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DEPARTMENTAL INFORMATION (updated 30/9/04)

Extracts from the department handbook.

Setting and time allocation / Marking Policy / Assessment Policy / Target Language Policy / ICT Policy

Behaviour & Rewards Policy / Policy on General Methodology /

Liaison with St.Olave's / Foreign Exchanges/ Coursework/ Differentiation

SETTING AND TIME ALLOCATION

YEARS 9-11 FRENCH

Years 9, 10 & 11 are divided into 5 sets, setted by ability according to the pupil’s performance in St. Olave’s or previous school. Movement between the sets is possible at any time.

• Year 9 = 4 x 40 minute periods per week
• Year 10 = 4 x 40 minute periods per week
• Year 11 = 5 x 40 minute periods per week

YEARS 12 & 13 FRENCH

AS (year 12) & A2 LEVEL (year 13)

Each year group is divided into two or three sets, (about 8-10 in each) by ability.

• Year 12 = 7 x 40 minute periods per week (plus 1 with the assistant)
• Year 13 = 8 x 40 minute periods per week (plus 1 with the assistant)

YEARS 9-11 GERMAN

In year 9, about half the year group does German, (the remainder do Spanish) and the subject becomes an option from year 10.

• Year 9 = 3periods per week
• Years 10 and11 = 4 periods per week

YEARS 12 AND 13 GERMAN

There is one set in each year group with about 5 pupils in each year.

• The time allocation is as French ( plus one with the assistant).

YEAR 9 - 11 SPANISH

In year 9, about half the year group does Spanish, (the remainder do German) and the subject becomes an option from year 10. Any pupil joining the school with no Spanish or German will join an ab initio Spanish group which we aim to 'fast track' to enable pupils to join the mainstream at the end of the year.

• The time allocation is as German

YEAR 12 (AS level) SPANISH (moving on to A2 in 2005)

There are two sets with about 16 pupils.

The time allocation is as French.

MARKING POLICY

FRENCH

MARKING POLICY (& exercise books used)

1) All pupils' work for marking will be done in the blue exercise book.

2) The blue book is to be used for major preps or classwork involving written French eg letters or accounts or major listening or reading exercises. The work should be properly presented (date, heading etc) and will always be handed in for marking and recording by the teacher. Where appropriate, it should be marked out of twenty using the mark grid below. Work of this type should be set at least once per month.When a piece of prose work is marked out of 20 the following criteria will be used. This mark will be applied with due consideration given to the level of French being attempted. This grid must be stuck inside the front of the blue book.

A comment on presentation should be added if it needs improving.

Non prose workIt might be felt appropriate to occasionally set ‘blue book’ work of a less formal nature. This might include such activity as a storyboard for example. In this event, or whenever the nature of the work makes the above mark scheme inappropriate, the teacher should use an impression mark out of 20 with a clear and as positive as possible annotation at the end of the work.

3) The orange book (the "cahier de travail") is to be used for short (one word/letter) exercises or preparation for oral etc. These could be classwork or prep and will usually be marked collectively and therefore not necessarily seen or recorded by the teacher, although some important ones may be done as a piece of classwork or prep and be marked and recorded. Pupils must be encouraged to keep these books as carefully as is reasonable.

4) Worksheets form an integral part of the course. Where a prep has been done on a worksheet, this may be marked in class, or by the teacher, depending on the nature of the exercise. If there is no further need for this worksheet then it should be disposed of and not retained in the pupil's wallet file. If the sheet has valuable material eg vocabulary or grammar, then this should be transferred to the relevant exercise book. If the sheet has valuable exercise material then it should be stuck into the blue exercise book.

The HoD will carry out occasional checks of all exercise books.

5) The green book (A4 format) is the vocabulary book. A copy of the GCSE topic areas should be stuck inside the front cover and the topic must be indicated along the right edge in order to facilitate rapid access to each topic. Pupils should accumulate vocab under the relevant topic as they work through all materials in the course. They may be given a photocopy of the vocab page in the teacher’s book (ET3) to help with this, or instructed to copy material from the sommaire of each unit.

6) The red book is the grammar book. This will probably have been started in St.Olave’s – if so pupils should be encouraged to continue with the same book. Each page should be indexed in the front.

GERMAN

1) At GCSE level all pupils` work for marking will be done on file paper and kept in the appropriate part of a ring binder which will be divided up into topic areas. Vocabulary will be recorded within each topic area. There should also be a section at the back of the file for any listening or reading activities done on sheets and any miscellaneous vocabulary that arises from these exercises. In the Third Year all work for marking will be done in an A4 blue exercise book and vocabulary will also be recorded here by sticking in the end of chapter summaries or copying in any required vocabulary which is not on these sheets. All work should be properly presented (date, heading etc). It should be marked out of 20 in line with the departmental marking policy (see French scheme) and the mark should be recorded.

2) Pupils will have a large yellow exercise book which they will use for recording grammar.

3) A purple exercise book is to be used for short exercises done as classwork or prep. This will include listening and reading activities. Pupils should use this book as neatly as possible and work should be dated and headed.  These will be taken in periodically by the class teacher to monitor/record marks for listening/reading tasks.

