The Mary Glasgow Award 2004 was won by Gordano School, Portishead,  near Bristol for  their  “Talk so that pupils listen, and listen so that pupils talk” project  

In this exciting ‘Talk…..’ project, from the moment the pupils come into Year 7 they are taught  to ask (in the target language, of course !) for words and structures they need in order to express what they want to say. They are encouraged to manipulate and ‘recycle’ language, and do so with an increasing degree of confidence and spontaneity.  This philosophy underpins everything the department does, and has led to very successful outcomes in the way that Gordano students can communicate  in the target language.

Our judges felt that the success of this project was due to the enthusiastic leadership of an experienced and principled course director, and a clear strategy which ensures that teaching methods, course materials and assessment procedures are coherent, and rooted in an overall philosophy which is shared by the whole teaching team. 

It seemed to the Mary Glasgow judges that this very successful approach would be easily replicable in other secondary schools.