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Introduction
| Overview
| Becoming an LC
| CILT support
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CILT-SLC case study |
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Ryton Comprehensive |
Primary |
Linguists of the future
Ryton Comprehensive School became a specialist language college in September
1999. We based our successful application on what we saw as our strengths
at the time – very well established links with schools in France,
Germany and Spain and an extremely active, experienced and well-respected
group of MFL teachers. It would, however, be fair to say that for some
time the department in Ryton had, like many MFL departments in state schools,
been feeling under funded and therefore undervalued.
The initial bid allowed for what we perceived as being crucial improvements,
leading to the provision of greatly improved facilities and equipment,
additional languages (Italian and Japanese) and foreign language assistants;
in addition we aimed to forge improved links with business and commerce,
investigate the apparent under-achievement of boys in languages and develop
specialist MFL tutor groups who would enjoy enhanced opportunities and
language teaching, leading to early entry at GCSE level. There was only
a fairly fleeting reference to developing links with feeder primary schools
and that was to state that we would produce packs of materials to be distributed
to them!
All of this only goes to illustrate how the initial bid can actually differ
so much from what evolves in reality.
Prior to designation as a specialist college we did have good links with our primary feeder schools, our natural catchment area being geographically compact and centred upon three neighbouring villages. We had a language link at the neighbouring Ryton Junior School through Mrs. Hazel Brent, who, having been approached to translate a letter from France following a sponsored balloon race, had voluntarily begun a lunchtime French club there.
On becoming a language college we were able to provide resources for this link and we also, through the specialist school guidelines, encountered the idea of our ‘family’ of schools. In our first year as a specialist school, we stretched the provision of language clubs to 3 primary schools, but coverage was quite inconsistent and was seen as a ‘bolted on’ extra by our feeder schools, still very much an extra-curricular option. During the following year Hazel extended her activities to all six of our main feeder schools and persuaded the headteachers and staff that French was a valid and relevant part of the KS2 curriculum and should therefore be timetabled as such. She did this by emphasising links through literacy and numeracy.
French is now no longer a voluntary activity in our feeder primary schools, but a lesson within the year 6 curriculum. There is a scheme of work, which promotes language competence in realistic situations but also enhances the awareness of another culture with all its richness and variety. The use of the foreign language assistant brings realia, first-hand experience and a perfect accent! In the lessons there is an emphasis on pair and group work to encourage cooperative learning and peer support, with games, songs and role-play as practice. We provide INSET for year 6 staff in the multimedia suite at the language college and their commitment and ongoing interest is one of the reasons for the scheme’s success. Hazel has also produced teaching packs and a bank of materials to ensure consistency of approach across the schools.
This year we have invested language college funds in providing a CILT primary portfolio for all year 6 pupils in our primary feeder schools. The idea is that they will bring their portfolios with them into year 7 and the language college will produce additional pages and sections to cater for the secondary sector. It is anticipated that this will link into the post 16 EU portfolio which students will take with them into the workplace – a record of all their achievements in modern languages from year 6 to year 13.
From the school’s point of view, we can now move forward with a much greater confidence in what has gone before. We have re-written the year 7 scheme of work in the light of the year 6 programme to ensure progression and this will facilitate the early entry for GCSE examinations. All pupils in our year 7 intake group will have been taught French for one year by a teacher from the language college and this makes initial assessment on entry more valid and reliable than it was in the past.
Clearly we have invested more money than most language colleges in the future, not relying so much on ‘a quick fix’ in order to have a more immediate impact on exam performance. I am sure that we have got it right. We have maintained the enthusiasm of the whole team, and primary school headteachers are just as welcoming, primary school teachers are just as eager and primary school pupils are maintaining their efforts – they are our linguists of the future!
Andy Giles and Hazel Brent, Ryton Comprehensive School, March 2003