4) Pupils will also be given a plastic wallet in which to keep their textbooks, grammar books and exercise books to keep them in good condition.

SPANISH

1) All pupils' work for marking will be done in the blue exercise book.

2) The blue book is to be used for major preps or classwork involving written Spanish eg letters or accounts. The work should be properly presented (date, heading etc) and will always be handed in for marking and recording by the teacher. It should be marked out of twenty, on an impression basis, and the mark recorded. The impression will take into account content, fluency of language and accuracy. Work of this type should be set at least once per month.

3) The orange book is to be used for short (one word/letter) exercises. These could be classwork or prep and will usually be marked collectively and therefore not necessarily seen or recorded by the teacher, although some important ones may be done as a piece of classwork or prep and be marked and recorded. Pupils must be encouraged to keep these books as carefully as is reasonable and work should be dated and headed.

4) Worksheets form an integral part of the course. Where a prep has been done on a worksheet, this may be marked in class, or by the teacher, depending on the nature of the exercise. If there is no further need for this worksheet then it should be disposed of and not retained in the pupil's wallet file. If the sheet has valuable material eg vocabulary or grammar, then this should be transferred to the relevant exercise book. We use the green books for vocabulary and the red books for grammar. If the sheet has valuable exercise material then it should be stuck into the blue exercise book.We also use a yellow book in the GCSE years for conversation and role plays.

Pupils record and are tested regularly on vocabulary from each topic as a means of building up a thorough vocabulary base.

Oral and listening tests are done regularly in order to maintain a high standard in all four of the skills.

ASSESSMENT POLICY

FRENCH

As a set reaches the end of a unit, the unit assessment should be used (excluding the oral section). One lesson should be taken for each of the other 3 elements. If the teacher feels it appropriate, it may be possible to mark the reading and listening elements collectively after they have been completed, in the lesson, (re-distributing papers first, of course). The writing and vocabulary sections should always be marked by the teacher. Care should be taken to ensure that the material is appropriate for the ability of the pupils and alterations made as necessary. It would be useful if any supplementary material could be word-processed and kept on the computer. Oral assessment can be carried out during group work lessons. Pairs of pupils can be heard and a record made of their performance on the Assessment Record Sheet kept in their group work file.Assessment results may be recorded on the computer in GO2/GO1 using Excel to calculate totals and create ranking. Whether recorded on computer or not the result sheets should be kept in the brown ring file in GO2. The results of the assessments can be used as the basis for deciding the rank attainment order in each set for the school orders and as a guide in any discussions regarding set changes. Whenever an assessment falls just after the Christmas or Easter vacation the teacher may consider 'slimming down' the material to a one lesson test of the main grammar and vocabulary areas of the unit. This test should be word processed and saved on GO 2 computer for future use/reference. The Head of Department must be informed and a copy of the test placed in the Writing file for the unit test in the GO2 cabinet. In addition the teacher must place a record of results in the brown GO2 file as usual.

GERMAN

There are common assessments for each unit of Logo 3 and 4 for the Third and Fourth Years and these have been indicated on the scheme of work. Not all four skills are tested in each unit but all four skills are tested at some point over all the assessments. There are no common assessments in the Fifth Year due to the pressures of coursework etc. However, in all years there should be regular vocabulary and grammar tests set by each individual teacher. Marks for the common assessments should be passed to the HoD and will be stored in a file centrally.

SPANISH

The AS course is taught as a series of topics and the ability of each student is assessed at regular intervals throughout the year. There will be written, aural and oral assessments to ensure that the student is competent in dealing with the vocabulary and phrasing needed for the topic. There are also vocabulary tests on key words in each of the topic areas. The results are recorded in the teacher's marking file. As the department expands, the results will be recorded centrally on computer and in a file

TARGET LANGUAGE POLICY

As much use of the target language should be made as possible. However, setting of prep, if initially done in target language, should always be followed by clear explanation in English. Grammar explanations, after initial "drilling" if appropriate, will normally be carried out in English. As a general rule, if something could be explained in 2 minutes using English but 20 using the target language, then English should be used. Target language should usually be used for normal classroom communication between teacher and pupil and, as far as is practical, between pupil and teacher. Pupils who have understood an instruction should be encouraged to explain it in English to their peers. The teacher should encourage pupils to use as much target language with each other as possible, beyond the obvious pair work or group work exercises. The use of the target language is therefore of great importance, but should NOT be allowed to dictate when other factors, such as need for clear explanation or the need to explain something quickly to keep the lesson flowing, are more important. Each classroom has prompt cards prominently displayed at the front of the room to aid pupils.

ICT POLICY

All pupils in the department should have access to the department’s networked computers and/or the IT room. This can be achieved through weekly group work lessons (whereby a rota of activities is followed). Pupils should be able to use all the specific software available and, where appropriate, should be encouraged to use word processors, desktop publishing etc to aid in the production of their work. The department’s web site has vocabulary tests based on the Encore Tricolore course. The computers are also available at lunchtimes and all pupils should be made aware of the opportunity to use the computers, in the foreign language, for recreational purposes. Use can also be made of the Internet link to create relevant and up-to-date material for class use and for pupils’ own research. Pupils, particularly those with correspondents at our twin lycée in Brochon, should also be encouraged to make use of the E-mail facility and chat software. Staff are encouraged to use the computers for their own word processing and may use it for record keeping. See the 'Software' section under 'Materials' for packages available.

