School as introduces 'Queer Dracula' and first non-binary author

One of the county’s top private schools has overhauled its English curriculum after slating classics books because they are ‘too pale, male and stale’.

, south – which costs £25,000-a-year – singled out greats Macbeth, Lord of the Flies and To Kill a Mockingbird.

The school’s head of has now introduced a new policy where pupils have to study books from a huge range of writers.

Key Stage 3 pupils have to study a novel by a female author each year and Year 12 students have non-binary author Kae Tempest among their materials.

Queer theory and readings of Dracula are also featured in the same year’s curriculum.

Ms Smith said said: ‘Can you remember what you studied for your GCSE English Literature exam?Macbeth? Lord of the Flies? Of Mice and Men? To Kill a Mockingbird?

‘For a long time in my near 20-year teaching career it felt as though English curricula in UK schools were stuck in a rut, with the same texts being wheeled out time and time again and unchanging exam board syllabi propping up a reading list that was pale, male and stale.

‘That’s not to say that there isn’t a place for Shakespeare, Golding et al, but, as a recent report by End Sexism In Schools pointed out, nationally 77% of novels studied at Key Stage 3 (Years 7 to 9) are authored by men, with 82% of KS3 novels featuring male protagonists: an alarming imbalance.

‘That’s why, for the last five years, the Alleyn’s English Department have been committed to a thorough – and ongoing – overhaul and genuine diversification of our English curriculum in the hope that every child in our community will come to see themselves, and the rich and varied world around them, represented in the texts they study and that, by doing so, they will be equipped with the empathy and confidence to challenge and dismantle sexism, racism, homophobia – indeed, discrimination of any kind – when they encounter it.’

Other books for Year 7 include Coram Boy by Jamila Gavin, Bone Talk by Candy Gourlay, as well as The Woman In Black by Susan Hill for Year 8.

Year 9’s options include Kindred by Octavia Butler, Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Djinn.

The school has alumni who include musician Florence Welch as well as Jude Law.

Ms Smith added to the school blog: ‘Whilst representation is of the utmost importance, discussions of racial and gender equality, and the challenging of white-centric, patriarchal, and cisgender ideologies can also happen while studying canonical texts by white, cis-male authors.

‘Our study of The Tempest in Year 7, for example, explores ideas about the effects and inherent problems of colonialism, while our reading of 17th Century revenge tragedy The Duchess of Malfi in Year 12 sees pupils unpacking the patriarchal system than imprisons the Duchess both literally and figuratively, and John Webster’s own role in perpetuating that system.

‘We are also committed to representing alternative versions of masculinity to those harmful tropes so often seen perpetuated in popular culture and by the media.The toxicity of Macbeth’s masculinity – and, crucially, its consequences – is central to our study of that text at GCSE  – yes, it’s still on the syllabus! – while Ian McEwan’s The Daydreamer, studied in Year 7, questions stereotypically masculine behaviours and presents alternatives.’

Alleyn’s School is known for attention grabbing ideas and in January said it was rethinking their practises after a test English essay produced by OpenAI bot ChatGPT was awarded an A* grade.

Since the futuristic technology was released in November last year, fears had grown in schools that it will make cheating easier than doing the work.

Alleyn’s headteacher Jane Lunnon explained that their new focus on ‘flipped learning’ was an inevitable sign of the times due to the ‘seismic and game changing’ nature of AI.

She said: ‘I truly feel this is a paradigm-shifting moment.It’s incredibly usable and straightforward. 

‘However at the moment, children are often assessed using homework essays, based on what they’ve learnt in the lesson. 

‘Clearly if we’re in a world where children can access plausible responses … then the notion of saying simply do this for homework will have to go.

‘Homework will be good for practice but if you want reliable data on whether children are acquiring new skills and information, that will have to be done in lesson time, supervised.’

Lunnon continued to say that such was the sophistication of new AI technologies, children using them would not experience any failure meaning they would be less resilient.

Addressing her theories in a recent blog post, she warned: ‘School is where we learn what to do and how to do it.It’s also where we learn what not to do. What doesn’t work.

‘How to get things wrong and how to deal with that. We all know how important it is to learn to fail.

‘For us, ChatGPT will involve careful reflection about what we should be asking our pupils to do in school and in class and what they can do at home.’