Mountbatten Romsey -languages

[Bassettgirl]

My DD is in the catchment for this school and I thought would go there. On the website it looks like they only study either French or Spanish throughout the school whereas The Romsey School appears to offer a second language in Year 10 out of French, German or Spanish.

Is this right, does anyone know?

I don't know these schools, but sadly many schools now only offer one language. The chance to study a second language at GCSE is great, but in practice can be challenging and is not taken up by many IME.

Romsey School does indeed offer a second language out of those.
My DD2 is y11 and she had an option to take up Spanish or German starting in y9 in place of one of the 'tech' subjects. (This did not commit them to taking it for GCSE.)
My DD1 did 2 languages for GCSE starting Spanish ab initio in y10 (old GCSE system).

We did a double check look round Mountbatten prior to DD2 starting secondary and what you report was certainly the situation then - only 1 language.

However what languages are offered does tend to depend on what languages the MFL teachers can teach, so a change in staff can lead to a change in offer.

Incidentally, although Mountbatten is flashier than Romsey and may still have a better reputation I am really not sure there is much difference between the two when it comes to academics. To me however the ethos of the two seems pretty different.

If your child might be a linguist, two languages are always better than one. Definitely at A level. If they might want to study abroad with any degree subject, an interest in language up to GCSE level or possibly A level is always useful. If a language is continued at A level, joint honours including a Language can ensure you get an offer from the university as the number of linguists is falling. Schools should not limit language teaching to one. It’s a bit like offering one science.

Thanks all. Yes Guymere that's exactly how I feel about it! A school wouldn't just teach biology. I'll be disappointed if MB only offers one. I was all for it because it's the catchment and she is in a feeder. But I did languages at University so have been sharing little snippets of several languages since she was a baby and she really enjoys them. I don't know why but I just assumed most good schools at least offered a second in Y9/10.

Out of interest Teen what is the difference between the schools' ethos? I have seen it mentioned on here before and that's also important to me.

The thing is you don't necessarily know aged 10 whether your child will be able at languages.
With DD1, she didn't really 'click' with French until towards the end of y8, and it was a last minute decision when picking options in y9 to add in Spanish.
I agree having the option is better than not, but I wouldn't choose a school based on that. Certainly I wouldn't choose between the two schools in question based on that alone as I perceive there to be far bigger differences between them than language offer.

No, that's true. But having the option to take up another at GCSE is definitely appealing. It's definitely not the only factor though. I am interested in the differences between the schools on other levels too as it appears she could go to either. It's a shame we can't visit them this year.

You really need a current Mountbatten parent on here too, hopefully one will come along in a while.

M: I perceive (from open days and knowing some M parents) to be quite formal and focussed. Very tight on uniform, quite a bit of homework from the word go, results focussed. Gets good results.
(When I went for the open day a few years back the HT was going on about 'grammar school curriculum' - it was no different from the offer at Romsey! I perceived they were trying to discourage less able children.)

R: Still cares about uniform but more relaxed, less homework in lower years and for lower sets who might struggle, whole child focussed. Excellent pastoral care. Gets good results.

Thanks for the insight. R sounds more appealing on those fronts too tbh. And I thought our decision was made!

@Bassettgirl For info:

twitter.com/TheRomseySchool/status/1307249390223077376/photo/1

There must be at least one Mounbatten parent here, surely?

Oh, thank you, that's useful to know! I got through to Mountbatten by email eventually and they said they are doing a virtual tour soon too.

Apparently it is one language only at MB though, which is a bit disappointing. They want to offer Italian in year 10 but take up has so far low. So on the languages offering looks to be better at TRS, definitely. I find it a bit sad that in offering both French and Spanish to GCSE there is no opportunity to take up the other at year 10 but I suppose there must be a good reason.

At M the kids are assigned a language in y7 iirc. (though I think maybe you can give a preference). I guess taking the other one up at GCSE becomes too hard to timetable as there would be some who have 3 decent years teaching and some starting from scratch.
(It can cause an issue moving between the two schools in either direction as unless French is the assigned one the DC would be behind the rest of their new class.)

That's a good point, and a move to that side of Romsey or outskirts is possibly on the cards at some point so it's a consideration. Luckily she has decided she wants to put French as a preference if she goes to MB. Still can't get over a former language specialist only offering one but I guess times have changed!