Our Fifth Form (Year 9) English course encourages pupils to be excellent readers of texts, people, and situations. The course takes in literature ranging from Sir Gawain and the Green Knight to contemporary fiction, Shakespeare and sci-fi. This breadth of reading fosters empathy and imagination as well as careful comprehension. Pupils are taught to express themselves in class and on paper, with clarity, verve and consideration. They respond to texts with analytical writing and in creative formats including stories, podcasts and visual works. 

Alongside the academic course, pupils complete a Reading Certificate, reading six stretching works outside of lessons in order to foster their interests and embed their reading habits. 

All pupils go on to study the OCR English Language GCSE and Cambridge International English Literature IGCSE.  

The English Language course equips them to analyse a vast range of texts, studying fictional and non-fictional works. Pupils hone their expressive skills and are taught to write in a variety of forms, including persuasive speeches and vivid storytelling. 

The English Literature course provides pupils with a brilliant breadth of reading, taking in a Shakespeare play alongside a 20th-century drama and major prose and poetic works. Our pupils study such plays as Othello or Twelfth Night, alongside works by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Ted Hughes, and Jhumpa Lahiri in preparation for their exams.   

Beyond the examined syllabus, each teacher introduces their class to a wealth of wider reading, tailored to the group’s interests and the teacher’s expertise. Recent class reads for GCSE classes have included short stories by Tolstoy, Chekhov, and Gogol, Aravind Adiga’s The White Tiger and Tim O’ Brien’s war memoir The Things They Carried. 

The English Department makes the most of the School’s enviable location and regularly arranges trips to local theatres and museums, including the National Theatre, Shakespeare’s Globe, Tate Modern, Tate Britain and the British Museum. 

There is a rich tradition of creative writing at Westminster, with weekly workshops and school prizes on offer. In recent years, pupils have seen success in the Tower Prize, Foyle Young Poets Prize, and the Keats-Shelley Memorial Prize. 

We are proud of our pupil-led publications, including YARD, a creative-writing magazine, and Voce, a journal celebrating the School community’s diverse identities. 

Our weekly Literary Society brings together our pupils’ eclectic tastes and sense of curiosity, with recent sessions on Nabokov’s metafiction, Bioshock and video game narratives, and the poetry of protest.   

Those who study English at university are creative thinkers, skilful communicators, incisive analysts, and empathetic individuals. Every path requires these skills, and around 20 Westminster pupils choose to step forward with English each year at university. Those who go on to study English at university, both singly or as part of a combined honours course, achieve successful careers in the media, law, creative arts, business, third sector and education.