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Inspection report 2010
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French
At the beginning of Year 9, all pupils take a test in reading comprehension and in writing to determine into which set they should be placed.
In Years 9, 10 and 11 French is taught in two roughly equal column groups, with three sets within each column. Set composition is regularly reviewed throughout the Middle School and pupils moved up or down, based upon their performance in class and in assessments and upon their teacher’s professional judgment.
All groups are timetabled for one lesson per cycle in an ICT room where they will have access to the Sony Soloist software and to a wide range of soundfiles and interactive websites to practise vocabulary and grammar.
In Years 10 and 11 all pupils have a small-group lesson once per cycle with a French native speaker in order to enable them to prepare for the French Oral Examination.
What will your child study?
Pupils are prepared for the Edexcel IGCSE in French and over the course of the Middle School years all the topics on the examination board’s specification are covered in depth. They are issued with a French department handbook which gives details of the course and examinations. The best linguists in the top sets will study topics and grammar that go well beyond the IGCSE in order to provide a springboard for AS work should they choose to study French in the Sixth Form. There is no coursework element nor controlled assessment components in IGCSE French.
How will they be assessed?
Marked homework, regular vocabulary tests and end of Unit assessments feature throughout the three years, with past examination papers for practice being gradually introduced from the end of Year 9 onwards.
