• KS3 students can enjoy a day trip to Boulogne!
  • The department offers a chance to polish language skills through the MFL Poetry Live public speaking competition.
  • KS3 study days - such as this one to the BFI in London - give students the chance to stretch themselves.
  • Students can even try French cuisine!
The aim of the MFL department is to create confident and competent life-long language learners. We encourage students to apply their linguistic knowledge to understand and communicate confidently and effectively in a variety of situations. We work as a team to deliver stimulating, challenging and enjoyable lessons that are accessible to all students and which enable them to realise their full potential. We also aim to raise awareness of the richness and diversity of other cultures so that pupils encounter different ways of seeing the world, and develop an international outlook.

All boys in Key Stage 3 are entitled to study a modern foreign language, and we encourage boys to continue with either French or Spanish at GCSE level. We aim to develop the practical skills involved in language learning: communication, team-working, inter-personal, problem-solving, and organisation.

At Isleworth & Syon School, we strongly believe that learning a language can be good fun. Furthermore, the ability to communicate in a foreign language is invaluable when applying for universities and jobs. Speaking a foreign language is a vital skill, as 75% of the world’s population does not speak English and 60% of Britain’s trade is with non-English speaking countries. British businesses lose millions every year because they cannot speak their customers’ languages, and universities value MFL qualifications very highly.

Each year, we aim to offer trips to France in order to enable our students to put the language skills they have learned into practice. We also have a range of extra-curricular activities for students to get involved in.

We organise a number of clubs and trips for our students. These include:

  • Cine-Club – once a week at lunchtime.
  • MFL Karaoke Club – once a week at lunchtime.
  • Trips to the British Film Institute to study French cinema
  • Visit to a French crêperie

We also offer a number of overseas trips throughout the year:

  • To the French city of Boulogne
  • An exchange visit to France linked with a French school.

These visits represent a great opportunity to develop cultural awareness of France, develop confidence and fluency in the language, and increase student motivation.