Bilingual Stream at Shaftesbury Park Post Reply

[Shaftesbury]

Hi everyone,

We have posted some information on this website before and found it a really useful way to communicate with you and it also gave us some really useful parental contacts - thanks!

Just wanted to post some more information about the bilingual initiative, including a lovely poster (but sadly it's too big to go on the page!)

Following on from the successes of Wix (and more recently, Hotham in Putney), we will be opening our first bilingual stream in September 2013 for Reception children. We are fully supported by Wix Primary, Wandsworth Council and the French Embassy in this exciting new development.

Wandsworth have committed to over £1.5million investment to develop our school building over the next two years, and we are working hard with existing bilingual providers to develop our curriculum.

We will be holding an open evening for finding out more in the summer term, as well as more open mornings for the school in the autumn term. If you'd like to contact the school to be put on our contact list, so we can let you know about these events directly, please email us at bilingual@shaftesburypark.wandsworth.sch.uk or call us on 02072283652. You can visit our website at http://www.shaftesburyparkprimary.org.uk

See these articles for further info:

http://www.wandsworth.gov.uk/news/artic ... _bilingual

http://www.wandsworth.gov.uk/news/artic ... tion_works

[Shaftesbury]

hello again,

we have had many parents emailling in response to this post, many of whom are asking the same questions, so thought I'd answer a few 'FAQ's here!

1. The admissions criteria, like those at Wix, will be the standard Wandsworth admission criteria, so largely based on distance to the school etc.
2. Parents don't need to be native-French speaking, the most important factor is being willing to support their child's language learning.
3. It's fine for you to be on our mailing list if your child is starting school in the years after 2013, we will keep you posted with what's happening!

We will be holding a meeting for interested parents in June 2012 (we will be confirming the date in the next few days and can post it here). If you'd like to attend, call us at the school or email us at the address above and we will keep you updated.

Many thanks

[Shaftesbury]

As promised, we are planning to hold a meeting for interested parents in the summer term 2012, where we will share our vision of the bilingual stream, answer any questions you have and introduce our leadership team and Foundation Stage staff.

If you would like to attend our meeting on 19th June at 6.30pm, please contact us at bilingual@shaftesburypark.wandsworth.sch.uk so we can book you in. We are able to provide a creche if you would like to bring your children with you.

Thanks!

[Shaftesbury]

Hello all,

Just wanted to point out that we have a twitter account @shaftesburypk which you can follow for more information about our bilingual stream and school. Our latest bilingual stream news is that we are currently in the process of recruiting our first bilingual teacher, who will begin with us this September, so we will be providing even more language learning, even before the bilingual stream begins!

[Shaftesbury]

Hello again,

Just a reminder that our meeting for any parents interested in eharing about the bilingual stream at Shaftesbury Park is on Tuesday evening at 6.30pm. Please get in touch if you would like to attend at the contact details given above. The meeting will be introduced by John Johnson, Wandsworth's Assistant Head of Children’s Services, Standards and Schools, and of course, our staff and governors will also be there to discuss our future plans.

Many thanks

[Shaftesbury]

Hi again!

Shaftesbury Park will be holding several open mornings in October - on the 10th and 17th from 9.30 to 11am for those who are interested in the 2013 Reception classes (which will include our first bilingual class).

If you would like to attend, please contact us at bilingual@shaftesburypark.wandsworth.sch.uk or phone 02072283652

thanks

[Shaftesbury]

Hi all,

If you weren't able to attend our recent open mornings and would like to come and visit the school to have a look around and meet our staff, you are more than welcome. Get in touch with us at the school and once we have an idea of numbers, we will organise it for you.

Many thanks

[breakfastattiffanys]

BTW - Are you aware that on Wandsworth Council's site advertising Primary School Open days they list Shaftesbury's as being on the 10th and 24th October?
http://www.wandsworth.gov.uk/info/20016 ... _open_days

[Shaftesbury]

I wasn't breakfastattiffanys but thank you for being eagle eyed and pointing it out! Luckily all parents got in touch with the school and so we were able to provide them with the correct information. I don't think anyone has turned up for an open morning today
many thanks

[Emilie1]

Hi,

I have a question.

How does the school expect the parents of children from non-French families to support their learning of the French language at home?

In my view, children from non-French families who do not speak French at home would need tutoring sessions two or three times a week if not every day in order to manage their French homework.

