Modern Foreign Languages

Head of Department: Ms R Willetts

Department Introduction

The Modern Foreign Languages Department at HBHS is staffed by five specialist language teachers including two native speakers. Each member of the team has enjoyed a varied and wide-ranging experience of living, travelling, working, teaching and studying overseas across Europe and beyond.

Miss Willetts is head of the department and also an examiner for AQA GCSE French Speaking exams. Her language specialisms are French, German and Linguistics. Although fiercely proud of her Mancunian roots, she has lived and worked in many countries around the world including Bermuda, Togo (W Africa), Greece, France, Switzerland and the USA. This is her ninth year at HBHS.

Support leader for the department is Mr Dubois, a native French speaker who also teaches Spanish. Mr Dubois is originally from Dunkerque but has lived in Kent for many years. He first came to the UK in 2005 to work as a language assistant at a school near Glasgow but has worked here at HBHS for eleven years.

Mrs Newell is a Spanish specialist and has travelled extensively throughout South America. She has worked part-time in the department for six years.

Ms Pecqueux is a native speaker of French who proudly hails from Belgium. She is fluent in Russian and has spent time living and working in Belarus, Poland and Russia. This is her third year at HBHS.

In September 2019, we welcomed Mr Jarvis, who recently moved from Mexico to Kent but is originally from Scotland. He is our Schools Direct trainee for this academic year and has been tasked with re-introducing Spanish to the department.

Those students who choose to pursue GCSE French will enjoy a challenging but rewarding course, which starts in year 9. We follow the AQA GCSE French specification which culminates in year 11 in four separate examinations to test students’ capability in each of the four language skills: speaking, listening, reading and writing.

It is our aim as a department to encourage our students to think beyond the geographical boundaries of our tiny country and to consider how travel to and interaction with overseas cultures can provide a wealth of opportunity and enrichment in life.