A bilingual stream at The Roche School in Wandsworth is giving early learners immersion in one of the world’s most widely spoken languages
There can be no doubt that early immersion in a bilingual setting is a huge boon for children. Beyond the communication skills acquired, there’s the boost it gives to general development – cognitive skills, problem solving, empathy and improved facility in native language are all cited.
The Roche School in Wandsworth is taking early language acquisition seriously, having operated an optional bilingual Spanish stream in Reception since 2022. This sits alongside the traditional English stream, so parents can choose either – and take-up of the Spanish option is high. “In the first year that we started the Spanish bilingual stream, we had no idea how popular it would be, but we had 18% more children joining the Spanish bilingual stream than the all-English stream, so it has been really popular,” says Sophie Roche, Bilingual Stream Lead.
It has drawn in Spanish speaking families, but they are not the main cohort. “What’s actually really interesting is that the majority of parents have no prior links or family who are Spanish speaking. What we’ve seen is that those parents who do choose the Spanish bilingual stream just recognise the numerous benefits of their child having more access to Spanish than they would normally get in a primary school setting.”
While there are a variety of specialist international schools in London – including the Spanish-Embassy operated Instituto Español Vicente Cañada Blanch in Notting Hill – delivering the home nation’s curriculum, at The Roche, children are following a UK system and teaching approaches, but with the addition of Spanish delivery across multiple classes. So why Spanish? “Spanish is spoken so widely around the world,” says Sophie Roche. “And the founder of The Roche School is a Spanish speaker herself and she’s always been very passionate about the language.”
Children joining the Spanish stream in Reception spend their mornings learning Literacy, phonics and Maths in English (this is judged to be the best way for building skills in these core subjects). In the afternoons, they move on to topic lessons, but all taught in Spanish. “It’s much more organic,” says Sophie Roche. “These are lessons they would be doing anyway but they happen to be in Spanish. What’s interesting is that the children don’t think about the Spanish – they are doing art, but it just happens to be taught in Spanish.” This year the school even has sport delivered by a Spanish speaker, which adds to the immersion as part of everyday school routine.
“The children don’t think about the Spanish – they are doing art, but it just happens to be taught in Spanish”
One of the beauties of immersion in Spanish in these early school years, says Sophie Roche, is that it’s a phonetic language, making it more accessible than the traditional UK first foreign language French. No one is expecting children to become fluent Spanish speakers, but this head start will help when they move on to more formal language learning. “Spanish is a good gateway language to other Latin languages,” adds Sophie Roche.
There are 29 languages in addition to English spoken by The Roche children (many families already use two languages at home), so the openness of parents to a bilingual early years stream is not surprising. Parents are asked to pick their stream and stick with it for at least half a term – so far only one child has switched back to the all-English stream, and that’s because her mother wanted her to focus on her French at home. The bilingual teaching continues to around Year 2, all set within an academically well-rounded curriculum with plenty of sport, drama and music.
The Roche is part of the Bilingual Education Alliance, which shares best practice across bilingual schools, and is developing assets and approaches to enhance the experience for young linguists. The focus at The Roche is on building oral skills – with lots of fun using song, images and mime.
Parents have been impressed by how much their children have learnt – many share their newfound facility with Spanish numbers, colours and songs at home. Sophie Roche has no doubt this approach is paying dividends in engaging children with the fun of speaking and understanding foreign languages. “I think it’s such a gift for anyone at any age,” she says. “If we can facilitate more language exposure during day-to-day learning, it seems like a no brainer.”
The Roche School therocheschool.com
Further reading: Kensington Wade on teaching early learners Mandarin
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