Hotham Primary School

A Voyage of Discovery

We are proud of our multicultural and inclusive inner London school. Hotham Primary School is a larger than average community school with more than 400 pupils. Our pupils come from diverse backgrounds reflecting the rich tapestry of our local community. 34% of pupils have English as an additional language, 30% are in the most deprived band and 24% are in the least deprived band.

During my 18 years at Hotham, the school has expanded from one form entry with Wandsworth Adult College occupying the top floor of the building, to 1½ form entry in 2002 and two form entry in 2011 with its first bilingual class. Recognising the benefit of pupils learning a foreign language from a young age, we embarked on the journey of developing a bilingual French curriculum, where pupils are taught part of the National Curriculum in French. The CLIL approach is used initially to teach French vocabulary within a particular context and through immersion activities. Later a more formal approach is used to teach French phonics and literacy skills through guided reading/writing sessions.