Spanish is the third most widely spoken language in the world and the teaching/learning emphasis is on equipping the students with the fundamentals of leisure or business language. Emphasis is put on grammar and accuracy to enable a smooth transition to A Level for those students who wish to pursue the study of Spanish at a higher level.

GCSE

Spanish is offered as a language option in Year 8. A four year course leads to GCSE. In years 8 + 9 this is based on "Es Posible", a course based on the Michel Thomas method of language learning which involves the pupils creating and developing accurate Spanish right from the start. The course covers all the grammatical structures needed to take the pupil beyond GCSE level and is interspersed with additional lessons of vocabulary building. It is designed to give pupils much more confidence in their own abilities before they come to the GCSE examination.

Years 10 and 11 will lead up to AQA GCSE, using the new AQA course book. The course concentrates on the acquisition of useful practical language and together with "Es Posible" gives an excellent foundation for learning and retaining Spanish and carrying it on to AS or A level if desired.

Virtually all our pupils achieve an A-C pass with the majority gaining A* and A grades.  

A-level

Spanish is also offered in the Sixth Form to AS and A-level.

With the advent of new courses at AS and A-level the emphasis is on grammatical accuracy within set themes eg: the cinema, I.T. music, fashion, sport, family life and tourism.

This should appeal to those with wide interests in the culture and historical background of Hispanic society. Communication in the target language will be given priority and the teaching will be predominantly in the Spanish language.

Units examined at A/S level are listening, reading and writing, and an oral test on pre-researched material which covers the whole curriculum.

At A2 level, there is further study of cultural topics such as the environment, multicultural society and current affairs. These are examined in all four language skills i.e. in written, audio, reading and oral formats. In addition we study a cultural topic based Spanish cinema and litereature. Good resources are available for independent study in the main library and in a small departmental one as well as on the plethora of websites at our disposal.

Study periods in Spain, usually at Language Schools or in Universities, are highly recommended at this stage and can be undertaken during the Easter or summer holidays.

 The school organises a language study visit to the Gredos Mountains and Salamanca in Year 9. Sixth form cultural and study visits to Spain are offered during the Easter holidays and at other times depending on numbers.