2013 British Academy Schools Language Awards winners announced

The British Academy has today announced the winners of the 2013 round of its Schools Language Awards. Schools and colleges – or institutions supporting them – were asked to submit proposals for increasing the numbers of students learning languages at higher levels.

Vivienne Hurley, Director of Programmes at the British Academy said: 
'The aim of these Awards is to find imaginative and effective ways of encouraging more learners to take languages to higher levels, and to address the social imbalance in the profile of language learners. It is clear from the response that mainstream and supplementary schools around the country share our concerns and we are delighted to have received so many high quality applications. We heartily congratulate the winning projects, whose progress we will follow with great interest. We hope they will become beacons of good practice and inspiration and help to turn the tide on Britain's language deficit.'

A panel of judges assessed the originality, credibility and potential replicability of the proposals and awarded 13 prizes of £4,000 each to the following schools:

Supplementary schools category
Vietnamese Supplementary School, Deptford, London – helping parents and children to learn each other's first language

Hamara Supplementary School, Leeds - helping under achieving ethnic minority pupils gain qualifications in languages, in partnership with South Leeds Academy

Peace School, London – teaching Arabic through 'content and language integrated learning' and ICT

Liverpool Polish Saturday School – integrating the development of children's English and Polish language skills with an understanding of finance and marketing.

EC Lighthouse, Barking – promoting an understanding of Lithuanian language and culture, particularly to children from mixed backgrounds who do not speak Lithuanian at home

Arabic School for All, Lincoln - developing courses and materials for teaching about Energy, the Environment and Architecture through the medium of Arabic

Polish School in Glasgow – focussing on qualifications and awareness of career opportunities, with placements in local businesses.

Mainstream category

North: Oldham Sixth Form College. A programme of taster sessions, careers talks, and booster classes for year 8 and 9 pupils in local schools.

South East and South West: Devonport High School for Girls, Plymouth. Languages and careers awareness and training programme for years 8, 10 and 12.

London: Deptford Green School. 'Language passport' scheme to raise awareness of the importance of language and intercultural skills for employability.

Scotland: University of Strathclyde and Glasgow City Council schools.  HE students act as Ambassadors for languages in local secondary schools.

Northern Ireland: Foyle College, Londonderry. Hearts and minds project involving story-telling in French.

East and Midlands: Northgate High School, Ipswich. Weekend workshops for potential A level students across Suffolk
One of the 13 winners will receive an additional prize of £4,000 as the overall winner, to be announced at an Award Ceremony in November.

You can find out more by visiting the British Academy Schools Language Awards page here.