News
Prince’s Teaching Institute update for MFL
We are very proud in MFL that we have achieved the Quality Mark from the PTI again. Over the past three years, we have set annual objectives across four areas:
1. Challenge within the curriculum
2. Challenge outside the curriculum
3. Opportunities to develop and share staff expertise
4. Raising the profile of languages internally and externally
These objectives have helped us to improve our schemes of work and the department offer as a whole and provide a more challenging and enriching experience for our students.
We have now graduated from the Schools Programme and are embarking upon our Associate Department research project, which involves a 3 year attempt to analyse and hopefully improve our extra-curricular provision still further so that we can raise enjoyment and recruitment levels.
MFL Residential: Friday 14th November – Monday 17th November 2014
Oxford Belfry Hotel
I was honoured to be asked to be a Teacher Leader at this residential for MFL Heads of Department who are just embarking upon their journey as part of the Schools Programme.
The Friday was a preparation day for the 5 teacher leaders with the PTI team before the delegates arrived on Saturday morning. There followed a rich programme of events including lectures from Oxbridge academics in French, German and Spanish, taster workshops in various languages including Hebrew and Arabic and of course seminars run by the teacher leaders where delegates hared good practice and discussed their various issues and problems. Highlights included an address by Emma Jane Kirby, respected Radio 4 journalist and committed language lover and an after-dinner speech on the Saturday night by Sir Ivor Roberts, a former UK Ambassador to various countries around the world.
As part of the programme, I was asked to bring two students from Gordon’s to form part of a 5-strong pupil panel who fielded questions from all of delegates over a two hour period. I am delighted to say that Tom Wood (Year 11) and Emily Hickin (Year 12) both acquitted themselves admirably and many delegates and members of the PTI Steering Group went out of their way to say how impressed they were with the way they conducted themselves and the answers that they gave. They were a credit to themselves and the school.
For further details, please refer to the PTI website:
http://www.princes-ti.org.uk/SummerSchool/2014ModernForeignLanguagesAutumn/