Chelmsford County High School for Girls

A foundation grammar school and specialist college

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Subjects

German

German is a thriving subject with very successful examination results. All students take German and French from Years 7 to 9, arranged as tutor groups in Years 7 and 8 and mixed groups in Year 9. At the end of Year 9 the students choose their option subjects for GCSE. One Modern Language is compulsory but two are encouraged along with Latin, which is started in Year 8. For German next year there will be four Year 11 groups and three Year 10 groups taking the OCR GCSE examination - making it one of the most popular option subjects. All students are entered for the higher tier and do the writing examination rather than the course work. The vast majority gain at least an A grade with about half of these gaining a starred A.

We currently have 15 students in Year 12 and 8 in Year 13 taking the OCR A Level examination. At A2 Level we take the Culture and Society written paper as opposed to the course work option. At A level our students have been very successful with at least 70% gaining A or B grades.

The course book for Years 7 to 11 is Lernpunkt Deutsch and Durchblick 1 and 2 at AS/A Level, along with various other materials such as Thematisch, Authentik, etc. The Department favours a lively style of teaching using the target language and we ensure that students have a sound comprehension of grammar.

The Department is very busy and runs visits abroad. At the end of Year 8 most pupils go to the Rhineland for 5 days, students in Years 10 and 11 can take part in the annual exchange with Chelmsford's twin town, Backnang in Baden-Württemberg and we also run a work experience exchange with a school in Schleswig-Holstein. The visits are organised by the Head of Department but a successful candidate would be expected to accompany these visits and play an active role in them.

GCSE

All students take German and French from Years 7 to 9, arranged as tutor groups in Years 7 and 8 and mixed groups in Year 9. At the end of Year 9 the students choose their option subjects for GCSE. One Modern Language is compulsory but two are encouraged along with Latin, which is started in Year 8. For German there are three Year 11 groups and four Year 10 groups taking the OCR GCSE examination - making it one of the most popular option subjects. All students are entered for the higher tier and do the writing examination rather than the course work. The vast majority gain at least an A grade with about half of these gaining a starred A.

Sixth Form

We currently have large groups in Years 12 and 13 who will be taking the OCR A Level examination. At A Level we take the Culture and Society written paper as opposed to the course work option. At A level our students have been very successful with at least 70% gaining A or B grades.