Catholic School with Italian G.C.S.E

[Buttercup2000]

We are looking to move but can't decide where.
But the main thing is the Catholic schools.
Does anyone know of any Catholic High Schools that do Italian G.C.S.E?
Preferably not in London (can't afford the house prices there unfortunately).
Also would like a catholic primary school near by that also does Italian (not essential).

I've tried looking on the internet but is hard to work out which catholic schools do the Italian G.C.S.E and seems to come up with a lot of London ones.

If anyone knows of any local ones to you please let me know.xx

OP you don't say where you are local to, so that might help.

TBH tho (MFL specialist here) I would not base my choice of schools on this as you may find it is extremely limiting.

In 2018 only about 32000 students took GCSE in any MFL apart from German, French or Spanish - so that would include Urdu and Punjabi, both of which are quite popular in areas where they are the tongue spoken at home, as well as Italian, Russian and Mandarin. About half of those were taken in year 10, which suggests (to me at any rate) that they were taken outside school, early, in other words by students who spoke the language at home and did the GCSE as an early entrant, perhaps entirely out of school.

So we are talking about perhaps 15,000 students in year 11 taking a different MFL. So perhaps (random figure) 3,000 taking Italian in school - if that many, as I know of schools that offer Punjabi, Urdu and Mandarin, but I do not know personally of any that offer Italian (obviously some will of course, but it suggests that this is a less popular offering). Say it's 2,000. That is a tiny tiny number.

If Italian is important to your family, it might be easier to source a tutor familiar with the exam and study at home for an external entry, and then find a Catholic school that suits in other ways.

I don't mind where. I'm looking to move so any area in England.

@clary

OP you don't say where you are local to, so that might help.

TBH tho (MFL specialist here) I would not base my choice of schools on this as you may find it is extremely limiting.

In 2018 only about 32000 students took GCSE in any MFL apart from German, French or Spanish - so that would include Urdu and Punjabi, both of which are quite popular in areas where they are the tongue spoken at home, as well as Italian, Russian and Mandarin. About half of those were taken in year 10, which suggests (to me at any rate) that they were taken outside school, early, in other words by students who spoke the language at home and did the GCSE as an early entrant, perhaps entirely out of school.

So we are talking about perhaps 15,000 students in year 11 taking a different MFL. So perhaps (random figure) 3,000 taking Italian in school - if that many, as I know of schools that offer Punjabi, Urdu and Mandarin, but I do not know personally of any that offer Italian (obviously some will of course, but it suggests that this is a less popular offering). Say it's 2,000. That is a tiny tiny number.

If Italian is important to your family, it might be easier to source a tutor familiar with the exam and study at home for an external entry, and then find a Catholic school that suits in other ways.

Thankyou. I have a tutor but it is costly. I would rather the children learnt it at school as I find they pick it up better.

They are currently at a catholic school but learning Spanish which is very similar to Italian so confuses them a bit.

St Mary's in Bishops Stortford. Outstanding across the board.
Feeder primary Catholic schools in Hoddesdon where there is a huge Italian community.
Let me know if you would like to know anymore.

@ablisha

St Mary's in Bishops Stortford. Outstanding across the board. Feeder primary Catholic schools in Hoddesdon where there is a huge Italian community. Let me know if you would like to know anymore.

Brilliant. Thankyou. If you know of any more that would be great.

It's a very good school, nice area but also has feeder schools in Ware, Hoddesdon, Puckeridge and potentially Hertford.
All have direct links into Liverpool St. if you want to visit London.
The school website is stmarys.net
I went there as a child but plan to send my own son there for secondary.

My daughter took Italian GCSE and A level too.
She was at a normal academy (not catholic) but they're a specialist language school and also OFSTEAD outstanding
She's studying modern foreign languages at Uni now.

