German Language Programme

Germany, Austria and Switzerland have a rich heritage with literature, music, architecture and a history that captivate young people’s minds, all of which is celebrated both in and outside of the classroom.

With 120 million native speakers, German is Europe’s most widely spoken mother tongue. It is a language which can open doors for young people, both personally and professionally. The opportunity to learn German therefore presents numerous travel and career opportunities.

German is a language of business, engineering and science; indeed, many large German companies are present here in the Middle East.

A curriculum personalised to the needs of our students

From EYFS right through to IB our learning is adapted to meet the needs of our students. We run successful advanced and second language learner curricula.

At EYFS our students learn through play and discovery.

In Primary we work closely alongside colleagues to encourage curiosity through thematic based learning, mirroring the learning taking place in the students’ home classrooms, whilst also blending the Goethe Institut and German National Curriculum in our advanced classes.

In Secondary we follow the British National Curriculum, whilst building in opportunities for students to demonstrate the 4Cs (Critical Thinking, Collaboration, Creativity and Communication), before beginning the Edexcel IGCSE course in Year 9. Our advanced secondary students build the skills required for early entry success at IGCSE. At IB we run Language B and Ab Initio programmes.

Across the year groups students are supported by our close work with the Goethe Institut, who provide extended learning opportunities for many of our students through the NAS Language Academy and will soon be offering students the opportunity to sit CEFR examinations. 

More than classroom based learning

Our annual celebrations of German Language Day enable students across the school to learn more about the interesting cultures of German speaking nations. We work closely alongside a motivated group of native parents, who assist in enhancing the learning experience for all. As a team we make full use of the school library, with a vast array of German language books available for our students and library based reading sessions on offer for our younger learners.

We have been able to extend our learning further afield through local visits to German restaurants where Year 10 students learn the art of pretzel making.

Through our cross curricular work with the music department students from Years 6-9 have the opportunity to travel to Germany and Austria to have the opportunity to put what they have learnt in the classroom to use in the most authentic of settings.

We look forward to planning many more opportunities like these for our students in the future.