English Department continues to celebrate success through the power of communication

The English Department continues to set high expectations, reinforced by exceptional achievements and dedication in both our staff and students. This year, we are proud to highlight several key successes that underscore the department’s commitment to excellence and intellectual endeavour through the year.

Once again, our students have demonstrated outstanding performance in NAPLAN assessments, achieving consistently high results across year levels. These achievements reflect the hard work and dedication of both students and teachers in mastering the English curriculum through the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Program.

Furthermore, our Year 12 students have excelled in their Queensland Certificate of Education (QCE) results, achieving our best academic outcomes to date. The high scores achieved by our students are a testament to their perseverance and high-quality, consistent instruction provided by our dedicated English teachers.

A special mention goes to two of our Literature students, Ariana Hannaford and Jodie Lin who received special recognition for their results, achieving best in the state in 2025. Another student of Literature and English and Literature Extension, Alya Chirathivat-Geralds, has gone on to take up further study at Oxford University in the United Kingdom. Exceptional outcomes indeed. This remarkable achievement highlights our student’s exceptional dedication to and passion for their chosen subject, setting the bar for future cohorts.

Effective communication is also key to building student progress as an essential 21st Century skill. Just sitting back and experiencing something goes a long way in building relatable understanding and appreciation of a literary text, technique or required skill set through the medium of spoken and written English.

To this end, The English Faculty focusses on also taking students beyond the classroom, providing real world experiences across The College calendar.

Year 9 Language and Literature and Year 12 English students experience real staged performances of Shakespeare plays, provided to augment their study of these setworks. Romeo and Juliet for Year 9 Language and Literature and Othello for our Year 12 students are brought to life in the Sue Roberts Theatre in workshopped format by renowned theatre company ‘Shake n Stir,’ best positioning our students in their considerations of the texts.

Also, The English Faculty hosts TEDx Somerset Youth. Delivered live to the Year 11 English cohort by six brave and eloquent Year 12 English students, this two-hour presentation models persuasive techniques and platforms the skill of public speaking in a real TED environment, presenting current topical continuous issues to our Year 11 English cohort. In doing so, this experience assists in informing students in their own English Persuasive Speaking tasks that they present both in Years 11 and 12 as Summative Spoken Assessment for IA2. This year, Tedx Somerset Youth 2026 has been published to the TED Talks platform, and our student voices are now available as live presentations via YouTube under the official banner of TED- Ideas Worth Spreading. Whilst all students have been recognised online, some received remarkable responses. Specifically, our College Captain, Abhiraj Sarmah’s speech entitled ‘Racism: The Australian Punchline’ has gone viral, garnering more than 10K views- a testament not only to his skilled speaking skills but also to his thought-provoking subject matter. Congratulations to all the speakers who participated and made the event a resounding success.

None of these achievements would be possible without the unwavering dedication and hard work of our English Team. Our teachers’ commitment to fostering a love of literary texts, learning about our place in the world through literature and developing critical expression in our students is truly commendable. A special thank you goes to Jen Rush, our Assistant Head of Department, whose ongoing dedication has been instrumental in our department’s success.

Thank you to everyone who has contributed to making our English Department a celebration of success. Together, we continue to inspire and achieve greatness.