Mother Tongue Language Programme 2017-2018

BSN

Mother Tongue Programme 2017 | 2018 Internationally British

BSN Mother Tongue Programme As an Internationally British school, we value the diversity of our community and understand the importance of supporting language learning both inside and outside the curriculum. The BSN Mother Tongue Programme offers a way of further progressing your child’s language development.

Who are the classes for?

Mother Tongue Language Classes are open to native or near-native speaking students from Years 1 to 6 from all BSN Junior School campuses.

What languages are offered?

Classes are currently offered in the following languages at a level appropriate to the age and experience of the child: Dutch French Spanish German

Italian Swedish Mandarin Chinese

Where and when do the classes take place?

The Mother Tongue Language Classes take place at the BSN Language Centre on the Leidschenveen Campus.

Classes start mid-September and run to mid-July. The programme operates Monday to Friday from 15:50 to 17:00 - the day your child attends will depend on the language and level.

How do children get to and from classes?

Children from JSD and JSV join the BSN Language Centre Shuttle Bus to come over to the centre – the departure of these children is prioritised at the end of the school day.

Children from JSL are collected at the end of school and supervised at the Language Centre until the arrival of the other students.

Children can either be collected from the Language Centre at 17:00, or from the Overbosch Car Park near JSV between 17:20 and 17:30.

A Language Support Assistant travels on the return bus and waits with the children until parents have arrived to collect them.

What size are the classes?

The minimum number of students needed to run a class is 6. The maximum number of students in a class is 18. A language assistant is employed for all classes with 10 or more students.

How is quality ensured?

Children are placed in classes according to age and level – the combining of children from all junior sites makes this much easier and provides more levelling options for the teachers. All teachers are fully qualified native-speaker teachers only and language assistants (employed when there are 10 students or more in a group) are native or near-native speakers.

Lessons are located in the BSN Language Centre on our Leidschenveen Campus offering purpose built, small language classrooms with interactive whiteboards.

As all Mother Tongue teachers are located in the same building they are able to share best practices and resources and have access to high quality training. The quality of teaching is also regularly monitored.

How much do the classes cost?

A Mother Tongue Class costs ¤25 for a 1 hour 10 minute lesson. The bus service from JSV and JSD is included and parents of JSL students pay the same fee, irrespective of the bus but including supervision.

The cost for a return shuttle back to JSV-Overbosch car park will be charged separately and is in addition to the class fee. The price of the shuttle varies from ¤3 to ¤4 per trip according to the number of students travelling. Costs are confirmed each term.

Billing is done through the school finance department with an annual invoice being sent in the Autumn Term (or alternative date if joining mid-year).

How do I register for the Mother Tongue Programme?

The registration process for the Mother Tongue Language Programme is run via the BSN Gateway. Parents can sign their children up using this online system. Parents need to register for a whole school year (or part thereof if joining the BSN mid-year).

Classes run from mid-September to midJuly.

Children joining the school part way through a school year can only join an existing class at the start of a school term to minimise disruption to the learning programme.

The registration form can be found on the BSN Gateway under the Co-Curricular tab > Clubs & Activities.

The British School in The Netherlands Email: languages@britishschool.nl www.britishschool.nl