Ada Lovelace CofE High School is proud to be Lead School for the Thames West Language Hub.

The Thames West Language Hub aims to support high quality language education and high uptake of language learning in the local community, based on our experience in curriculum design, teaching and learning and wider learning. We are looking to work collaboratively to understand how to best support within each school's individual contexts in order that teachers are empowered to foster progress, attainment and motivation in language learning and that students are enabled to become proficient language learners and engage with the wider world.

We believe that knowledge of languages and intercultural agility can help to foster universal understanding and contribute to building a peaceful and harmonious world future. We need more and better language skills so that our country can take its place in a globalised economy, adding value to and widening opportunities for our students, our community and our society.

Funded by the Department for Education and led by the National Consortium for Languages Education (NCLE), a network of Language Hubs is re-energising language learning in state-maintained primary and secondary schools across England.

The Hubs bring together language teachers to help improve language education in England. Each Hub comprises up to seven partner schools working together to improve learning opportunities and outcomes for all pupils.

Harnessing the expertise within their region, the Hubs will develop training and spread excellent practice that will encourage more pupils to study languages throughout education from primary school onwards.

Our school will benefit from this focus on language learning through the recognition of the skills of our teachers and the wider sharing of our teaching knowledge.

How it works:

The Languages Hub programme focuses on French, German and Spanish learning as they make up over 90% of GCSE entries.  It also recognises the value of home, heritage, and community languages, signposting to supporting materials and good practice, and working with supplementary schools. 
 
The Language Hubs programme aims to provide: 

  • high quality language teaching in schools 
  • increasing languages uptake at GCSE
  • levelling up opportunities for disadvantaged pupils
  • an emphasis on improving the performance of boys
  • and better recognition of and support for the rich diversity of languages spoken in addition to English by one in every five of our pupils.

The German Promotion Project GIMAGINE is one part of this new initiative, set up specifically to raise the profile of studying German in depth, up to GCSE and A-Level.  There has been a steady decline in the numbers of pupils being entered for a German GCSE over recent years, a decline that, as a consequence, continues at A level and Higher Education. Given German is a strategically important language to the UK, particularly with regard to business and industry, it is necessary that we have plans in place to reverse this decline.   
 
The GIMAGINE project will help to:

  • support the professional advancement of German teachers
  • fund learning German through scholarships 
  • provides schools with classroom materials and teaching resources.