English

The St Mary’s English Department encourages critical thinking and engagement with a wide variety of texts. The six English teachers have very diverse personalities and teaching styles which complement the varied learning styles of our pupils.

The School’s excellent English results are an indication of the commitment that the students and English department bring to this subject. Forty seven percent of the Class of 2009 achieved distinctions for English in the Matric examination – a result of which they can be very proud. Although the Form V students are taught by Mrs Mark, Mrs Knowles and Ms Tobias, these results are the culmination of five years of dedicated teaching and learning and credit must go to the entre department. Mrs Williams is our Form I specialist and Mrs Milasinovich and Ms Nathanson teach Forms II, III and IV.

English is a multi-faceted subject involving verbal proficiency, literary analysis, the pleasures of crafting creative pieces and critical reading of a range of contemporary texts. Our pupils are given wide exposure to all these areas and are encouraged to use the full range of modern information technology in their exploration of language arts.

English is not merely a subject in the school curriculum; it is a means of experiencing and making sense of the world. Sometimes our pupils literally explore the home of English literature when they tour England with Ms Mark. On other occasions they colonise cyberspace with their literary blogs. More traditionally, novels, poems and plays permit St Mary’s girls to explore innumerable settings, periods and cultures.