Modern Languages

Girls are encouraged to achieve highly in French, German and Spanish from the very beginning of their studies and are taught using a variety of activities, including listening, reading, speaking and writing work in every lesson. There is an emphasis on understanding grammatical structure as well as communication in the target language. A specialist language laboratory enables girls to work independently on their speaking, listening and writing work and this is an invaluable tool at all Key Stages. Girls enjoy their language studies tremendously and have the opportunity each year to work with our foreign language assistants who are able to give them a real taste of the country itself. Having completed a language GCSE course at the school, all girls feel confident in communicating effectively abroad and greatly benefit from the specialist teaching that they have been exposed to.

All girls in Year 7 have the opportunity to spend a working week at a chateau in Normandy where they complete a variety of activities in French. From Year 8, girls can apply to go on one of our exchanges, whether it may be Paris, Lüneburg or Santander. In the Sixth Form, students are advised to participate in a week's work experience abroad; a tremendous opportunity to develop their linguistic and interpersonal skills. In Year 8, all students of German can also visit a Christmas market in Aachen for the weekend.

We are extremely proud of our examination results across all three languages and at every level. Each year we enter some girls early for their GCSE French examination, to great success. We like to encourage able linguists, and with this in mind, offer a two year GCSE Spanish course to those girls who have studied German at Key Stage 3, giving them the opportunity to learn all three languages. We have many girls who choose to continue their language studies at university, including many successes at Oxbridge. Many girls who have studied languages to Advanced Level go on to use them a great deal, whether that is in their travel abroad or in their future business careers.