Dartford Grammar School for Boys
West Hill
Dartford
Kent

Person in charge of project: Andrew Humphreys

This selective school for boys with co-educational sixth form serves Dartford, adjacent areas in Kent, and some outer London boroughs. It achieved Language College status in September 1995.

Year 9 pupils at Dartford Grammar have the opportunity to learn French, German or Spanish as their first foreign language. At the end of the summer term, the timetable for Year 9 is replaced for a week by a series of creative foreign language activities which result in the production of plays written, produced and directed by pupils in the target languages.

Objectives of the project

• To enable students to have a prolonged period during which they can make creative use of the foreign language
• To use the foreign language in an entertaining and fun way
• To develop self-confidence in students' ability to use the target language
• To motivate the students for early GCSE entry in Year 10
• To produce a good rapport between staff and students

• The project provides an opportunity for longer periods in which students can use the foreign language to a creative end
• Staff and students engage in a project which develops the collaborative attitudes required for success in KS4
• Team skills are developed to achieve recognisable goals
• Students' general confidence is developed by performing before an audience

• This year's Year 10 students are showing a considerably greater fluency in oral use of the foreign language
• Staff/student relationships in KS4 have been improved
• The increase in confidence produced higher than expected grades in early entry Year 10 mock GCSE exams

• The success of the 1998 International Enrichment Week was developed to include more creative activities in July 1999