Welcome to the Modern Foreign Languages Department
Sacred Heart School is a specialist language college
The MFL department currently consists of four full time members of staff:
Mr N Williams (Asst Head, i/c Examinations and Language College status)
Ms A Baker (2nd i/c MFL, returning from maternity leave in Sep 09)
Ms E Vieira (Teacher of MFL)
In addition, the department will be joined in September 09 by Ms Marie Merlet (our FLA for the past two years) who will be embarking on the Graduate Teacher Programme at CILT.
All members of staff offer at least two languages. The languages currently taught within the curriculum are French, Spanish and German. German currently remains in Year 11 only, although there is a possibility it may be re-introduced in Year 7 from September 2009. At the moment, all pupils study either French or Spanish from Years 7 to 9. The top three of five ability groups study French, while the lower two study Spanish. By far the majority of pupils continue their language study to GCSE at the end of KS4, whilst a small number (around 20 pupils) follow an alternative curriculum which has an increased English and Maths input, but which does not include MFL.
Modern Foreign Languages GCSE results
MFL GCSE results are excellent. 71% of those taking a GCSE in MFL in 2008 gained an A*-C grade. The department has fared well in Ofsted inspections, receiving a 'very good' rating in January 2002, and in February 2007, when the overall effectiveness of the school was rated outstanding, the following mention was made of languages - "The school has benefited from its specialism in languages. More languages are now offered and standards have risen. Contrary to the national picture, more pupils are choosing languages in Year 10 and this reflects their positive attitudes. Productive links have been established with local schools and abroad."In 2003, Sacred Heart was designated a Specialist Language College jointly with Notre Dame High School for Girls. In 2007, the school was redesignated as a Language College in its own right and, as a High-Performing Specialist School (HPSS), took on the second specialism of Maths and ICT. Amongst others, the most notable implication of our Languages specialism has been the school's commitment to teaching MFL in our main primary feeder, St Joseph's School.
There are four designated MFL teaching rooms at Sacred Heart, one of which is a Language Laboratory. All rooms are equipped with interactive whiteboards, data projectors and front-of-class CD/cassette players. There is also a small office and an open resource area.
The Language Lab has intellidesks, which means it can be converted into a normal teaching room, as the PCs and keyboards are stored within the desks. There are thirty five workstations, each with PC and access to the Internet. The teacher console allows the teacher to monitor all pupils' work and communicate with all pupils from the front.
The main textbook resources in use are:-
French : KS3 Metro and KS4 Metro and Francoscope pour AQA
Spanish : KS3 Listos and KS4 Listos and Espanol a la Vista para AQA
German : KS3 Echo and KS4 Logo
Many MFL-related school journeys have taken place in recent years. They have included a visit to Frankfurt and the Edith Stein Schule in Offenbach, our partner German school, and a week-long trip to Pescara in Italy, including a visit to our partner Italian school. There are day-trips every year to the Pas-de-Calais region. Our pupils have visited Paris and even given a presentation in French on 'Life in Southwark' to the mayor of Clichy! We have a French partner school - the College Jean Macé in Clichy. In addition to going abroad, there are foreign language-related trips within the UK too, such as the French 'Treasure-trail' trip around the Tower Bridge area of London.
Community Languages play an important part at Sacred Heart - there are currently after-school classes in Portuguese, and native-speakers of many other foreign languages are encouraged to take GCSE exams in their mother-tongue as early as possible, from Year 8.
The Development Plan for the next four years (2007/8 - 2010/11)