It would appear the feeder St Augustine's Primary school in Hoddesdon do Italian lessons.

https://staugustines.herts.sch.uk/herts/primary/staugustines/site/pages/schoolinformation/breakfastclub__/italianlessons

Thomas Moore in Bedford: www.st-thomasmore.org.uk/page/?title=MFL+%2D+Italian&pid=345

[quote ablisha]It would appear the feeder St Augustine's Primary school in Hoddesdon do Italian lessons.

https://staugustines.herts.sch.uk/herts/primary/staugustines/site/pages/schoolinformation/breakfastclub__/italianlessons[/quote]
Thankyou. If I based myself in Hoddesdon would there be a bus that went to Bishops Stortford to get to the high school?
I'm just thinking I would want be closest to the primary school as I have more children at primary school age.

Yes they run numerous coach services to the secondary school from Hoddesdon and surrounding areas

www.stjosephs207.herts.sch.uk
This is the Catholic primary in Bishops Stortford if you wanted to contact them to enquire whether they teach Italian too.

@ablisha

https://www.stjosephs207.herts.sch.uk This is the Catholic primary in Bishops Stortford if you wanted to contact them to enquire whether they teach Italian too.

Thankyou for your help. It is appreciated. I will look into this tomorrow.

If anyone else know of any other Catholic high schools out of London that do Italian G.C.S.E please feel free to comment.

I only know catholic schools in Surrey and sw London, so Twickenham etc. but none offer Italian. Most only offer one of French and Spanish. One I know offers German and also Latin. None Italian. Which is a shame. But There are huge Italian communities in all of the place listed above so many families do Italian outside of school and it is regularly advertised on our local Facebook pages for Tutor's for supporting children through GCSE Spanish, so could that be a option for you?

@Oblomov22

I only know catholic schools in Surrey and sw London, so Twickenham etc. but none offer Italian. Most only offer one of French and Spanish. One I know offers German and also Latin. None Italian. Which is a shame. But There are huge Italian communities in all of the place listed above so many families do Italian outside of school and it is regularly advertised on our local Facebook pages for Tutor's for supporting children through GCSE Spanish, so could that be a option for you?

I've got a tutor but find kids are tired after school etc. I was the same when I was younger. I found I learnt more in a school setting. Also a tutor is costly. But Thankyou.

I think Italian really isn’t taught much outside private schools. My DD did gcse and A level Italian snd then French and Italian at university. At the time our local state Grammar offered it but they don’t now. We too have a large Italian population but the two Catholic secondary schools don’t offer it either. In fact they only offer French!

If you can find a secondary that offers it, sadly they can stop offering it if a teacher goes. A friend of DDs on her course wanted to be a teacher and was told he needed Spanish. Few schools would want his Italian. Good luck searching but it’s a very niche subject. DD loved it but only started it in Y8. A* at gcse though.

Still London, just, so not sure if still out of budget plus only good if you have girls! But the Catholic schools in Upminster primary and secondary do Italian, in secondary it's French and Italian till Y9 then they can pick DD1 did it for GCSE.

There's a massive Italian community in Surrey - Woking especially. Most of the feeder primaries into SJB (www.sjb.surrey.sch.uk/) have links to Italian after school clubs, and Italian is taught at the secondary.

Also remember that, if the teacher leaves, they might also stop that language.

Yes how old are your children? The fact that a school offers Italian now is no guarantee that they will in the future.

@UncomfortableSilence

Still London, just, so not sure if still out of budget plus only good if you have girls! But the Catholic schools in Upminster primary and secondary do Italian, in secondary it's French and Italian till Y9 then they can pick DD1 did it for GCSE.

I'll have a look. But it might be out of my budget unfortunately. I have girls and boys so it work for the girls. Thankyou

@TheUndoingProject

Yes how old are your children? The fact that a school offers Italian now is no guarantee that they will in the future.

Thankyou. Yes I realise that but a gamble I'll have to take.

@HelloKeith

There's a massive Italian community in Surrey - Woking especially. Most of the feeder primaries into SJB (www.sjb.surrey.sch.uk/) have links to Italian after school clubs, and Italian is taught at the secondary.

Thankyou. I will have a look.

At cuthberts Catholic high school in newcastle does Italian. It’s all boys.

I have no idea if sacred heart (the girls school) also does it.

St Joan of Arc Catholic secondary in Rickmansworth Hertfordshire certainly did so recently