The Languages Area is staffed by a team of specialist teachers, led by a management team under the overall direction of the Head of Department, Nicola Hulme.
The Head of Department has overall responsibility for all key stages and for the vision and ethos of the department, for curriculum development and staff development needs. Other staff in the department take responsibility for French, German and Spanish. Liz Garner is an AST for Mandarin and is our Confucius Classroom Co-coordinator.
Each year a team of four language assistants (French, German, Spanish and Chinese) join the department to provide extra support for students studying these languages at GCSE or in the Sixth Form.
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Primary Languages Resource
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View Library |
| Confucius Classroom Newsletter September 2011 | View Document |
| Controlled Assessment and Exam Dates | View Dates |
All languages staff support the visits programme and accompany students annually to Belgium, France, Germany, Spain, Italy and China.
“…. [language] can bring a sense of pride in one’s own culture and language, bring respect for others and give a sense of achievement and build self esteem’
Head teacher, CILT, 2011
All students study French and German at Key Stage 3 and most continue the study of these two languages to GCSE. At the end of Year 8 the top two sets in French and German are invited to pick up a third language. The languages offered are Chinese, Italian, Japanese, Russian and Spanish. In Year 9 these languages are delivered in the lunchtime; as of Year 10 all of these languages are offered at GCSE. All students in the Sixth Form will study at least one language and a range of courses are available to choose from. In Language lessons students are given opportunities to develop listening, speaking reading and writing skills to express themselves with confidence. They are encouraged to develop independence and creativity in their use of language. To develop their knowledge about language, they explore the similarities and differences between other languages and English. Students learn to appreciate that languages contribute to the cultural richness of our society and help us develop a mutual understanding of other countries and cultures. The study of languages will include developing:
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Linguistic competence
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Knowledge about language
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Creativity
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Intercultural understanding
You will: See and hear spoken and written forms of the language in the classroom and beyond drawn from a range of materials including those from authentic sources. Communicate in the Target Language individually, in pairs and in groups in lots of different situations in connection to a variety of topics. Learn about the interrelationship between sounds and writing in the Target Language Learn a range of vocabulary and structures and the grammar of the Target Language and how to apply it. Compare your experiences and perspectives with those of people in other countries and communities where the language is spoken. The curriculum for each subject is described on its webpage.