French is a difficult language and we are not in France where a non-French speaking child could pick-up French easily. Helping a child with his/her homework when one cannot speak French fluently could prove very difficult/impossible for some parents.

The reality is that even children from French speaking parents or Franco-English parents living in the UK struggle to speak French fluently. Given the chance, they will rather speak English than French with their friends.

It may worth asking the staff at Wix how non-French speaking are getting on with helping their children with homework and whether the fact that more children from non-speaking families got in the bilingual stream this year will affect the results of the bilingual stream. It was very successful until now but this may not be the case in the future because of this.

Has anyone thought of the chances of success of this bilingual stream at Shaftesbury Park if the support by parents of the French language at home is inadequate?

What can parents do PRACTICALLY to support their child's learning of French?

I think that this is what Shaftesbury Park School should explain very clearly to parents so that they can make an informed decision about sending their children to this experimental bilingual class. Will they need to hire a tutor? how many hours a week? How much will it cost? Are the parents able to read and write French perfectly themselves?

Other questions which remain to be answered are:

- where will the children go from there? English secondary schools? The Lycee?

- will the curriculum be also supervised by the French equivalent of OFSTED?

- what is currently being done to bring the school to an OFSTED Outstanding level? I imagine this would also play a role in the parents' decision to send their children to this school.

I very much look forward to receiving your answer.

Kind regards,

E

[Shaftesbury]

Hi there,
Many of the questions

[Shaftesbury]

Many of the questions that you raise apply to all non selective state bilingual providers who adhere to the published Wandsworth admissions criteria. In both [Wandsworth admissions to] Wix and Hotham there is no control over the languages spoken by families/ children and there are currently no plans that this will ever be a selection criteria. As such, both schools have found they have a great deal of families who are non native French speakers and champion this choice.

As with any child in any school in any area of the curriculum which is new/ challenging to a child, we would stress the importance and level of parental support needed to achieve the very best. Parents that do make the choice to buy into bilingual education should be fully aware of their crucial role in supporting their children.

The experience of many bilingual providers we are working with find that parental networks are common and successful, and we will certainly be encouraging this. As in any bilingual setting, a parent will have to ensure that they make the most of opportunities provided by the school (for example, extra curricular provision) and actively seek out opportunities such as making play dates with French peers, joining French language clubs, French baby sitters, holidays to France and embracing French culture etc. Parents at many schools hire tutors for their children, and this is at their discretion.

We have met with the Lycee and although they are very supportive of our plans, there are currently no plans for children from Shaftesbury Park to have an automatic place there – it’s so over-subscribed! I do know they would love to open another secondary school but need the right premises. As there is no requirement to follow the French national curriculum, we will not be supervised by any French inspections.

With regards to school improvement, it would be very difficult to list in detail all the things we have done and continue to do since our last ofsted inspection, however with a clear vision from the leadership team about how to make things even better and an emphasis on excellent teaching and learning we are well placed to continue to improve the education and experiences of all of our pupils.

There is lots more info on our website (bilingual school tab) so please have a look at that. If you have any further queries, please contact us at bilingual@shaftesburypark.wandsworth.sch.uk as we cannot access this website from school and it is rather difficult to post so much from a phone – I have lost 2 attempts at writing this already! I’m not sure if you have managed to visit us yet, but parents who have been able to attend our information meetings/ open mornings have had the opportunity to discuss many of these queries in person.

[nwt]

Would it be possible for a parent from a non-French speaking home but who has a child attending Wix be willing to comment on benefits of a bilingual school?

My child didn't get into the school's closest to us (Belleville, Honeywell) - much to my initial heartbreak and disapointment.

We were given Shaftesbury Park and thought to make the best of the situation before going down the private educatoin route.

And I'm glad I did.

The dedication to reading and phonics in the early years is fantastic. When comparing the first few weeks with my NCT mums (who now live in different areas) my son is already reading, sounding our words and writing while their children haven't done much phonics to date at their schools (in Tring and Dulwich).

The class sizes are smaller (16 in my sons reception class) which means each child benefits from added time with the teacher and teaching assistants.

As for the introduciton of French, I can only think that this is a positive thing? But would be keen to hear from any Wix parents out there especially as there are numerous calls for an extra reception class at the school due to high demand.