French

More detail can be found about all of our academic faculties under the Curriculum sections of our website that cover the Third Form Curriculum, the Fourth Form Curriculum (leading up to GCSE) and the Sixth Form Curriculum.

We aim not simply to focus on exam preparation but to provide enjoyable and interesting courses. We stimulate students' interest through the use of challenging material, such as Literature and more advanced grammar for the upper sets, starting in the Third Form. We choose more literary and cultural options than non-literary in the Sixth Form, as this is the best preparation for Higher Education.

We have been following the Cambridge Pre-U course in the Sixth Form from September 2008, which we believe motivates, challenges and rewards the student, prepares them to an outstanding level for university and, importantly, inspires the teachers.

Large numbers of students participate in our two annual French trips, aside from the fact that France is a major tourist destination for Shrewsbury family holidays. Sixth Formers are immersed in a French linguistic and cultural experience in Bordeaux, whilst Lower School students have recently been to Paris, Burgundy, Toulon and Montpellier.

Our links with Bordeaux University have provided us with the very best of language Assistants, in the form of our Bordeaux Fellow. In addition to ensuring that students become as fluent as possible in speaking the language, they have inspired students to great effect through helping with the wide range of cultural extra-curricular activities laid on:

• Recent performances directed by Faculty staff of Ionesco's play, La Cantatrice Chauve, Beckett's Endgame and Moliere's L'Avare.
• French dinners, with guests, and return invitations, from a local school.
• French Lunchtime Seminars led by staff here on topics such as Algerian Literature, Gaugin, Linguistics, Montaigne, The French Resistance, Poetry, Women Writers....
• Trips to university conferences.
• Access to French TV.
• Wine-tastings.
• A French cinema weekend club.
• Trips to the theatre or cinema to see French plays or films in Shrewsbury, Birmingham, Manchester and Liverpool.

Language learning has been revolutionised over the past decade with the development of technology. We are delighted with the school's investment in multi-media equipment for every classroom - all 10 rooms have a digital multi-media projector, digital and analogue satellite TV and radio, and networked computers with DVD, CD and video. The Multi-Media Room is particularly valued by our students. The combination of audio-visual images and language brings the learning experience alive. The ability to work at one's own pace and choose activities, with teacher support, is a further bonus. 

We are proud that a number of students have attained one of the top 5 marks nationally at GCSE and A Level in recent years, and that so many continue to Higher Education, including most years, Oxford and Cambridge.

A Level Results - French
In 2010, for the first time, all our students studied the Cambridge Pre-U syllabus (and the A* grade was introduced for A Levels).

GCSE Results