The Henrietta Barnett School
From our involvement with the PTI, the English department at Henrietta Barnett has been inspired to increase the level of challenge in our lessons and build on partnerships and enrichment activities.
We have links with several local schools and, in collaboration with them, hold a sixth form seminar on ‘Love in Literature’, where students choose one piece of literature to discuss with their peers. We have held regular extension sessions for the sixth form on writers including TS Eliot, Joyce, Auden, Austen, and Chaucer, to name but a few. The sessions have been led by the department and lecturers from Cambridge University and UCL, and have encouraged students to explore texts from the literary canon and outside the syllabus. We have also hosted regular writing workshops led by William Fiennes and he, as well as many of our lecturers, has been a contact from the PTI residential conferences. One of our latest guest speakers was Dr Fred Parker, discussing ‘The Iliad’ and ‘The Rape of the Lock’.
The idea of introducing more demanding literature to younger students has led to new schemes of work being introduced at Key Stage Three. In year seven, we ask the students to read a very demanding piece of literature, for example a Dickens, Eliot or Austen and then prepare a presentation for the class. In Year nine students similarly lead presentations on contemporary dystopian literary fiction, grappling with novels such as ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ and ‘Never Let Me Go’.
‘Literature in Love’ symposium, November 2nd 2009, involving staff and students from HBS and UCS.
Sixth-form extension session with Dr Fred Parker, November 4th 2009. Students discuss ‘The Iliad’ and ‘The Rape of the Lock’.
The Henrietta Barnett School is a grammar school for girls aged 11-18, based in Hampstead Garden Suburb, North London.