It is the aim of the English Department at Queenswood to impart not only the fundamentally important skills of reading and writing to every girl but also a love of literature and the place it has in our lives. We work towards encouraging every girl to appreciate the value of her own voice through discussion and writing in all genres.

As a core subject all girls study English in Years 7 to 11, with a number taking English Literature at A Level. All girls are entered for OCR GCSE English and GCSE English Literature. At A Level, the six AQA units encompass authors as varied as John Milton and Geoffrey Chaucer as well as more modern writers such as Margaret Atwood and Alan Bennett, with a long essay on Shakespeare completed as coursework in the Lower Sixth. English is frequently taken beyond the classroom with regular visits to Stratford-upon-Avon, the Somme, Creative Writing courses run by the Arvon Foundation in Devon and to theatres in London.

Miss Hilary Rossington, BA Hons English Language and Literature (Newcastle), PGCE

Hilary joined the BBC as a trainee journalist straight from university. She worked in radio at a local and regional level, as a reporter, presenter, producer and newsreader, before deciding to retrain as a teacher. After living in Italy for a time and then completing her PGCE, she joined Bootham School in York, where she became Head of Theatre Studies. In 2003, she came south to teach English at Haberdashers' Aske's School for Girls in Elstree. She moved to Queenswood as Head of English in 2007. Hilary's particular interests in English are Shakespeare, the Gothic and Browning.