Language Policy
Language connects learning across the curriculum at St PETER'S SCHOOL. This page offers a short guide for families, followed by the complete Language Policy.
Practical guide for families
- Understand the languages offered. English is the main language of instruction. Spanish and Catalan are introduced as additional languages from Year 1, and French from Year 6. Mandarin Chinese is offered through extracurricular activities. The full policy explains the arrangements at each stage.
- Share your child’s language background. The school values each student’s whole linguistic repertoire, including home languages. Families can help teachers understand the languages their child uses and their previous learning experiences.
- Discuss placement and support. Students who are developing proficiency may join language acquisition groups appropriate to their level. In the MYP, these classes support a gradual transition to language and literature. Placement takes account of individual progress; phase 4 is a reference goal.
- Explore opportunities to use languages. Debates, public speaking, theater, exchanges and cultural visits help students use languages in different settings. Qualifications and level ranges reflect students’ progress; the table in the full policy sets out the reference levels.
- Ask about your child’s needs. Teachers coordinate with the Wellbeing Department when specific needs are identified. Support may include adapted activities, individual plans, help in class or small groups.
For questions about language learning or support, speak with your child’s teachers. Prospective families can contact the Admissions team.
Full policy: Language Policy
The following is the full text of the September 2026 policy.
Rationale
At St PETER'S SCHOOL, language is the foundation of learning. It provides a framework for conceptual understanding, enables us to relate to others and negotiate meaning, and supports intellectual, social and emotional development. Our understanding of language extends beyond words to include nonverbal communication and multimodal representations.
Languages are dynamic and evolve over time. They allow us to express ideas and concepts, and vary across the communities that use them. We therefore focus on how language is used and shaped in social contexts. We see languages as evolving resources that are not necessarily tied to geographical boundaries.
Students are active agents in their learning. They bring prior knowledge and experience and collaborate with others in their inquiries, making connections, reflecting on their experiences and constructing meaning together.
Each student brings a distinct cultural background, needs and personality. We respond through differentiated learning experiences that recognize individual identity, including each student's linguistic biography. Our families come from more than 40 countries. Many have lived and worked across cultures and use several languages at home. Our school community is therefore linguistically and culturally diverse. Our staff is also international and plurilingual. Teachers communicate mainly in English, but also in Spanish, German, Catalan, French and other languages, reflecting their backgrounds and identities.
Language learning draws on all the languages represented in our community. All staff contribute to students' language development through interaction, intellectually challenging collaborative experiences and mutual understanding.
Purpose
This policy sets out our approach to language, the principles that guide language learning at St PETER'S SCHOOL, and how these principles shape our teaching and use of languages.
- Together with our core curriculum documents, it provides a coherent framework across all stages of the school.
- It helps families understand our language teaching principles, practices and curriculum.
- It supports teachers in reflecting on their practice and guides professional learning and assessment.
- It helps staff understand the school's principles and practices for language learning.
This policy describes what we value and aim to achieve. Our practice may not yet reflect every principle fully. We work toward these aims and regularly reflect on the principles that guide us.
This policy is reviewed annually to assess how accurately it reflects school practice and how consistently it aligns with our philosophy. The relevant Heads of Language Departments, Language Coordinator and Head of Education carry out the review and share it with teachers. Families can consult the policy on the school website and at school meetings and public events.
Our Philosophy
Plurilingual competence is central to our philosophy. From their earliest years, students experience languages as ways to communicate and understand the world. Over time, they learn how communication varies by context and develop an understanding of different language systems and conventions. Each student's linguistic repertoire is interconnected, dynamic and continually developing. Their resources may vary across languages and over time, but they draw on a single repertoire, combining their general competences and strategies to accomplish tasks (CEFR, 2001, section 6.1.3.2).
Our main aim is for students to draw on their combined knowledge and communication skills to communicate effectively in different contexts, both in English and in the other languages within their individual repertoires. We also provide experiences, skills and strategies that help students mediate texts, concepts and communication across languages and cultures, developing intercultural understanding and awareness.
Our approach encompasses learning language, learning about language and learning through language. Language connects learning across the curriculum.
