For us, English is a subject that is exciting, expressive and liberating. English celebrates the diversity of the human imagination and the expressive resources of language. And it reveals the most fundamental human concerns: the relationship between the lives of individuals and the larger communities they participate in, the complexities of moral choice, the climates of the heart and soul.

The main contributions to our pupils’ philosophy must be to make them aware of the awesome personal and social importance of language, contributing as it does, to social and emotional development. We encourage all of our pupils to empathise with literary characters, consider universal truths and develop their own responses, and form relationships by means of communication, preparing them for the adult world.

Creative writing in its variety of forms is a strength within the department. All KS3 pupils are encouraged to take part in the annual Young Playwrights competition and produce a poem for a Cardiff anthology. At KS4 pupils are required to explore their skills at short story writing and script writing for film. The development of these skills at KS5 enables our students to become highly sophisticated writers for a variety of genres and different audiences.

We are a committed department who care for the students we teach. Imaginatively, aesthetically, physically we grow in response to and from the creation of texts. We develop morally and spiritually via language – it contributes to the cultural development of a child: from the appreciation of works of literary and passing on that ‘heritage’ from one generation to the next, to a critical understanding of the world and our cultural environment. Highly developed language skills will enable young people to meet the demands of all other subjects as they depend fundamentally on the cognitive process and other four modes of speaking, listening, reading and writing. To be able to speak and write effectively and read modern media texts perceptively is crucial to pupils in the modern world.

Language gives pupils power over their lives.