The Mount School Information

The Mount School exists to provide a high standard of education for girls to help them to discover and develop their talents. We have high expectations of all our girls in all activities. We ensure a well-rounded, academic, balanced environment for girls to develop their full potential. We give firm and friendly support in a co-operative atmosphere enabling girls to make positive contributions as good citizens in all realms of their future. Three European languages are taught at The Mount School, French, Spanish and German. Spanish is currently offered to all pupils in Year 8. Japanese is offered at GCSE and A Level to native speakers. The department is committed to ensuring the full achievement of all its pupils. All girls in Years 7-8 take French and Spanish is re-introduced in Year 9. At the end of Year 9 pupils choose their options, whether to continue with French or Spanish as their compulsory core language and whether to take the other as an extra option. They can also add on German which is studied to GCSE in two years. All three languages are currently being studied at AS/A2 level in years 12 and 13. Students in the Sixth form attend courses organised by the examination boards to improve study skills and background information. We use the Edexcel examining board to both levels. There are four teachers in the department and a language language assistant who does the oral work with GSCE and A level pupils. We have strong links with the Junior school where French is taught from year 2. All girls in Year 7 are therefore, settled for French to enable those who have already studied French to build on their knowledge but to allow those coming in from feeder schools to learn the language from scratch. Sets continue thereafter from Year 10 in both French, Spanish and German. Some able pupils have the opportunity to take GCSE a year early in Year 10, as do bi-lingual girls. We have two residential cultural visits for Year 9 pupils to Lille in France and Valencia in Spain during the autumn half-term and Spring half-term. There is a day trip to Boulogne for Years 4, 5 & 6 in the Summer. We encourage the use of ICT wherever possible and find the internet an invaluable source of information and help. Teaching resources include textbooks, Mary Glasgow and Authentik magazines, videos, DVD’s, CD’s, tapes, games. The library is well stocked with reference books for all levels including juniors. We also aim to keep the profile of the subject as high as possible within the school, to emphasise that language learning is not only vital in today’s society but also a rewarding and fun activity in its own right.