BEHAVIOUR AND REWARDS POLICY

This is governed by the standards and mechanisms in place within the school. If a pupil fails to complete a prep, then the teacher could detain the pupil (lunchtime preferably) in order for the work to be completed. A period of "grace" could have been given beforehand. Repeated instances of failure to produce prep or to work properly in class should be referred to the pupil's tutor and/or housemaster/mistress. The HoD may also be brought in if thought to be useful.  In the rare event of serious indiscipline, the same route should be followed.  Rewarding a pupil for particularly excellent work should be done through the school's merit system

Effort grades

E = trying very hard in all aspects of the subject. preps done conscientiously and handed in on time with good level of presentation thereby showing time and thought given. Level of attainment as good as could be expected according to ability.

·        Tests show evidence of very good attempt to learn material according to ability

·        Regular attempts to contribute in all class question/answer sessions. (ability irrelevant) 

G = all the above to a lesser extent, usually not quite so good at class contribution. 

S = as above down the scale even more.

·        Existing by doing what is required, when required, for the most of the time.

·        Contributes little in class, unless asked directly, and then OK.

C = as above but further down the scale.

·        Existing by doing what is required, when required for some of the time.

·        In class, mute most of the time, reluctant to contribute even when asked directly

·        Could be applied to an idle, intelligent pupil as well as a weak pupil not trying to improve.

U = any one (or more) of the following:

·        Problem with prep not done on time on several occasions (2 or 3) and/or done to a very poor level suggesting no time or thought given.

·        Poor concentration in class

·        Poor level of discipline

·        Poor organisation

POLICY ON GENERAL METHODOLOGY

Teachers should;

• follow schemes of work and departmental policies, making use of supplementary materials as appropriate.
• always have due regard for the requirements of the examination boards.
• attempt to make maximum use of the resources within the department by eg creating group work lessons in which pupils can, on a rota basis, experience the computers, the video, etc.
• keep accurate and up to date records on pupil progress.
• use the target language whenever appropriate.

COURSEWORK

The rules very clearly state that, once the plan has been completed, at no time can a pupil receive any help from anyone other than that provided by the teacher to the class in topic teaching. Pupils and parents will be informed of this before the first piece of GCSE coursework is started and again before the first piece of A2 coursework.

DIFFERENTIATION

The department recognises the need to differentiate between pupils of different ability, although, in French this is achieved to a certain extent by the vertical setting. All colleagues should be aware of the needs of individuals within their set and plan work accordingly. It must be stressed that this applies as much to the gifted pupils as it does to those with learning difficulties. The nature of language teaching lends itself well to appropriately varied strategies, such as auditory, visual and kinaesthetic, and most lessons should include a variety of approaches and skills. Flashcards, flow charts, mind mapping, colour coded word exercises, story boards, oral pair work and other such common language teaching techniques all have a part to play. Exercises in the course books, which provide for a large degree of differentiation, should be selected with the above in mind. Differentiation is also achieved through the use of a different text book from year 10 with lower set(s).

DEPARTMENT MEETINGS

A full department meeting is held as necessary, usually once a week, with a published agenda and minutes and action notes made.

LIAISON WITH ST. OLAVE’S

HoD St.Olave’s and HoD St.Peter’s meet frequently and regular liaison is seen as an essential part of our work. The red grammar exercise book started in St.Olave’s is carried through to St Peter’s as is the vocabulary book. Full information is passed on about year 3 pupils coming from St. Olave’s – indeed the St. Peter’s year 3 sets are initially created by the St. Olave’s HoD. Our facilities have been offered, but geography of the campus and timetable constraints have made use of them impractical. We try to make the pupils feel that what has been started in St.Olave’s is simply being continued in St. Peter’s.

EXCHANGES

Pupils should be encouraged to participate on the French and/or German exchanges.

FRENCH EXCHANGE (Collège Champ Lumière, Selongey and Lycée Stéphen Liégeard, Brochon)

We visit France in October and receive the French at the beginning of the Easter holiday. Both stays last 10 days including school to school travel by coach. The exchange is on the normal family to family basis. 15 pupils from J5 and Year 3 visit the Collège Champ Lumière in Selongey, a village 20kms North of Dijon and 20 pupils from year 5 to the U6 visit the Lycée Stéphen Liégeard in Brochon, a village in the Burgundy vineyards about 10kms south of Dijon. As some girls transfer from the collège to the lycée at the age of 15, it is possible to have the same correspondent from J5 to the U6. Pupils spend time in school with their correspondents and take part in excursions many of which are planned to link in with the sixth form 'A' level coursework topic based on a study of Burgundy. The exchange almost always greatly improves a pupils skill in the language and is leading to an increasing number of family links with visits taking place at other times of the year.

GERMAN EXCHANGE

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