In 1999 Prince Henry’s achieved Language College status, bringing significant additional funding into school to enable us to broaden the language-learning opportunities of our students and the local community.

At Prince Henry’s, students enjoy the very best provision for learning Modern Foreign Languages, including:

• A curriculum that includes the study of Spanish and either French or German to an accredited level;
• A“taster course” in Mandarin Chinese in Year 8, with the possibility of gaining a qualification in what is often described as “the language of the future”;
• A language course for all Sixth Form students, with the opportunity to study Italian to GCSE;
• Provision for “fast-tracking” at GCSE in Year 10 for the most able linguists;
• The most technologically-advanced language-learning environment in the area, with access to videoconferencing facilities, satellite television, interactive whiteboards and a multi-media ICT suite / language laboratory;
• An extensive programme of overseas visits and exchanges;
• Experience of working with native speakers.

Being a Specialist Language College is about much more than learning foreign languages, however. It also about putting internationalism at the heart of everything we do. We want our young people to appreciate what makes the world such a rich and varied place. We hope that they will leave school with a thirst for continuing to learn about other cultures and to meet people from across the globe, and with an understanding of their rights and responsibilities as citizens of the global community.

Trips abroad play an important part in broadening horizons, and every year some 250 students take part in one of the many foreign visits and exchanges, which include France, Spain, Germany, Italy and China. However, it is equally about what happens day in, day out throughout the year. Therefore, we regularly welcome international visitors to the school.

Perhaps most importantly, it is about what actually happens in lessons. As well as holding an International Day and a Global Citizenship Day each year, many subjects are actively involved in on-going collaborative projects with schools in other countries, with students working with and learning from young people from around the world. We now have strong links with some twenty schools in sixteen different countries, including our much valued partnerships with Xuejun High School, Hangzhou (China) and Earlington Secondary School, Durban (South Africa).

We were delighted that, in October 2005, the British Council acknowledged our commitment to developing a truly international ethos by presenting us with the International School Award.