarely expressive. When students had opportunities to prepare the text before they read, they read expressively and with appropriate intonation, as in a Sixieme class reading of an extract from a Harry Potter novel and a Quatrieme class who worked in pairs reading a poem by Seamus Heaney.
Students’ written work demonstrates good ability to analyse and comment on themes, character, and plot. From Quatrieme, they are increasingly able to analyse techniques of language and rhythm. By Terminale, their critical analysis of literary text is often of a very high standard.
Writing
The structure, development and accuracy of most students’ writing are above, and often well above, average for their age and ability. In all years, the writing of students who are not native speakers contains some errors of idiom or grammatical detail, but this is increasingly offset by their ability to present and argue a case, to analyse ideas and text in depth and by their imaginative vocabulary.
Most students, particularly from Quatrieme upwards, produce extended writing which is well structured overall, with increasingly well-organised paragraphs and complex sentence structures, varying word order for emphasis and effect. They build up a wide vocabulary.
Students of all ages benefit from their good knowledge of grammatical and literary terms, a particular bonus of their knowledge of languages other than English.
Progress
Students made rapid progress in almost three-quarters of the lessons seen and progress was very rapid in almost one-third. The evidence of folders of work indicates that most students make sustained progress over time. This good rate of progress is partly a result of students’ good motivation and learning skills, but the most rapid progress is closely linked to good teaching. In a Seconde lesson, for example, a combination of skilful teaching and good learning skills enabled the students to get to grips with Hopkins’ poem The Windhover. The teaching drew students’ attention first to the sound patterns of the poem and then to clusters of related words and images. Students worked in pairs before discussing ideas with the whole class. The teacher consolidated what had been learned at several points in the lesson. The students were thus helped in a structured way to bring to bear their knowledge of poetic techniques in exploring the meaning of a difficult poem.
Where progress was less rapid, the objectives of the lesson were less clear, the lesson structure was unvaried and some students were not actively engaged in discussion.
Learning
Learning was good or very good in all but one lesson seen, and it was very good in over a half. Almost all students work hard, in class and at home. In lessons, most students have good concentration. They undertake substantial private study, including the reading of difficult novels and extended writing tasks. They prepare well for presentations to their peers. Students in Cinquieme, who were preparing the performance of a section of Romeo and Juliet, had learned their lines and knew how their scene fitted into the play as a whole. Many students, particularly younger ones, ask questions about unfamiliar vocabulary, for example in reading Tom Sawyer. Most students work well in a range of settings, including pair and group work. Recall of previous learning is generally good.
Teaching
The quality of teaching was good or very good in almost two-thirds of the lessons inspected and very good in one-fifth. It was satisfactory in almost all of the remaining third. The teaching had unsatisfactory features in only one lesson seen.
Teachers’ subject knowledge is generally good and often very good. Most teachers are skilful in working with students whose English is not fully fluent, though sometimes opportunities are missed to consolidate new vocabulary, for example by writing words on the board and revising them at the beginnings or ends of lessons.
The best lessons are well structured and energetic but offer time for reflection. Planning over time ensures that language skills are revisited and that all students take a lead, for example by having rotas for oral presentations. Skilful questioning draws all students to contribute. Links are made with previous learning, between students’ own writing and the text they read. Tasks and activities are well staged and have a clear focus; they give opportunities for students to explore ideas and to consolidate. However, the consolidation of learning was only a strong feature of a few lessons seen. In these, the teacher took opportunities to remind students of the key points they had learned and identify the next steps or what needed to be improved.
Where teaching is satisfactory but not so effective, lessons tend to be less well structured, the objectives for learning less clear and not all students are actively engaged. In a few lessons, the purpose of activities is not clear to all students or the pace is slow. Occasionally, teachers allow lively students to dominate debate.
Although good use is made of videotaped material in teaching English, for example in teaching advertising, little direct use is made of other ICT in English.
Recommendations
The teaching could be further improved by:
- making the objectives for learning clear;
- rounding off lessons or sections of lessons by reviewing and consolidating key learning points; consolidating new vocabulary;
- drawing in reticent students to contribute actively, for example, by preparing answers in pairs, by ensuring that all students contribute in a lesson, and by encouraging hesitant students to develop brief responses at greater length.
Organisation and Management of the Department
Leadership and management
The head of department provides good leadership and vision for the subject. Management is also good, including administration, monitoring of the standards achieved and evaluation of the effectiveness of the teaching. The head of department is currently taking a leading role in co-ordinating the OIB across all the international lycees in France, and this adds to his administrative workload.
Within the department, most teachers have shared values and there is a high level of debate about how to develop the quality of the teaching and the curriculum to include thinking skills, learning styles and the transfer of skills between English and History.
Curriculum planning
Curriculum planning has improved significantly since the last inspection, both in terms of reviewing the content and skills taught, and in establishing a curriculum framework for each year, within which teachers plan their own sequences of work. The evidence of lessons observed and of the work sample suggests that the sense of shared purpose is most strongly reflected in planning for Quatrieme onwards, where GCSE and the OIB provide an additional framework. In Sixieme and Cinquieme, curriculum planning is slightly less coherent. Although all teachers cover the agreed texts and share the same underlying principles for teaching, the range of practice is wide. The scheme of work could usefully be reviewed to ensure greater agreement of provision, while allowing teachers scope for individual interpretation.
Provision for the use of ICT is underdeveloped. Students make good use of ICT at home to research information and to draft and present written work, but the teachers have no shared view of how it might best be used in the teaching of English, for example in shared drafting of writing.
Assessment and marking
The head of department evaluates performance in GCSE and in the OIB very systematically. The day-to-day marking of pupils’ work is thorough and the best is a model of good practice, applying the marking policy rigorously and giving clear feedback on strengths and weaknesses. Some common tasks have been introduced for each year to identify patterns of strengths and weaknesses in the performance of the cohort. This approach could usefully be extended to include standardised tasks at the transition from primary and at the end of Quatrieme, as in the UK, to be assessed using consistent marking criteria. These would provide, over time, a profile that could be used to predict expected performance and to evaluate the extent to which the English department adds value to students’ achievements.
Staffing, deployment, resources and in-service training
Levels of staffing are in line with those for independent schools in the UK, with smaller groups for the Group 2 and accueil classes. Staff are deployed across the age groups according to their expertise. Deployment to the three colleges is generally equitable, given the difficulties of working across sites. Currently, while there is good teaching at all three sites, the teaching teams are on balance stronger at the Lycee and Haut Grillets than at Le Pecq.
The department is well resourced in terms of books and materials. Most rooms in use for teaching English on all three sites are fit for purpose, some with good storage. A number of lessons in the Lycee are taught in rather cramped rooms.
Opportunities are taken to ensure that teachers are updated professionally, particularly for the requirements of teaching and examining the OIB. It would be timely to review current developments for pupils aged 11 to 14 in the UK by using the framework for Teaching English at Key Stage 3.
A good range of extra-curricular opportunities for drama is provided, including regular opportunities to perform and to see productions. The visit to London by a group of Troisieme students provided a good opportunity to see a range of productions and take part in a work shop.
Recommendations
In order to improve the quality of curriculum, the department should:
1. develop, within a manageable timeframe, a plan for increased use of ICT in its teaching;
2. in liaison with the primary department, design assessment tasks that will provide information on students’ progress over time and identify whether the department adds value to their performance;
3. review current developments for pupils aged 11 to 14 in the UK taking note of the framework for Teaching English at Key Stage 3.