Modern Foreign Languages

“Knowledge of languages is the doorway to wisdom”.

Roger Bacon.

“A man who knows two languages is worth two men”.

A French proverb

Our MFL team of consultants consists of highly qualified and experienced MFL specialists and advisers. They have senior assessor experience working with the English and Welsh Awarding Bodies, the International Baccalaureate and Ofqual. They are also experienced in Ofsted inspection and the New Inspection Framework. Together they are able to provide a wide range of services to schools to help departments to deliver high quality education.

We have a core team that organises the support for schools as well as a significant number of associate specialists in MFL that provide additional support to the team.

The Core Team

Deborah Wring

In her senior leadership roles, Deborah has been responsible for improving the learning of students and the development of staff. Student achievements and the needs of the individual continue to be at the heart of her philosophy and ‘languages for all’ is part of that belief. Deborah has worked, and continues to work, in a range of different contexts related to MFL as a teacher, examiner, adviser and inspector. In her teaching role she taught French to students with special educational needs and has experience in motivating these students to achieve in languages. Her experience in this area of learning led into her appointment fifteen years ago as Chief Examiner for Entry Level French, now Entry Pathways. This role has involved writing specifications for Ofqual as well as training teaching nationwide and moderating students’ work at levels 1-3. As an associate consultant for a local authority, Deborah supported MFL in 40 secondary schools. This role involved working with heads of MFL through departmental reviews and providing training and consultancy for NQTs and Heads of MFL. In addiiton, Deborah set up the strategic learning networks cross the local authority, a system which has been continued despite the withdrawal of funding. She is an experienced inspector in the Uk and overseas and has inspected MFL in both secondary and middle schools and now leads consultative reviews of secondary MFL departments. She is also an external assessor for the Graduate Teachers Programme for MFL. Deborah has worked in the Middle East evaluating lesson taught through the medium of Arabic. As a result, she is comfortable with reviewing departments where there are community or foreign languages beyond the European languages of French, German and Spanish. Deborah prides herself on her attention to detail and her ability to meet deadlines. Her completion of projects to a very high standard has resulted in continued relationships with schools and other regional and national organisations. Her ability to relate well to colleagues at all levels and strong interpersonal skills are factors commented upon by both headteachers and other colleagues in schools.

Irene Hawkes

Irene is a French native speaker who has taught English in France and French in UK primary and secondary schools and in sixth form colleges. She has been Head of MFL, Head of Special Needs and IBD coordinator. She is also a governor in a small junior school. She as extensive experience in assessment which started in 1983 when she became a GCSE and A level examiner for Edexcel. Between 2002 and 2010, she was Principal examiner for French A2 for OCR and she now writes and revises Asset Languages papers and examines for CIE. She started working for the IBO in 1996 and since 1999 she has been in charge of the French ab initio exams. Last August she was elected the Hexagon Group 2 Representative. She used to write and mark Key Skills papers in English and now she writes and marks English Functional Skills papers. She has also worked for Ofqual as a Principal scrutineer. Irene is a fellow member of the Chartered Institute of Educational Assessors since 2007 and a Chartered Educational Assessor since 2008.

Kate Richards

Having worked in education for over twenty years Kate believes passionately in the right of every child and young person to an education which nurtures, supports and inspires them in every way possible. Kate has worked in a range of different contexts as a teacher and leader of MFL with a number of different senior leadership responsibilities, focusing particularly on the development of effective learning and teaching. Within a local authority she led on the development of the Assessment for Learning Strategy as well as focusing on supporting schools in securing effective learning and teaching through the development of thinking skills, coaching and personalising learning. Most recently, as a local authority school improvement adviser she led and managed the authority’s one-to-one tuition programme at both primary and secondary level – supporting schools to develop effective strategies to personalise learning as well as monitoring and evaluating their provision. Kate has a track record of working effectively with senior and middle leaders as well as teachers and support staff and is a highly experienced coach, trainer and presenter. Flexible in approach and creative in problem solving, she has the ability to think strategically and to lead the development of policy and practice at all levels.

Advice, training and support is available in the following areas

Teaching, learning and assessment

Developing an effective and exciting MFL curriculum
Developing effective schemes of learning
Delivering exciting and high quality MFL lessons
Delivering good and outstanding lessons
Choosing the right resources
Choosing the right external assessment for the school
Assessing and tracking pupils’ achievement in MFL
Increasing motivation and engagement at KS3/KS4
Personalising learning in the MFL classroom
Challenging and engaging gifted and talented pupils
Managing students’ behaviour effectively
Developing thinking skills
Developing pupil talk

Achievement

Developing Assessment for Learning in the MFL classroom
Creating high quality and effective internal assessments
Understanding external assessments
Managing external assessment results
Increasing achievement and raising attainment at KS3/KS4 and post-16

Management

Developing effective subject leaders in MFL
Successfully managing Key Stage transitions
Ensuring high profile for MFL in your school
Preparing for inspection
Developing effectiveness in self-evaluation
Adapting to the statutory MFL curriculum changes.
Developing outstanding department.

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