We are extremely proud of the range of languages we are able to offer here in the MFL Department at the Westgate School. Our pupils have the choice of French, Spanish, German, Latin (as an Option) and, most recently, Mandarin. Also, we encourage pupils who have lived abroad to take their GCSE early.

We have high expectations of all our pupils and deliver well-planned, varied and interesting lessons. Every year, at GCSE level, we achieve a high % of A* & A in all 3 languages.

Pupils are encouraged to become imaginative, creative, resourceful and independent learners. We expect our pupils to be organised, conscientious and open-minded, to learn to appreciate different cultures and traditions and to become more understanding and tolerant of different ways of life through their language learning.

Much of every lesson is conducted in the target language so the pupils will experience and hear the language on a regular basis; by doing this pupils will become more confident in participating in the various skills, but especially in speaking the language. Each lesson will include the 4 skills, Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing.

We are exceptionally proud of our successful exchanges, which have been running regularly over many years. The pupils in Year 9 and Year 10 are offered the opportunity to participate in one or two of the well-established exchanges to Le Havre in France, Lübeck in Germany or Barcelona in Spain. As well as being great fun, their experience in one of the European countries enriches their cultural and linguistic awareness and helps to build their confidence in all aspects of the language.

Over the last few years, we have been very fortunate to have a good number of dual linguists who have achieved excellent results after only studying their second language for 3 years.  We would recommend that pupils who wish to study a second foreign language are highly motivated, linguistically able and are independent learners as there is a huge amount of work to cover in 3 years.  We set regular and relevant homework with the purpose of enabling pupils to consolidate their learning in class.  We expect pupils to complete homework to a high standard, as this will ensure good progress and success.