Modern Foreign Languages

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The Modern Foreign Languages Department works hard to enthuse our students and to promote a love of language learning and an appreciation of cultural differences.

All girls in the Thirds (Year 7) start with a carousel of the four languages offered (French, Spanish, German and Italian) for the first half-term, and they start studying their two preferred languages properly after October half-term. They then continue with both languages until Upper Fourth (Year 9). All students must continue to study one foreign language for IGCSE. A second language may be taken as an option. The MFL Department also aims to support the educational, social, linguistic and cultural development of its bilingual students and they are encouraged to take an early IGCSE in their native language in the Upper Fourth and then continue with one or two different languages in Lower and Upper Fifth.

Languages are also popular at A Level and many pursue languages at University level.

At all key stages, our lessons aim to develop our students’ fluency, accuracy and global mindedness. We aim to enable pupils to express their ideas and thoughts in another language and to understand and respond to its speakers, both in speech and in writing. We provide opportunities for them to communicate for practical purposes, learn new ways of thinking and read works of literature in the original language.

Outside the classroom, we have four languages assistants who run conversation lessons for the four languages offered in the curriculum. Our Sixth Formers together with other members of the lower school run a well-attended Languages Society where the girls have the opportunity to explore, share and experience international cultural facts.

The MFL Department also offers various other initiatives such as the European Week of Languages, House competitions, enrichment lectures, guest speakers, cookery lessons, Flamenco and Salsa workshops, visiting theatre companies as well as excursions to museums, theatres and cinemas. We are very aware of the importance of languages for communication and to this end we also organise trips to Italy, Spain, France and Germany in the last week of the Summer term for the Lower Fifth, every year. We also support a programme called “Spellian” where GCSE and A Level students take part in a weekly exchange video conference conversation based on topics studied, with native students of the same age. This is to enable students to become more confident in their speaking, when exposed to different scenarios in authentic situations with natives. We also organise penpal and telecollaboration exchanges for the Upper Fourths.

The department has four language assistants who guide pupils in the Fifth and Sixth forms (Years 10-13) with their weekly conversation lessons.

The library has a well-stocked dedicated area of novels and reference books in the different foreign languages for our pupils to consult or borrow for enjoyment or study, and a large selection of magazines, newspapers, easy readers and DVDs is also available from the department. We subscribe to numerous educational websites which pupils can also access from home to consolidate and strengthen their learning.

We strongly believe that authentic material, which is very much part of the syllabi, is key to fostering students’ curiosity, deepening their understanding of the world and achieving their linguistic potential. Finally, we aim to promote independence as we consider this to be a fundamental skill for life. To this end we use our virtual learning platform extensively to stretch our students and encourage them to challenge themselves with the multimedia material which is regularly uploaded.

The Modern Languages Department is committed to offering a variety of co-curricular activities and clubs to extend the curriculum beyond that offered in timetabled sessions.

We are very keen to provide our students with a wide range of opportunities that will place languages in their more natural context and to this end we run clubs for Lower as well as Upper school as well as organising cookery lessons, Flamenco workshops, visiting theatre companies and excursions to museums, theatres and cinemas. ​We also facilitate language exchanges in the Fifth and Sixth Forms for all four languages.

We also establish various initiatives such as the European Day of Languages, the Eurovision Song Contest to raise money for charity, House Competitions, enrichment lectures and guest speakers aimed to inform our students about language and culture related issues ranging from the funding principles of the European Union to latest developments in machine translation, from the importance of languages in the world of work to immigration.

The school and MFL Department are committed to incorporating educational visits into their planning in order to enhance pupils’ relevant understanding and experiences. Visits help to develop a pupil’s communication skills and longer visits in particular encourage greater independence.

In the Summer term, the Lower Fifth embark on week-long trips to cities in France, Spain, Italy and Germany to put into practice their communication skills learnt in their first year of GCSEs as well as learn more about the history and culture of the country.

Mrs N Estima – Head of Department and Head of Spanish. Spanish and French
Ms A Spera – Head of Italian. French, Spanish and Italian.
Ms G Watkinson – Head of German and French, Help Fund and Co-Curricular. German and French

Mrs A Slocombe – Senior Deputy Head. Italian and French
Mr N Gridelli – Acting Pastoral Deputy Head. Italian and Spanish
Dr N El Akel – Head of Lower School. French and Spanish
Mr D Higgins – Head of UIV. French and Spanish
Mrs A McBurney – Examinations Officer. German and French
Miss J Soyer – French and Spanish
Ms A Spera – French, Spanish and Italian

Language Assistants

Ms F Boschi – Italian
Ms I Baquero – Spanish
Mr E Favreau – French
Mrs S Haering – German

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