French is introduced as the first foreign language in Year 7 and pupils study it for 2 hours a week. In Years 8 and 9, this is increased to 3 hours a week (although the two top sets continue with 2 hours of French but also pick up 1 hour of Spanish). At KS4, pupils have the option of continuing with the language(s) studied to the full course GCSE (AQA). In the Sixth Form, students can continue with either language or both to A-level standard (AQA). There is an additional Latin option in the Sixth Form and we offer several language clubs. Recently, these have included Danish, Slovakian and Sign Language to name but a few.

We have a very successful “Asia Club” for students from Years 7 – 13, have been over many years closely involved in Cumbria Connecting Classrooms and enjoy links and exchanges with schools in Korea and Taiwan respectively. As a result of the international dimension at the school we hold Full International Status awarded by the British Council. In addition, our KS3 pupils have penfriends in French schools in Forbach and Quimper. We write letters and have Skype links with them.