Languages

The Modern Languages Department at King George V School is a very successful, dynamic and flourishing part of the school. It consists of 12 full-time and 4 part-time members of staff. We offer French, German, Spanish and Chinese to students from Year 7 - 13 - more languages than are available at any other ESF school!

Chinese is now a compulsory subject in KS3, and, apart from those with significant EAL needs, students do two languages from Years 7-9. In Year 7 every student is allocated either French, German or Spanish. All students in KS4 take a language and some take two languages. At IB level we offer a comprehensive range of options which cater for all abilities in all four of our languages.

There is a very positive attitude to Modern Languages amongst the student body. They enjoy their language lessons, work hard and achieve excellent results. Our staff are highly skilled, dedicated professionals.

All language rooms are equipped with good sound facilities, an overhead projector, DVD player and television. The departmental office has six computers with Internet access. As far as the structure of the school day is concerned, we have a 50 period fortnight with all lessons lasting 65 minutes. In Years 7 and 8 students have 4 lessons per fortnight in each language. In Year 9 this is reduced to 3 lessons per fortnight. In KS4 this becomes 5 lessons. We currently employ language assistants in French, Spanish and Chinese. They conduct oral lessons in small groups and provide online resources. We are fortunate to have them as they provide essential additional practice in speaking.

In the past we have run trips to France, Spain, China and Germany and, in the future, we will continue to offer trips abroad as part of the school Challenge Week.