Project Croissant isn’t about breakfast but is so called because ‘croissant’ means ‘growing’ – in this case growing in confidence and in strength of collaboration. The project is a weekly after school club with a difference. It is a peer mentoring initiative which sees groups consisting one Year 10 leader, two Year 9 mentors and four Year 5 pupils. Secondary students apply for the job of mentor or leader to the primary pupils and so learn relevant skills of self-presentation; they make the commitment to 20 weeks of teaching and are paid for the work.

All materials and teaching resources are provided by the teacher but the students work out how best to exploit them. Activities include devising and performing a puppet play and visiting a simulated French environment and interacting with native speakers. Learners produce a weather forecast autocue and weather map, the forecasts are then filmed using a green screen, as on TV. A visit to a French restaurant is also a favourite activity and learners also have the chance to bake their own tarte tatin.

Project croissant not only works towards improving language competence among primary students, but also has a great impact on raising the awareness of other cultures. The project provided a ‘teaching’ taster for the secondary students who identified that teaching helped them really learn the language themselves.

Language(s): French

The Earls High School is a 11-16 comprehensive with approximately 1,200 pupils. There are two specialisms - Performing Arts and Languages.