Language College What it means to study at a Language College The curriculum we offer is broad and balanced, and Grey Coat students go on to further and higher education well prepared to pursue their interests in every field. Language College gives our students something extra. All students at Grey Coat learn two languages from Years 7 to 9, and the majority continue with two at GCSE. A taster course in Mandarin goes alongside Spanish in Year 7. In Year 8, students start a full course in a second modern foreign language - this may be German, French or Mandarin. In the Sixth Form we offer language A levels in French, German and Spanish alongside GCSE Italian and an enrichment course in Mandarin. Students who wish to continue with Latin at A level do so at Westminster School, thanks to a long-standing independent-state school partnership. The special emphasis on languages at Grey Coat has implications for all our students. We expect all students to take part in a language exchange, usually in Years 9 or 10, and many girls have exchange partners in two countries. There are a wide variety of exchanges to suit all family budgets and the school offers grants in cases of hardship to ensure that all students can take part at least once.   Our Language College status has enabled us to explore exciting new techniques for the teaching of languages such as accelerated learning, interactive whiteboards, video conferencing and online learning. It has also enabled us to forge links with neighbouring primary and secondary schools, thus maximizing the sharing of good practice. We work with local Primary Schools teaching languages to Year 6 children. Modern Foreign Languages Department Click here to find out more about the Modern Foreign Languages curriculum. International Ethos Please click here to see how we promote the international in our school. Languages in the Community Please click here to find out about out adult language classes and work with local primaries. Sponsors The school was very fortunate to raise nearly £150,000 from private sponsors. Several institutions also gave their support to our bid. The majority of these funds were spent on creating a new classroom for video-conferencing and on the purchase of 60 laptops together with the wireless networking of the upper school building. The laptops are stored on trolleys which can wheeled into any classroom in the building, instantly transforming it into a computer room. The laptops are used by every department in the school and it is particularly pleasing to see the funds raised through our bid for specialist language college status benefiting all curricular areas. The following institutions contributed to our capital bid or supported our application: Sir John Cass’s Foundation John Lyon’s Charity HSBC Education Trust PricewaterhouseCoopers BP plc. Building Design Partnership, Architects, Engineers & Cost Consultants Foreign Commonwealth Office Language Group , www.fco.gov.uk SOAS Language Centre, School of African and Oriental Studies, University of London King’s College , University of London Chinese Community Office, Westminster City Council Cross River Partnership, City of Westminster Education Department We are very grateful to all these institutions for their support. Should you be interested in establishing a partnership with our school please contact the Language College Director, Flavia Lambert, on 020 79691998 or via email at flambert@gch.org.uk. Flavia can also be reached at the school address.