Key Stage 3

Year 7: All students learn French and German. Lesson activities are very varied and students are immersed in the foreign language from the very first lesson in terms of hearing their teacher talking in the language, and building their own spoken confidence.

Years 8 and 9: All students continue with French and German and take Spanish as a third modern language from scratch. Students really enjoy the variety and challenge of three modern languages; they are frequently encouraged to make links between languages taught in school and those which they may speak at home..

Key Stage 4

Students opt to study the new Edexcel GCSE in at least one modern language, many choosing to take two. Students have the opportunity to develop their linguistic fluency, skills and cultural appreciation beyond GCSE with more challenging translation in and out of the language and literary extract analysis. Our aim is also to provide cultural depth and breadth outside and well beyond the examination syllabus.

Key Stage 5

The study at A Level of any Modern Language complements all other subjects offered in the Sixth Form enormously, as it provides numerous and significant transferable skills, such as communication, forming a logical argument and understanding foreign cultures at a deep level. Students acquire a rigorous knowledge and appreciation of language and society, as well as having the chance to enjoy the study of one or more literary texts or classic French, German or Spanish cinema. These are discussed and debated in the language, and this enhances our students’ ability to argue convincingly in a foreign language, as well as giving them a lifelong curiosity for the multifaceted and dynamic nature of European cultures.

‘….we should aspire to allow children who may be monolingual to strive to become as bilingual as they can possibly be.” Leszek Borysiewicz, Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge University, June 2014.