Departments

‘We live for books.’ Umberto Eco

In the English Department, we encourage our pupils to form a love of literature, through exposure to a range of familiar ‘classic’ texts alongside contemporary prose, drama, poetry and quality journalism. Literature is a gateway to the imagination; to tapping into one’s own creativity:  we seek to create an interactive learning experience through which our pupils will develop their reading, listening, writing and talking skills. 

‘If I were a young person today, trying to gain a sense of myself in the world, I would do that again by reading.’ Maya Angelou

Studying English allows pupils access to surprising and entertaining aspects of human experience and imagination, while learning to appreciate how professional writers - of both fiction and non-fiction - exploit the linguistic and rhetorical aspects of writing to manipulate and challenge the reader. We seek to encourage and provide a framework for pupils to explore and analyse their own experiences and imaginative faculties through discussion with others and in their own writing. 

In following our courses, pupils develop analytical and evaluative skills through thinking about, discussing, and writing about ideas and incidents encountered in the texts they read in class and in their own time. In addition, pupils’ skills of detailed observation, comparison and evaluation will be developed, along with skills of precise and correct expression in spoken and written English.

 ‘All the world’s a stage.’ As You Like It by William Shakespeare

The department organises a wide range of trips and theatre and cinema visits for pupils. Among many other recent outings, the  Advanced Higher English group enjoyed their trip to Glasgow University Library, and an excursion to see Waiting for Godot at the recently reopened Citizens Theatre; S4 enjoyed the screening of Macbeth at the Vue cinema, as well as the most recent staging of Sailmaker. We are always open to ideas for trips that would enhance the pupils’ experience of English.

The Page Turners Club is organised and run by Mr Meechan in the E3, Wednesdays, 1.15pm to 1.45pm. This is open to S1-2. From August 2026, there will be a newly-established Inklings Club for S3 pupils, building on the huge popularity of Page Turners, and a Senior Literary Society for our S4-6 pupils.

'I know nothing in the world that has as much power as a word. Sometimes I write one, and I look at it, until it begins to shine.'  Emily Dickinson

The Department organises regular entries to various writing competitions throughout the year, including the Hopkins Prizes for Poetry and Prose, awarded in separate categories to pupils of S1 to S3 and pupils from S4 to S6, and the Young Writers’ National Schools Competition held by the Association of Scottish Literary Studies in conjunction with the Robert Burns World Federation.

Video: Intro to National 5 English

Video: Intro to Higher English