English language project
English has been part of the school’s educational approach from the earliest stages and has its own dedicated department, made up of teachers from the United Kingdom and the United States, as well as qualified professionals in English Philology, Translation, Interpreting and Applied Languages.
The team has designed a language programme that supports pupils throughout their entire school journey, combining the curriculum objectives for each year group with complementary activities adapted to different levels, learning paces and needs.
This journey, designed with a broad perspective, begins in Early Years, where pupils are exposed to English every day, beyond their specific language lessons. Members of the teaching team always speak to them in English, both in the classroom and at other times during the school day, as well as during celebrations, festivals, outings and school trips.
In this way, English is naturally incorporated into a wide range of contexts and experiences. It is also present in psychomotor activities, in the gym and playgrounds, and through songs, poems, stories and other resources from English-language children’s literature.
In the first years of Primary, pupils begin studying different subjects in English, further extending the language immersion that began in Early Years.
To accommodate different levels of English, we divide Primary classes into smaller groups for certain sessions. Working in smaller groups allows us to provide more personalised attention and, above all, gives pupils more opportunities to participate, express themselves and communicate in English.
In Secondary, we place particular emphasis on listening and speaking skills through conversation sessions, where pupils can practise the language in smaller groups and progressively develop greater fluency, broaden their vocabulary and gain confidence.
English also becomes the language of instruction for other subjects. In addition to two hours of Robotics each week, Secondary pupils have one hour of Social Sciences in English, covering History and Geography. These sessions follow a co-teaching model, allowing pupils to work on both subject content and language simultaneously in a real and applied context.
American Dual Diploma and Cambridge exams
In the second year of Secondary, our pupils have the opportunity to begin the American Dual Diploma, which enables them to obtain a dual qualification. They receive guidance and support from our team of experienced English language teachers, who have first-hand knowledge of Academica, the institution that runs the programme from the United States.
We also like to give pupils the opportunity to communicate with young people of their own age from English-speaking countries. With this in mind, we organise an immersion trip to Wales in the sixth year of Primary and, in the third and fourth years of Secondary, offer pupils the possibility of taking part in an exchange with students from a high school in the US state of Vermont.
Our school is also a Cambridge examination centre, which means that once a year pupils have the opportunity to sit the official A2 Key (formerly KET), B1 Preliminary (PET), B2 First (First Certificate in English) and C1 Advanced (Certificate in Advanced English) examinations at the school itself. As we offer them this opportunity, we also want to ensure that our pupils are well prepared to approach these examinations with confidence.
For this reason, we offer extracurricular classes focused entirely on preparing pupils for the different components of these official examinations: Reading, Use of English, Writing, Listening and Speaking.