Specialist Language College

The Earth and Languages

"Language Matters" at Cardinal Heenan Catholic High School:
A Specialist Language College

Cardinal Heenan Catholic High School was awarded Language College status in 2003. Thanks to the additional funding which this brought, we have been able to widen the scope of language-learning both for our students and staff and for the community.

Cardinal Heenan students have excellent opportunities for learning a wide range of Foreign Languages, including:

A curriculum which offers a choice of French or Spanish to GCSE level;
"Taster" courses in Japanese and German in Year 9;
The opportunity to study Irish, Italian or Latin to GCSE level in after-school classes;
An extensive programme of lunchtime, after-school and evening classes in several languages
A state-of-the-art environment in which to learn languages, with videoconferencing facilities, satellite television, interactive whiteboards in every classroom, and a multi-media ICT suite / language laboratory with 30 stations;
An annual programme of overseas visits and exchanges
Experience of working with native speakers on a daily basis.

Having Specialist Language College status means more than just teaching and learning foreign languages. Within the school community we strive to promote and celebrate an international ethos which values the different cultures of people across the world.

Educational visits play an important part in broadening our pupils' horizons, and every year many of our students participate in language 'events' in this country and overseas, with annual educational visits to France and Spain. In addition, we regularly welcome international visitors to the school: our students have recently had the opportunity to meet visitors from Sweden, Japan and China.

As part of the Comenius programme, funded by the British Council, we have links with schools in Poland, Finland and Italy.

In addition to our annual International Week and Global Heritage Day, there are on-going cross-curricular projects which involve our students and staff working with their counterparts in other countries.

We are now working to achieve the International School Award, awarded by the British Council, which will acknowledge our commitment to developing a truly international ethos.