Teacher feedback and testimonials
NCELP (National Centre for Excellence for Languages Teaching) was set up in December 2018 to take forward the recommendations of the MFL Pedagogy Review.
Over the course of four years, this work took the form of producing fully worked out curricula, lesson plans, resources and assessment materials, and a full suite of teacher professional development.
Katherine Milton
French Teacher and IB Diploma Programme Coordinator, Swiss International School Qatar (SISQ), February 2023
“As a language teacher returning to the UK after teaching in international schools for 10 years, the NCELP course has been an essential step in updating and rebuilding my understanding of current language pedagogy. I was hoping to understand the research behind the new curriculum, and come away with practical applications for my classroom and department. Both of these objectives have been successfully met, and I am in a position to share a wealth of research and activities with my department and wider school community.”
Kellie Waterworth
Head of MFL, Brixham College, February 2023
“We had already been using NCELP resources but felt that our progress had been inhibited by COVID so I felt that this CPD course would deepen mine and my team’s understanding of the NCELP approach and allow us to plan our curriculum around NCELP. Although, due to other commitments such as an NPQ, the course has taken me a while to complete, it has been of value as I now feel that we are on the right lines with what we are currently doing and that we can amend the SoWs to suit our own context and curriculum time.”
Miranda Fowler
Head of French, Maidstone Grammar School, January 2023
“An extremely useful opportunity to see the NCELP resources in use in the classroom – I was particularly struck by their French accents in year 9 which were remarkably accurate. Clearly this approach leads to confidence with speaking skills. I also really enjoyed observing a German lesson as a non-speaker and working through the phonics activities. I was able to put myself in the shoes of a student and felt really confident with the sounds by the end of the activity!”
Karen Davey
Deputy Headteacher, The Malling School, January 2023
“Our school recently adopted the NCELP curriculum with year 7 students following a visit and recommendation from Ian Bauckham last year. On behalf of our MFL teachers, students and leadership team I just wanted to pass on our gratitude for the enormous amount of thought and meticulous planning that has gone into the curriculum resources and corresponding CPD.
"Our MFL team have revolutionised their teaching as a result of your programme and training and we have seen students’ progress and motivation improve dramatically in a short space of time. Staff and students are much more enthusiastic about teaching and learning languages again as a result of your programme and how easy it is to deliver, so thank you. We are excited to see how this develops in the future as we embed the course into other year groups.”