There is plenty we can tell you about Windlesham House, but it is better to visit yourself.

A love of literature

English is an instrumental and influential subject at Windlesham. It fortifies all aspects of our children’s education, enabling them to access the whole curriculum as well as enabling creativity and the benefits of escapism through a great book.

The Windlesham English curriculum enables children to develop a bespoke writer’s craft and resilience with their written work.

The children have consistent but diverse exposure to a wide range of texts and written genre, the fundamentals of grammar and syntax, a good command of spelling and understand the importance of presentation. This is built transiently from the early years to create effective building blocks of knowledge and the ability to apply their learning in all subject areas. Children crave and deserve the chance to express themselves through oral and written articulation and engage with text, poetry, prose, plays and non-fiction, offering their own valuable critical responses to whatever they encounter. 

 

The joys of reading

English is an instrumental and influential subject at Windlesham. It fortifies all aspects of our children’s education, enabling them to access the whole curriculum as well as enabling creativity and the benefits of escapism through a great book.

The Windlesham English curriculum enables children to develop a bespoke writer’s craft and resilience with their written work.

Windlesham successfully uses ‘Accelerated Reader’ to guide the children’s development of reading skills and is fortunate to have a wonderful library crammed with books. Reading and literature is prominent at our school and offers all children with an insight into a world they may never experience through a wide range of classic and contemporary texts, extending our Year 8 children to GCSE level book studies. We aim to empower all children to read, for both learning and pleasure, working closely with them to help find books and authors they enjoy.  – There is no such thing as a child who despises reading; there are only children who have not found the right book!

The English teaching is highly creative and links closely to the Drama curriculum. Children enjoy visits to the Globe Theatre, producing their own Shakespeare plays in our amphitheatre, as well as visits from authors and our very own Literary Festival!

Lex Bolton, Head of English