Languages are housed in our own suite of five classrooms, each well equipped with computer and speakers, and a central Languages Office for resources and admin storage. All of our classrooms have fully networked computers connected to interactive whiteboards. We have DVD/video facilities, a Departmental flip camera and Digital voice recorder used for recording role-plays and student presentations. Our team is experienced, consisting of seven full-time and two part-time members of staff. There is a Head of Faculty and a Curriculum Leader for both French and Spanish. We are an extremely supportive team of teachers who work together to help all students achieve their best.
Our curriculum
Students at Windsor High School and Sixth Form learn either French, German or Spanish from Year 7 until the end of KS3; with the language they study decided by the tutor group they join. As Spanish was introduced in to the curriculum for the first time in 2010, our Year 8 students will also get the unique opportunity of studying a second language (French, German or Spanish) alongside their first language. Approximately half of Year 9 will also be taught a second language (French, German, Spanish or Latin). This will enable them to continue with either language to GCSE and also enable dual linguists at KS4. We follow the AQA course for French and German and follow the same course for Spanish from September 2011, with our students consistently 
achieving results well above National Average. Our team is fully committed to enabling students to achieve their very best, and making the whole experience of learning a Language as fun and stimulating as possible. With the opening of the Sixth Form in September 2010 opportunities for linguists have been further enhanced. French was introduced at AS level in September 2010 and this year we look forward to embracing both AS and A2 levels in French and AS German with a view to introducing Spanish in 2012. We will continue to follow the AQA course which will build upon both the language and experiences of KS4.
International Links
We enjoy very strong links with both France and Germany and we are looking to develop links with Spain, and use these contacts fully to provide our pupils with authentic access to the target language countries. Pupils studying German have the opportunity to take part in an annual trip to Germany near to our partner school situated in an idyllic location on the edge of the Black Forest. Teams of pupils compete against each other in a range of sports, with the winning school taking home The Two Nations Trophy.
Pupils studying French have taken part in joint projects with our partner school in France over a number of years. For the past three years pupils have been given the opportunity to spend four days in LeTouquet in northern France.
At Windsor, we believe that language learning should be an exciting and rewarding experience. This is why we are giving our pupils a practical yet exciting opportunity to communicate with our partner schools via video conferencing.
Events
We continually celebrate all languages and cultures, not just those which we teach. Every year during Alternative Curriculum Day, teachers use their knowledge and expertise to offer students a taster session in other languages such as Chinese, Japanese, Mandarin and Spanish, as well as running workshops which focus on multicultural society.
Students at Windsor are also given the opportunity to take part in exciting events organised by the Modern Foreign Language Faculty throughout the year. We celebrate annual events such as the European Day of Languages, Europe Day and one off events such as the World Cup, the Olympics and the UEFA Euro where the whole school gets involved in various activities that brings students together and offers a great opportunity to teach pupils about countries and cultures from around the world in a fun and exciting way.
Extra curricular activities
We have a Spanish club for pupils in KS3 and our KS4 Language Leaders run two foreign language classes for our Year 7. We have also been fortunate enough this year to introduce a Japanese club across all Key Stages. Our Japanese tutor visits school every Thursday afternoon and delivers lessons both in main school before moving up to Sixth Form for a twilight session. It is our aim for pupils to leave the school with the knowledge that languages are all around them and play an important role in everyday life.
We also try to involve all the family with sessions such as conversational Spanish for parents.
Our team is also keen to support our KS4 pupils with weekly after school classes. As a result, we have obtained very successful results in the past years.
Best practice
This is an exciting Faculty to work in. We use a wide range of up to date teaching materials and work collaboratively to share ideas and best practice. We are all reflective practitioners, welcoming opportunities for paired observations both within the Faculty, school and in other schools with whom we have strong links. Most of the Faculty are trained mentors for the Graduate Teacher Programme and PGCE students and we welcome the new experiences these trainees bring to the Faculty.
Faculty priorities
Our current priorities for development are to use new technologies to further enhance learning opportunities, to deliver our international links by both running successful visits abroad and developing our video-conferencing links and to successfully introduce a second language across the Curriculum.