Languages: Enrichment & Support At Halcyon London International School

Languages:
Mother Tongue & English Plus

Introduction

Our students are inspired to use their voice in every area of school life. Our Mother Tongue Programme celebrates Halcyon’s varied linguistic heritage, while our English Plus programme empowers students to become connected, curious and skilled communicators in our community and our classrooms.

International-mindedness is a central part of the IB Learner profile. Creating a welcoming, celebrative and supportive international environment is key to our students’ academic success. From celebrating our international community through International Night to providing a thorough ‘Buddy Programme’ to assist both parents and students in their overseas transition to Halcyon, a welcoming environment of internationalism thrives here.

Mother Tongue Programme

We strongly believe in nurturing students’ skills in their ‘Mother Tongue’ languages. Preparing our students for life is a core aspect of our pioneering understanding of education: and the workplace of the future will demand that our children interact with cultures all over the world.

We build our Mother Tongue programme around the needs of each student. Current Mother Tongue provisions include Swedish, Italian, French, Icelandic, Japanese, German, and Hebrew.

Our language curriculum is a key part of this culture of internationalism, and we ensure that every student has the chance to be engaged in learning a language as part of the IB curriculum. We also provide an ‘English Plus’ programme for non-native speakers.

Our Diploma Programme students have access to a wide range of languages that we will seek to provide depending on demand and students’ initial ability. Our Grade 6-10 students may choose from either Spanish or Mandarin for the language component of the Middle Years Programme.

Languages: IB Language and Literature

English Plus

Our English Plus programme aims to uplift our non-native English speaking students in their learning. Our English Plus teacher provides assistance in bringing students to independently use online grammatical tools and vocabulary lists to equip them better in the classroom, as well as encouraging them to collaborate and assist each other as they develop their language ability.

English Plus programme is bespoke: Ms Fairweather works with each student’s other teachers to learn which concepts and vocabulary need further work. This means that our English Plus students do not miss out on their other subjects, but develop their understanding of them – it is fundamental that they are included as equal members of our community of learners from Day 1. We invite you to read our blog on the successes of our English Plus programme.

Admissions

Please note that we do require students to have a capable level of English ability when they begin at Halcyon: this is detailed fully in our Admissions critera.