"I worked in a difficult secondary school in the South East. We often experienced the end of Year 9 lull and looked at a way to improve this.

We used Asset Languages with the 2 top sets out of 5 as a way of keeping them engaged until the end of Year 9; to give them a qualification for 3 years work, as well as an incentive to carry on to KS4. We made the scheme voluntary for the 2 classes as the cost of entering all was a lot, if they really weren’t interested.

We had 50 out of 60 pupils keen to have a go at the Preliminary French (and parents willing to pay for 1 or 2 skills if the budget wouldn’t stretch.) We did not change what we taught at all to accommodate Asset although we did spend 1 lesson looking at the sort of thing they might have to do in the exam (especially the Speaking).

Generally the pupils who took part were keen to do well and took the whole experience seriously. They were very impressed that they were going to gain a certificate for their efforts. The results in August were very pleasing with quite a few pupils gaining the highest grade they could.

The previous year we had only 7 pupils opt for French at KS4 and this shot up to over 30 wanting to continue and feeling as if they really could do well. The scheme really helped with the end of year “but I am not doing it next year” mentality and the feedback from parents was very positive."

Chloe Logan