The school was very welcoming and I observed a range of languages and ages. There seemed to be an assumption that the children have no prior language experience which I feel is a shame for those that have had the opportunity to start exploring other languages. However, this school is slightly different from usual as it doesn't have any direct feeder schools - children come from all over the county, the country and overseas, so the school doesn't have the chance to influence their feeder schools that other high schools may have.
The biggest difference I noticed between primary and secondary was the behaviour - some of the pupils had some definite attitude problems! Also the enthusiasm for languages that I have seen in my primary just wasn't there - some of the children seemed keen but others were just not interested at all.
I'm glad I observed the secondary school - it has confirmed to me that primary education is where I want to be. From my (admittedly limited) experience so far, the children in primary are more willing to try new things and have an enthusiasm that seems to be missing once they reach secondary. From the language side, I think that if you can get the children interested in other languages and cultures at an earlier age, they are more likely to carry that interest through high school. If they don't start learning languages until the reach high school, that interest seems to be lacking.
Now, how can I work that into my PGCE personal statement?!
