At the King’s Department of English, we strongly believe that the study of literature should be open to talented students regardless of their background. The more points of view there are, the richer our subject - and society - becomes.
We want to make sure that an English degree at King’s is seen as attractive and accessible. In order to do so, we set up partnerships with with a wide range of local schools and school consortia.
Our academics and students visit the schools and talk to students about literary texts – both supporting their school studies and encouraging them to read beyond their classroom set texts.
We invite students and their teachers to events at King’s to give them a better sense of what studying at university is like.
For example, we go into schools and host mini-conferences for year 12 pupils, all on the theme of sonnets.
Sonnets are short in length so make for great discussion topics – but they are also very dense with meaning, and can be picked apart in all sorts of interesting ways. Sonnets have been written across centuries, and deal with complex and controversial subjects like desire and power; they therefore prompt rich discussion and debate.
King’s also organises a long-running and successful Shakespeare Academy, which works with years 9, 10, and 11. Both the sonnets programme and the Shakespeare Academy draw extensively on the specialist research and teaching expertise in our department, and our connections with major London institutions such as the British Library and Shakespeare’s Globe theatre.