Modern Foreign Languages (MFL)

Key Stage 3 Modern Foreign Languages

At Key Stage 3, the languages department works to secure a strong foundation in grammar and vocabulary. All students will learn how to read, write, listen and speak about a range of topics, including families and relationships, use of technology, healthy lifestyles and travel and work opportunities. We use such topics as a springboard for reinforcing or deepening several SMSC elements addressed in PSCHE. We prioritise the teaching of grammar for all students, thereby improving school-wide literacy. Year 7 students learn the present, perfect and near future tenses; students in Year 8 either reinforce and secure these tenses, or learn the conditional, simple future and imperfect tenses too. We revisit this learning regularly with a ‘verb of the day’. We also emphasise the ‘immersive’ use of target language in the classroom, most importantly by the students themselves, as a vehicle for accelerating progression, developing oracy and delivering dynamic lessons.

Key Stage 3 French

You can access the Maps of Learning and Medium-Term Plans for French here:

Key Stage 3 Spanish

You can access the Maps of Learning and Medium-Term Plans for Spanish here:

Key Stage 4

Alongside the acquisition of a broad vocabulary and sound working knowledge of French or Spanish grammar, by studying French or Spanish GCSE students develop the ability to communicate more effectively. Gaining a greater understanding of how language works, is manipulated and constructed, will enhance our students’ capacity to speak, read and write in their first language(s). Literacy levels – both spoken and written - will improve and students can expect to enhance their memory and intellectual skill.

Against a national backdrop where the proportion of boys, disadvantaged students and those with special education needs and/or disabilities (SEND) engaging in languages after key stage 3 is low, all students must take at least one language GCSE (either French, Spanish or Latin) at Holland Park School. An Ofsted publication recently noted that ‘a failure to secure a good GCSE grade in a language is by far the most significant obstacle to achieving the EBacc’ (Curriculum research review series: languages 7 June 2021, p. 4). This is not the case in our school. We work hard to dispel the perception of languages as a difficult subject and we prioritise motivation as a key to success in all students’ learning, so that the EBacc is accessible for all.

Students must choose to study at least one of GCSE French, Latin or Spanish.  

Community Languages GCSE at Holland Park School

Congratulations to the 60 students who took a community language GCSE or A level in 2025! 

If you would like your child to sit a GCSE or A Level qualification in their home language at the school, this may be possible. We are unable to support with language tuition, but we can facilitate the examination. Please note that examinations will take place in 4 skills: reading, writing, speaking and listening. If your child is proficient in all 4 skills, please fill out the following form by Monday 15^th December: https://forms.office.com/e/bmLzWCBRQZ. As these qualifications are external examinations, and as such, carry a weight that younger students might find daunting, we generally advise that students take their language exam in years 9 or 10. Please note that the school cannot accommodate community language re-sits.

French

You can access the Medium-Term Plans and Maps of Learning for French here:

Spanish

You can access the Medium-Term Plans and Maps of Learning for Spanish here:

Key Stage 5 MFL (Sixth Form)

The studies about language learning are clear: people who speak more than one language are more likely to earn more, keep degenerative disorders at bay, and show greater empathy. Learning beyond your mother tongue demonstrates an appreciation of difference and a desire to broaden horizons.

At Key Stage 5, students take an A Level qualification, where they develop their competence in the chosen modern language(s); explore literature and film in this language (as a minimum, La Haine and Un Sac de Billes  in French and Maria, llena eres de Gracia and La Casa de Bernada Alba in Spanish); keep abreast with current affairs; and deepen their understanding and appreciation of the culture of the relevant countries. In Latin, students learn to translate, and explore and analyse prose and verse in their historical, political and literary contexts, with both seen and unseen passages.

Key Stage 5 French

More than 300 million people speak French on the five continents. A knowledge of French therefore not only gives you an advantage on the job market, but also offers direct access to Francophone culture including philosophy, cooking, fashion and literature. In the words of (Austrian) Wittgenstein, ‘the limits of my language mean the limits of my world’.

You can access the medium-term plans for French A level here:

Key Stage 5 Spanish

A Level Spanish truly makes the world global as it not only opens students' minds to the culture of Spain, but also the vast Spanish-speaking world with its many fascinating cultures and traditions.

You can access the medium-term plans for Spanish A level here: