Modern Foreign Language Department

Three European languages are taught predominantly at The Mount School: French, Spanish and German.
German, Japanese and Italian are offered in a carousel in Year 8.

All girls in Years 7 - 8 take French and Spanish is introduced in Year 9. At the end of Year 9 they choose their options, whether to continue with French or Spanish as their compulsory core language and whether to take the other as an extra option. They can also add on German, which is studied to GCSE in two years. All three languages are currently being studied at AS/A2 level in Years 12 and 13. Students in the Sixth form attend courses organised by the examination boards to improve study skills and background information. We use the Edexcel examining board to both levels.

There are seven teachers in the department, including several native speakers and most teach more than one language. We now have a language assistant responsible for conversation classes for Year 11 upwards.

We have strong links with the Junior Department, where French is taught from Year 2. The assistant teaches all classes in the junior school. All girls in Year 7 are therefore settled for French to enable those who have already studied French to build on their knowledge but to allow those coming in from other schools to learn from scratch. Sets continue thereafter from Year 10 in both French, Spanish and German. Some able pupils have the opportunity to take GCSE a year early in Year 10, as do bilingual girls.

We have two residential cultural visits for Year 9 pupils to Rue in France and Valencia in Spain during the Autumn half-term and the Summer half-term. There is a trip to Boulogne for Years 4, 5 & 6 in the summer.

We encourage the use of ICT wherever possible and find the Internet an invaluable source of information and help. Teaching resources include textbooks, Mary Glasgow and Authentik magazines, videos, CD's, tapes and games. The library is well stocked with reference books for all levels, including juniors.

We also aim to keep the profile of the subject as high as possible within the school, to emphasize that language learning is not only vital in today's society, but also a rewarding and fun activity in its own right.

	Curriculum

	Years 7 - 9	All girls in Years 7 - 8 take French and Spanish is introduced in Year 9. In Year 8 the girls have a carousel of languages and have introductions to Italian, German and Japanese.

	GCSE	At the end of Year 9, they choose their options: whether to continue with French or Spanish as their compulsory core language and whether to take the other as an option. They can also opt to take German, which is studied to GCSE in two years.

	AS/A2	All three languages are currently being studied at AS/A2 in Years 12/13. Students in the sixth form attend courses organised by the examination boards to improve study skills and background information. We use the Edexcel examining board in both levels.