Welcome to the Castle School Modern Foreign Languages Department.
We are a team of committed linguists who between us can speak French, German, Italian and Spanish.
Gemma Usher-Clark, Head of Languages, Teacher of French
Jules Nisbet, Teacher of French and Italian
Ceri Jones, Teacher of French and German
Sarah Horton, Teacher of French and Spanish
Emily Harper, Teacher of French
Why study languages?
As the world becomes a smaller place with greater opportunities than ever for travel and work abroad, learning a language becomes more useful.
We aim to give our students the skills to understand and hold a conversation, to read and write a language as well as learning about the country, its culture and way of life.
At the Castle School, students study French at KS3 for 6 hours per fortnight which gives them a good grasp of the language over the first three years. Students then have the opportunity to continue their French studies at Key Stage 4 taking a GCSE or they can start German or Spanish in Year 10 to take the GCSE at the end of Year 11.
Some students will take their French GCSE at the end of Year 9 with a second cohort of students completing an NVQ Level 2 in French at the end of Year 9 as of 2010. Students also have the opportunity to continue with French, taking AS level at the end of Year 11.
Visits Abroad
Our study visit to Normandy is a very popular trip where Key Stage 3 pupils are able to learn more about French culture through visiting this beautiful region of France. The students experience shopping at a French market as well as visiting a goat farm and the Normandy landing beaches.
We alternate between running a language focused study visit to Spain for Years 10 and 11 in April 2009 and a cultural/linguistic study visit to Paris for GCSE/AS students in Years 9, 10 and 11 in February 2010.
In December 2009, we ran a trip to a German Christmas market to celebrate the festive season with a European twist.
French Festival for Year 6 students from our Partner Primary Schools
There is to be a two-day event held at The Castle School in June where students from our partner primary schools can experience a taste of French life. They will take part in activities such as traditional country dancing and crępe tasting!
All of our current Year 7 students will be involved in ‘teaching’ during these two days, creating very real experiences which they can learn from themselves.
House Languages
The house languages competition gives students the opportunity to extend their linguistic skills beyond the classroom and combine them with music and drama. Each house must create some form of entertainment in any language, in front of the school and their parents. This happens under the guidance of the Year 11 Languages prefects, meaning that native languages may also be used and celebrated.
Gifted and Talented
Our gifted and talented students in Year 8 have the opportunity to study with Gifted and Talented students from other schools in the Somerset area at Kilve Court in December to concentrate on sharpening their language skills
Key characteristics of the school are students’ independence, self-confidence and excellent understanding of their own learning
- OfSTED 2009