MFL

The Modern Languages department has incorporated a number of teaching and learning strategies into our schemes of work. These include the use of more cultural content at KS3 such as history, song, literature, poetry and, in particular, film.

In addition, as a result of links made through the PTI, we have invited guest speakers to address students about topics such as Existentialism, French Canada, the Pontecorvo film La Bataille d'Alger, Dada, as well as organising our own CPD days with other London schools, the most recent being in February 2017. During this day, we shared good practice of film use, as well as other visual clips. We also invited an academic speaker, Dr Sue Harris, to talk to staff about French film before and since Amelie.

Our French Debating and Translation Societies have gone from strength to strength, with two Year 13 students winning the North London debating competition heats and progressing to the National Final at the French Institute in March. Two other students received commendations from professional translator judges for their translations from the target language into English in the EU-wide Juvenes Translatores competition.

A group of six Year 13 students also took part in a London French Drama competition with a scene from L'Avare. The seed of the above was planted years ago at the first MFL Summer School and then Schools Programme objectives and days since 2011.

Following three years of the Schools Programme, our priority over the last three years has been our Associate Department Project, which we have just completed. The objective was developing a wide range of resources across French, German and Spanish at KS3-4 of film clips and short film to enhance the learner experience in the target language. The aim was also to inspire and replace textbook content and to give students a deeper love of subject beyond the curriculum. We also take students to attend film study days at the British Film Institute in London. We have also established a German KinoKlub this year, led by a PhD student from Kings College London and aimed at KS4-5 students. We have found student evaluations of any film related project most encouraging. Our end of project survey completed by 234 students was very positive indeed about film use improving listening skills, appreciation of target language culture and inspiring students to want to learn the language to fluency.

Our own department staff have attended a number of one day CPD and Schools Programme days, and have been involved in delivering CPD to NQT’s and Heads of Department. The process of discussing exciting MFL teaching and sharing good practice with like-minded colleagues (whatever their level of experience), as well as rekindling passions and professional pride, is what makes being part of the PTI such a dynamic and useful experience. 

English

With the reform of GCSE and A Level courses in English from 2015, much of our recent focus has been on delivering new examination materials. Alongside this, we have continued to offer high levels of challenge in KS3, where we introduce a wide variety of literature to the students.

We study Literary Heritage texts throughout KS3. Students study a Shakespeare text and a demanding novel each year: Animal Farm, Of Mice and Men and Great Expectations. They also cover poetry: ballads and poetry from other cultures; First World War Poetry and the Romantics. To encourage independence, Year 7 students read a challenging novel independently, and then prepare a presentation for the class. In Year 9, students lead presentations on contemporary dystopian literary fiction, grappling with novels such as The Handmaid’s Tale and Never Let Me Go. In KS5, we allow students to choose their own texts for A Level coursework, obviously with lots of discussion and 1-1 sessions. This is an excellent opportunity to allow them to set the agenda, and discuss a wide variety of texts. We are piloting teaching modern drama with An Inspector Calls and The Crucible.

In line with our school’s improvement plan we are placing more focus on our students' cultural backgrounds. In Year 7, as part of a non-fiction unit based on food, students use a format from The Guardian to write a piece entitled ‘My Last Supper’; this will often include descriptions of family meals reflecting students’ own backgrounds. In Year 8, we conclude the War Poetry unit with students talking to their families about personal experiences of conflict, and then sharing the information in class. Similarly, in Year 9, as part of our Education unit, students talk about their own families’ experiences of education in different places. 

We are very keen on students employing effective questioning and after talks and presentations students have to come up with demanding questions. Each year there is a competition in KS3 for the most engaging and convincing persuasive talk. We run a creative writing club for KS3 and students enter many writing competitions.

We have a thriving extension programme for KS4 and KS5 where teachers in the department, old girls, and visiting lecturers all run sessions. This year, Dr Jane Darcy from UCL spoke on Tess of the D’Urbervilles, while Professor Helen Hackett delivered a talk on 'Othello, Moors, Turks and Others’. Our own teachers offered sessions on ‘Tackling the Unseen Poem’, ‘Roth and The American novel’, ‘Classical Tragedy’ and ‘The poetry of Thomas Hardy and Bronte’, and three former students, now English undergraduates, came in to speak about their specialisms.

Contacts made through the PTI with English lecturers in Higher Education were very helpful in the early days of the extension session, which has now gathered its own momentum. We have also developed ideas fed back from 'Creative Writing' and 'Nineteenth-Century Novel' PTI Courses to enrich our departmental planning and curriculum.

Science

From our involvement with the PTI, the Science department at Henrietta Barnett has been working to further promote wider reading in Science with a focus on encouraging students to share their experiences.

We have introduced a series of student led presentations at the end of Year 12 when students are embarking upon their UCAS application. Students are researching and presenting a topic of their choice that lies outside of the syllabus. They are encouraged to explore links between different subjects. Members of the audience are all asked to come up with a question and the presentation is followed by a question and answer session, to ensure everyone is actively involved and to continue to develop our culture of questioning in class.

We are currently working on generating a visual display from these presentations to celebrate the diversity of the applications of science in our lives.

We are continuing our work on HBScientist, the school’s Science magazine, which is entirely designed, edited and written by Year 12 Science students. We also have the Biology scrapbook, where students are collecting articles linked to Biology and reflecting on current developments and issues. We have also completed a book and resources review with our Year 12 and 13 so students can share and recommend sources of wider reading, as well as textbooks or resources for their studies. We are looking to extend this project to lower years and to promote Science vertically in the school where older year groups explain their work to lower years.

Latin

The Classics department at Henrietta Barnett School has been working to expose students of Latin in KS3 to a wider variety of topics on the ancient world.

We have introduced a 'Mythology Project' in which Year 8 students examine a range of literary and artistic sources on the theme of the Trojan War, including excerpts of Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, Virgil’s Aeneid, and Greek vase-paintings. Students have then created academic research posters in which they present a summary of a specific episode of the Trojan War story, accompanied by analysis of their sources and their own creative responses to the myth in the form of art or poetry.

We have developed similar projects for Year 9, including an 'Alexandria Project', in which students research aspects of the city and its culture including the Pharos and scientific understanding and inventions. We have established a school Classics Magazine, QUERCUS, which is now in its second year, and includes articles on ancient Greece and Rome, puzzles, games and humorous pieces.

Our A Level Latin literature symposium with Rooks Heath College is also in its second year: Year 13 students recently took part in a revision symposium on Pliny’s letters. We have been inspired to set up a KS4 classics trip to the Bay of Naples to see the sites of Pompeii, Herculaneum, Pozzuoli, Stabiae and Oplontis.

The Henrietta Barnett School is a grammar school for girls aged 11-18, based in Hampstead Garden Suburb, North London.