The School of Linguists! – Languages Department May Highlights

Oxford German Olympiad Success!

We are delighted to celebrate the outstanding success of our Year 8 pupils in the 2026 Oxford German Olympiad, organised by the Modern and Medieval Languages Faculty at the University of Oxford.

Last term, pupils worked incredibly hard on their competition entries, creating imaginative comic strips in German based on the theme of journeys undertaken by animals and future transport. The creativity, humour and linguistic talent shown throughout the class were truly exceptional.

We are thrilled to announce that Sutton High School received four awards in the Years 7-9 category:

• Alexa C – Winner
• Aroha M– Runner-Up
• Maiya T – Highly Commended
• Ruby L – Commended

To achieve four awards in such a prestigious national competition is a remarkable accomplishment, and we are enormously proud of all the pupils who took part. Their success reflects not only their creativity and enthusiasm for German, but also the dedication and perseverance they showed throughout the project.

Special congratulations go to Alexa C, whose comic strip was awarded first place overall in the competition. Both Alexa and Aroha M are invited to a special prizegiving ceremony at the University of Oxford in June to celebrate their achievements.

All participating students will receive certificates in recognition of their hard work and commitment.

Herzlichen Glückwunsch to everyone involved on this fantastic achievement!

Spellian Success!

Spellian is an innovative language-speaking partnership programme that helps students improve their fluency and confidence through meaningful conversations with a native-speaker friend. Pupils are paired with students of a similar age and interests in France, Germany or Spain and meet weekly by videoconference, using guided and engaging conversation activities.

Over the past year, the Spellian Speaking Partnership Project has been an outstanding success at Sutton High. More than 40 girls signed up to take part, and for many the experience has been truly transformational for their language learning. Through regular conversations with their partners, pupils have grown in confidence, improved their speaking skills and gained valuable cultural insight in a real-life context.

The partnerships have gone far beyond language practice. Many students have formed genuine friendships, exchanged Christmas gifts and some are even planning to meet each other this summer. The positive impact of the project has been so significant that several girls have decided to continue studying languages at A Level.

To celebrate their achievements, all participants received a certificate and a Spellian friendship bracelet. In addition, several pupils were nominated by their French, German or Spanish partners for the Federica Micucci Award in recognition of their kindness, commitment and wonderful contribution to the Spellian community.

Although this year’s programme has now come to an end, we are delighted to announce that we will soon be launching Spellian again for pupils entering Years 10–13 who study languages. We look forward to seeing even more students benefit from this exciting opportunity.

Find out more about Spellian.

Exploring How Metacognitive Strategies Empower Young Language Learners

Ana Rosales, Spanish Teacher in our MFL Faculty, her research on the impact of explicitly teaching metacognitive reading strategies – and how these shape learner autonomy and motivation in a Year 10 Spanish classroom – Read the full article here.