International
Week
St John the Baptist
School
Elmbridge Lane
Kingfield
Woking
Surrey GU22 9AL
Person in charge of project: Sophie Avory, Language College Manager and Mary Dingle, Language College Co-ordinator
St John the Baptist School is a Roman Catholic voluntary-aided comprehensive
school with 910 pupils aged 11–18. The school has now held International
Weeks for two years running, most recently on 17–21 July 2000. The initiative
brings together KS3, Year 10 and Year 12 students of all abilities.
The languages include French, German and Italian, Spanish and Japanese. A very large range of events is organised in the school over the five-day period, with the objective of bringing languages to life, motivating language learners' interest and awareness of European and other cultures and promoting the importance of languages in the world of work and further studies.
Judges' comments
This is a whole-school initiative bringing languages into every area of
experience – 'languages for life' made a reality. The quantity and diversity
of events over a period of five days allows all participants, including
members of staff to become totally immersed and feel 'the buzz'.
During the tour of
the school, the jury observed international awareness being raised wherever
there was an opportunity, from timetables in a foreign language to a poster
of a skeleton in the Biology department in French. The project also takes
seriously the need for teachers to improve and refresh their own language
skills and places a strong emphasis on in-service training and development.
