SECONDARY SPANISH SCHOOL 2009

At the beginning of July the Modern Foreign Language Department at Haggerston School received The Award for the Secondary Spanish School 2009 at the Spanish Embassy.

Instituto Español del Año is an initiative of the Consejería de Educación of the Spanish Embassy (Department of Education at the Spanish Embassy) that seeks to identify and give recognition to those schools that excel in the promotion and provision of teaching of Spanish.

The status 'Instituto Español año 2009' is granted to up to 5 schools according to the following criteria:

• Provision of Spanish


• Pedagogical and curricular innovation


• Extracurricular activities


• Use of ICT


• International links

The fourth year of this competition was open to all primary, secondary schools and further education colleges in UK and has successfully drawn applications from 26 schools, both from state and independent sector.

A panel of experts visited the 10 short listed schools in May and June , attended lessons and interviewed head teachers, subject leaders, students and other members of the school community.

The scheme has gained increasing interest from the media and recognition from Ofsted in their reports of the winning schools. It has also helped to establish a vibrant net of schools where languages are an exciting part of the curriculum.

The Spanish Ambassador hosted a reception at the Spanish Embassy in London on Friday July 3 to present the Awards to the winning schools. Guests included Lid King, National Languages Director, who helped the Ambassador with the prizes, and representatives from national and local educational institutions and organizations.

The event provided an exceptional opportunity to learn from teachers and head teachers and head teachers as to why Spanish continues to be a success at Haggerston School.