I am pleased to tell you about an exciting collaborative project that we are piloting between Bushey Meads and our feeder schools of Little Reddings and Hartsbourne Primary Schools. Starting at the beginning of the Autumn term, I have been spending Monday afternoons with the fantastic pupils, Years 4-6 at Little Reddings, and waking up on Tuesday mornings looking forward to spending time with the brilliant Years 5-6 at Hartsbourne. Learning a new language is always a challenge, but the pupils have relished the chance to try something different and I am now greeted with “Bonjour Madame Crespi” and big smiles on my arrival, eager to know what we are going to learn. So far, we have covered topics including; greetings, numbers, telling the time and items in school bags.

The opportunities and learning from shared collaborative projects like this across the primary and secondary space are huge – aside from the communicative aspect, the young people start to become culturally informed, becoming aware of other languages and customs, and seeds are planted for a love of languages that may carry into later school life. A teacher from their local secondary school, being approachable and friendly, also gives them a sense that the transition to secondary learning is perhaps not as daunting as they may have previously thought, allaying any fear and anxiety in the pupils and contributing to their overall sense of wellbeing.