German
German Exchange Trip to Berlin: Summer 2007
Key stage 3
Double linguists have four periods of German a fortnight and follow a course based around Zick Zack Neu and Boardworks Key Stage 3. Depending on the size of the year group there are between 120 -150 double linguists (4 or 5 classes) Fresh start linguists are identified at the end of Y8 and are offered a change of language ie German either because this is a positive choice or because they have reached a linguistic ceiling in French or have been disapplied at the Middle School. Fresh start students who are of middle/lower middle ability have six periods of German a fortnight and follow a course which is based around Zick Zack Neu, Treffpunkt and Boardworks Key Stage 3. Fresh start students who are least able have three periods of German a fortnight and three periods of Key Skills. They follow a course which is based on Asset Languages Breakthrough level which is certificated by the College. This course is very internet based and makes extensive use of Linguascope, Languages online as well as ‘German for beginners’ and ‘Start’.
Key Stage 4
Option numbers for German are generally healthy with 50% - 60% of those studying German in Y9 continuing. This allows us to set in KS4. Typically there will be two Higher Tier GCSE sets and one or two Foundation Tier sets. The College has the capacity to offer an alternative course to GCSE and in the past has successfully run COEA. In the future we may consider a Short Course GCSE or NVQ Language Units but for such courses to run option numbers from the less able must be viable. The current German GCSE course is based on the Edexcel specification and is resourced by ‘Ja’ ‘Boardworks Key Stage 4’, ‘Birchfield’ ‘MPG GCSE’ ‘Linguastars’ and in house materials. We intend to replace ‘Ja’ when materials for the new GCSE become available. We are very proud of our academic success in German where our size of entry and percentage of A*-C is always well above the national and county averages.
Key Stage 5
Option numbers for AS German are generally between 8-12 and for A2 typically 5-8. Students have 11 periods a fortnight and follow a course based on the Edexcel specification resourced by ‘Brennpunkt’ and various web based materials. However, from September 2008 we shall be offering the WJEC specification which will probably be resourced by ‘Zeitgeist’. We have enjoyed a 100% pass rate at A level for over ten years and a number of our students continue to study a foreign language at university.
Exchanges and visits
WSCC has strong European links. Our German exchange with the ‘Freiherr vom Stein Gymnasium’ in Bünde (Nordrheinwestfalen) has been running for over 40 years. Our students enjoy participating in joint curriculum projects as well as visits to cities such as Bremen, Osnabrück and Berlin.