Through Kids Canon, we work not only with children’s technical language abilities and capacity to communicate with elegance and persuasion, but also their intellectual, moral and imaginative development.By virtue of literary study, children come into rich contact with culture and history, deepen their aesthetic sensibilities, and find ways to apply their own creativity to produce original and valuable work. Exploration of literature and its themes, all concerning the human experience, obliges a certain way of thinking and discussing which expands the mind and leads to increased empathy and self-awareness. The intellectual use of language skills is necessary in achieving this aim, and advancement in each element of literary study in turn complements and enhances each of the others.

Progression through the intense and challenging Kids Canon courses fosters our values of discipline, imagination, thoughtfulness and creativity. Through the in-depth study of five carefully selected books per semester, the innate curiosity of children is nurtured in a process of Socratic learning, where thoughtful engagement with a range of topics and differences of opinion are encouraged. In the pursuit of comprehension and the literary analysis of themes, genres, and characterisation, children are encouraged to consider meaningful responses to open-ended questions and generate and deliberate upon new questions, thereby stimulating genuine interest and engagement. In their reflections upon themes - such as good versus evil, and the importance of family – as well as the significance of characters’ experiences, children expand their minds and consider the implications of the human experience for themselves.

All Kids Canon courses (from Primary English to Teens Canon) are taught in maximum group sizes of eight students per class. For homework, students are expected to pre-read one-fifth of a novel each week and to write one long story per novel (five weeks), as well as to complete vocabulary exercises. In class, students spend a significant amount of time reading around the table and discussing the text. Also during class time, students write two essays per novel, a first draft in the first week and a second draft (from the teacher’s corrections and comments) in the following week. Students compile their second drafts of essays and stories in their portfolio (their ‘red folder’), which they take with them at the end of each semester. The blend of reading, discussion and writing provides an integration of the published authors’ art and the teacher’s prompting and guidance, igniting the students’ imagination and providing the frameworks for producing quality, substantial, original output.

Explore the Kids Canon and Teens Canon courses below, or for younger children visit the Primary English pages.