Modern languages

Why A Modern Foreign Language?

A recent report in the London Evening Standard indicates that students who leave school with a qualification in a Modern Foreign Language can add a minimum of £500 to their starting salary in a junior office job. For students who have completed courses at AS/A2 level or at NVQ the additional amounts to be earned can be substantially greater - as much as £5,000.

Students who have recently taken A levels or vocational courses at Plumstead Manor have gone on to study French, Spanish and a variety of other subjects such as Business Studies, Teaching and Travel, at university. Other students have gone on to work in a variety of interesting jobs in Leisure and Tourism, Finance and Catering, where their language skills were key to their gaining employment.

Activities and Clubs

• Outings organised for language students include visits to the theatre, cinema, Tourist Offices and Language Centres.
• Revision Clubs are organised in all the languages taught.
• The Modern Languages Department has its own intranet website through which students may access interesting and relevant materials in French, German, Spanish and Community Languages.

Community Languages

Plumstead Manor also provides opportunity for students to study and/or take an additional examination in a number of Community Languages. In recent years, students have achieved examination success in:

• Panjabi
• Urdu
• Gujarati
• Turkish
• Arabic
• Chinese
• Russian
• Modern Greek

Entry requirements:

We use EDEXCEL as the awarding body for examinations in French at GCSE level. Students studying German and Spanish follow the modular GCSE course, which is co-ordinated by AQA.