Language learning should be inquiry-based, relevant and collaborative, giving students voice and agency. It extends beyond the classroom to social contexts at school, at home and in local and international communities, including connections with other schools. Technology also enables students to broaden their perspectives through inquiry, interpretation of information and interaction across different media.
Staff collaborate with language acquisition, language and literature, and subject specialist teachers to plan integrated programs of inquiry that reinforce, support and extend language learning.
Alongside the languages taught in our classrooms, the school encourages and supports home languages as resources that enrich our community. Where we cannot offer a particular language, we recommend institutions that provide classes for families who wish to continue developing that language. In class, students are encouraged to connect the languages they are learning with their home languages to support their learning.
St PETER'S SCHOOL is developing resources and training to integrate the community's languages into learning, including library materials and collaboration with higher education institutions.
We collaborate with universities offering degrees in bilingual education, including the Universitat Internacional de Catalunya and the Universitat de Barcelona, and with international institutions in Cork, Malmö, Absalon and Delaware.
Our Language Policy
Our language program covers all year groups, from N1, for children from 12 months of age, to the Diploma Programme. It encompasses the three IB programs: the Primary Years Programme (PYP), Middle Years Programme (MYP) and Diploma Programme (DP).
We draw on local and European policies and IB principles to shape our language policy. Across the school, we develop plurilingual and pluricultural competences alongside specific skills in reception (spoken, written and visual), production (spoken, written and visual), interaction (spoken, written, visual and online) and mediation (of texts, concepts and communication). During lessons, students use the language being taught or the main language of instruction, English. During breaks and recreation, they may use the language of their choice.
Languages of Instruction and Additional Languages
English is our main language of instruction. Spanish and Catalan, the co-official languages of Catalonia, and French are also taught. Mandarin Chinese is offered through extracurricular activities. The table below sets out the languages offered at each stage.
| Languages of Instruction | |
|---|---|
| Early Years | English; psychomotor development and mindfulness in Spanish |
| Primary | English; Spanish, Catalan and French (from Year 6) as additional languages. Mandarin Chinese is offered through extracurricular activities. |
| MYP | English and Spanish; Catalan and French as additional languages. Mandarin Chinese is offered through extracurricular activities. |
| DP | English and Spanish. Catalan, French and Mandarin Chinese are offered as extracurricular languages and may contribute to the creativity strand of creativity, activity, service (CAS). |
Language Acquisition
Newly arrived students whose Spanish or Catalan is not yet sufficient join a language group appropriate to their level. These groups develop the knowledge and skills students need to catch up and gradually join the corresponding main class.
Language Learning Support
When specific needs are identified, teachers adapt activities in coordination with the Wellbeing Department. Where needed, the department provides individual plans and additional support in class or in small groups.
Language Qualifications
Students take examinations offered by external institutions to certify the language skills they develop during their school years. On completing Year 10 (the fourth year of compulsory secondary education, or ESO) and obtaining the Spanish secondary school leaving qualification, students may have their Catalan recognized at C1 level through equivalence based on their schooling, subject to the applicable requirements. Students who have studied and completed ESO in Spain are also exempt from the Spanish language examination required when applying for Spanish nationality by residence, upon submission of the relevant documentation. St PETER'S SCHOOL is a preparation center for Cambridge English Qualifications: B2 First, C1 Advanced and C2 Proficiency. The table below shows the qualifications and levels students can achieve. The ranges depend on each student's proficiency and progress.
| Language | Year 8 | Year 9 | Year 10 | DP1 | DP2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| French | A1 | A2 | B1 | ||
| English | Cambridge B2 First | Cambridge B2–C1 | Cambridge C1–C2 Advanced | Cambridge C1–C2 Advanced | Cambridge C2 Proficiency |
| Catalan | C1 (schooling equivalence) | ||||
| Spanish | DELE A2–B1 | ESO: evidence for Spanish nationality |
The school organizes trips and exchanges that enable students to practice the languages they learn and experience other cultures and settings. Destinations include New York, London and Paris.
To strengthen students' use of local languages, we also organize visits to places of cultural and natural interest where Catalan is used for communication.
