Kingsworth International School Language Policy

This language policy articulates our beliefs regarding language and education at Kingsworth International School. Kingsworth International fosters high expectations in learning with a focus on growth mindset, inquiry, and integrity. Language plays a key role in international education, and this policy serves as a guide for teachers, students, parents, and staff, to ensure that all enrolled pupils have access to our full curriculum, from pre-nursery through grade twelve.

Guiding principles

Kingsworth Mission: Encouraging students through inquiry and mindfulness to believe in themselves and to reach their highest potential

Kingsworth Vision: We are a non-selective school that welcomes diverse students into our learning community and encourages them to believe in their highest potential. Our highly-trained faculty provides pupils with the support and guidance they need to thrive as learners today, and to grow and adapt to become an essential part of the global world of tomorrow.

The strength of our academic program stems from our flexibility and continuous evolution to meet the needs of all students in our community. We have high expectations of all of our students, from nursery through grade twelve: fostering them through inquiry and responsive teaching which meets the learner where they are and guides them to where they aim to be. We facilitate this journey with small class sizes and open-minded instruction and guidance.

We aim to instill in our students an inclusive, growth-mindset which permits them to try new things without fear of judgment or failure, and to feel at home in any community. Our vision is to build the international community of tomorrow through global-mindedness, interconnection, and understanding of our shared differences.

Best practices in the classroom at Kingsworth

Nursery and Lower Primary

Our nursery and early primary years classes (Pre-nursery through grade two/ TPS through CE1) are taught with a bilingual, text-based curriculum that encourages learners to thrive in lessons that are curated for proficient to native-level speakers of English and French. Classes are taught 50% of the time in English and 50% in French and share a similar topic each term so there’s a progression and a link between both languages.

Upper Primary

Our upper primary classes (grades three through five/CE2 through CM2) progress from a typical bilingual French/English division to a curriculum that supports increased learning hours in English, while continuing to offer instruction in French at a proficient or native speaker level. This evolution of teaching and learning hours in English supports a smooth transition to the Kingsworth middle school, and addresses the needs of an increasingly diverse international population at our school. Each year we welcome new pupils from around the world who have little or no prior academic contact with the French language. Most of these students will continue their international education in English.

Secondary

English is the primary language of instruction in our secondary school, with all subject areas in middle and high school taught in English. As part of the curriculum, students have mandatory French classes in middle school, which are divided into different levels according to student proficiency. For IGCSE and International A Level students, they are encouraged to continue their studies in French, and also have the option to study Spanish for external examinations.

Language Support

Pupils who require language support benefit from scaffolded and differentiated activities that target their levels. Students who need additional support in either or both languages spend one hour per week in small group EAL (English as an additional language) or FLE (français langue étrangère) lessons. These lessons are held weekly until the teachers determine that the pupil is able to comprehend and follow the standard classroom lessons. Once that comprehension is achieved, we believe that the pupil benefits from the environment of the main classroom, with the continued support of differentiated work provided by the teacher.

Phonics and Spelling Groups for Language Development in English

As part of our commitment to enhancing language development, in our primary school section we implement English phonics and spelling groups in the curriculum mixing students from GS and CP, as well as CE1 and CE2 according to their levels. These groups assist learning by dissecting words into their component sounds, examining how each sound is produced, and focusing on the cooperation between mouth and lips to generate specific sounds. Through these activities, children develop strong listening and speaking skills, which are essential for effective language acquisition and literacy. These groups also enable us to differentiate instruction based on the individual needs of our students, ensuring that each learner receives targeted support for their specific language development goals.

Teaching and Planning Practices

We employ a variety of teaching styles and learning techniques to enable students to access the whole curriculum, to cater for the variety of learning styles within each class and to ensure the progression and reinforcement of skills and concepts. We use the 6 reading domain method, Vocabulary, Inference, Prediction, Explanation and Retrieval, as part of our reading curriculum which are the key areas children need to know and understand in order to improve their comprehension of texts.

French Levels Sections and Language Support

To meet the needs of every student, the upper primary classes offer French Levels sections twice a week, in addition to one hour of FLE for pupils who are new to French. These levels allow pupils to study the French curriculum at a linguistic level that is appropriate for each student, from beginner to native fluency.

Music, sport, performing arts, recess, and canteen are bilingual environments, with teachers and supervisors representing both languages, or bilingual instructors. Students who are in the process of acquiring a new language benefit from these less-formal environments to use their new language in real life.

What this means:

  • Children in lower primary benefit from Kingsworth’s bilingual program in French and English.
  • Children in upper primary have increased learning hours in English, and French lessons tailored to their level of French.
  • Middle school children follow the Cambridge international program in English and have French lessons according to their levels.
  • High school students have the opportunity to continue their studies in French and can add Spanish to their curriculum.
  • Teachers incorporate methods and practices to ensure that all students have access to the full curriculum.
  • Pupils who are not able to comprehend lessons due to a language barrier are provided one hour each week of language classes for beginners, in English and/or French in addition to standard lessons in the target language.
  • School life at Kingsworth provides opportunities for pupils to progress in both languages of instruction.

Last reviewed September 2024