French
French is spoken across four continents from Quebec to North Africa and Europe to the Far and Middle East. French allows you to travel across the globe confident in your abilities to communicate.
French is a required language if you wish to work in the European Union and is the official language of the United Nations. According to CILT, 74% of employers now look for French language skills when recruiting new staff. So whether you intend to work in the World of Fashion, Finance, Food or Law, French is for you.
The French department is led by Jennifer Willcocks and supported by Margaret Burrell, Sally Ellis, Ian Kendrick and Julie Parker all of whom are very experienced and dynamic teachers. Teaching pupils the essential skills of communication is central to what we do. French is taught from Year 3 in Junior School. We place an emphasis on grammatical accuracy, and a good understanding of the cultural context of the language. From Year 10 this is further reinforced by weekly lessons with our native-speaker language assistant and our exciting range of study trips and exchanges. Pupils have enjoyed study visits to Nice, Paris, Dieppe and an exchange to the Loire Valley. We have also enjoyed cultural enrichment at the Opera and Language taster days at Leeds University.
At GCSE, equal emphasis is given to the four language skill areas of reading, writing, listening and speaking, and the focus of our teaching is on the practical application of the language. Pupils enjoy studying French and a good number continue to do so beyond GCSE, with a great deal of success. The teaching of literature at this level adds further dynamic to our provision of foreign languages teaching and, although there is no coursework option as such, the research-based element of the new AQA syllabus gives students the opportunity to carry out deeper study in an area of particular interest. Many students can marry French with another discipline such as studying a period of French History or the work of a French Architect.
After Ashville
The majority of pupils go on to study languages at university and the department has an enviable record of successful applications at the top Russell Group universities including Durham, Edinburgh, Bath, Manchester, Nottingham , Warwick and Newcastle.