We organize forums, debates and conferences in which mediation, interpretation and oral communication play a central role:
| PYP | Internal debates |
|---|---|
| TED Talks | |
| Theater productions | |
| Year 5 exhibition | |
| MYP | CICAE Spanish Debate League |
| CICAE Public Speaking Tournament | |
| St PETER'S Model United Nations | |
| DP | Model United Nations in New York |
| CICAE English Debate League | |
| Philosophy Olympiad |
Communication with Families and within the School
English is the school's main working language. Other languages are used in particular situations according to the languages used by families and staff.
| Channel | Languages |
|---|---|
| Website | English, Spanish |
| English, Spanish | |
| Blog | English, Spanish |
| Social media | English, Spanish, Catalan |
| Family interviews and meetings | English, Spanish, Catalan. Families who do not speak these languages are encouraged to bring an interpreter to support effective communication. |
| Staff meetings | English, Spanish, Catalan |
| Information brochures | English, Spanish |
Early Years and the Primary Years Programme
In Early Years, we focus on overall language development. We provide rich and varied learning experiences in English and encourage its use in the classroom. We create environments where English is the main language used, maximizing students' exposure to it. We also welcome children's contributions in other languages as opportunities for learning, encourage comparisons between languages and respond in English. We respect and value each child's whole linguistic repertoire as essential to learning a new language, developing a sense of identity, and supporting social and emotional wellbeing.
Before Year 1, Spanish is introduced through psychomotor development and mindfulness sessions.
Newly arrived students with little or no English receive support in class. Any additional support is planned with specialists from the Wellbeing Department.
Spanish and Catalan are introduced as additional languages from Year 1. French is introduced from Year 6.
The program of inquiry is planned collaboratively with all specialists. Where appropriate, planned themes provide opportunities to learn about and through language. Language learning also takes place in dedicated lessons and, occasionally, in activities involving more than one language. English remains the main language of instruction, while students are encouraged to make connections with their own languages to support learning.
Newly arrived students whose Spanish or Catalan is not yet sufficient join a language group appropriate to their level. These groups run alongside the main classes, enabling students to catch up and gradually join the corresponding class.
When specific needs are identified, teachers adapt activities in coordination with the Wellbeing Department. Where needed, the department provides individual plans and additional support in class or in small groups.
Middle Years Programme
Our language policy reflects the requirements of the MYP. Every staff member has an active role in developing students' language competences. In our international school community, recognizing and supporting home languages is essential. Our Resource Centre provides materials in different languages, which students can use as needed with guidance from the school librarian.
Students whose English or Spanish is not yet sufficient to follow language and literature classes in the corresponding language attend language acquisition classes. These classes develop the skills needed for a gradual transition to language and literature. Teachers follow MYP methodology and plan learning across three proficiency levels: emergent (phases 1 and 2), capable (phases 3 and 4) and proficient (phases 5 and 6).
Progress in language acquisition depends on each student's prior knowledge and development. Phase 4 serves as a reference goal for progression to language and literature in English or Spanish. Placement is considered individually, taking into account the skills needed to follow the course.
When specific needs are identified, teachers adapt activities in coordination with the Wellbeing Department. Where needed, the department provides individual plans and additional support in class or in small groups.
Diploma Programme
Our language policy reflects the requirements of the Diploma Programme through a multilingual curriculum.
St PETER'S SCHOOL offers a program in English and Spanish that enables students to work toward a bilingual diploma, provided they meet the IB's requirements. In Group 1, studies in language and literature, we offer English A: language and literature and Spanish A: language and literature. In Group 2, language acquisition, we offer English B and Spanish B, as well as Spanish ab initio for students with no prior knowledge of Spanish.
The Admissions Policy sets out the English and Spanish proficiency requirements for the student's chosen Diploma Programme pathway.
“The most important thing you gain when you learn a language is that you establish what is called a bridge between your mother tongue and the target language. This bridge is essential in communication and mutual understanding among diverse nations and varied cultures.” Ahmed Anter
Download the PDF
Download the September 2026 Language Policy as a PDF.