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thelinguist.uberflip.com APRIL/MAY The Linguist 19 FEATURES language but also the culture of their parents' country, and many also offer traditional music and dance. Another key aim is to enable them to meet other children who share a similar linguistic and cultural heritage. Julia Fahrenkamp has been bringing her children, Haim, 7, and Elisabeth, 9, here since 2010. I find her chatting with a group of parents over coffee and Kuchen. 'There has to be a strong reason for doing something on a Saturday morning because I'm exhausted by the end of the week. But this is important for the children. It's good for them to meet other children who are German, and to do German things,' she says, to nods from the other mums. 'For me, it's about the culture. I don't want them to feel that they're the only ones.' The children have two 45-minute sessions, focusing on drama, singing, crafts and creative activites in the early years, and moving on to books, drama and topics of interest as they move through the school. Most stay on to prepare for a GCSE, usually aged 12 or 13, but fewer do the A-level. 'To do it in two hours, 32 weeks a year, they need to work really hard at home,' explains Cordes. Maya, 17, has been at the school since she was six and took an AS-level two years ago. 'I didn't always see the benefits of speaking another language,' she admits. 'But coming to the school has always had its perks: its singing and its food. I like the whole atmosphere; it's so friendly and the singing is lovely.' She is now preparing for German A-level and values the opportunities that offers. Accreditation is an important issue for supplementary schools and something that more are beginning to offer, despite the challenges of finding exam centres where the children can sit the examinations. 'It gives them a huge burst of confidence. It is a fantastic achievement for them because it's a formal acknowledgement. They suddenly appear as German learners for the first time,' says teacher Charlotte Schulze, Chair of the VDSS Association of German Saturday Schools UK. 'It might even have an impact on their interest in taking up other modern foreign languages at GCSE. If they've already got German, they realise they can do it.' Studies have shown that attending a supplementary school can increase confidence and attainment in other areas of a young person's education, 4 yet DSS has more than 200 children on its waiting list. 'The sad thing is that we will only be able to take a small fraction of these,' says Schulze. And it is likely that many other children are not accessing provision: according to one survey, 5 at any given time, 3-8% of pupils aged 5-16 have contact with a supplementary school, although 13% have a home language other than English. 'The existence of many of these schools is extremely fragile and dependent on the person who is running them,' says Schulze. 'I know of one school that has been successfully teaching children up to GCSE for 15 years and the person running it is retiring and can't find a replacement.' Funding is often at the heart of the issue, as many administrative and support staff work for minimal pay or as volunteers. As VDSS Chair, Schulze is hoping to develop a more sustainable model. Although there is clearly work to be done, 1.1 million children in the UK are currently benefiting from classes at supplementary schools – and that is something worth celebrating. Notes 1 'Schools, Pupils and their Characteristics', 2014, DfEd 2 See, e.g, The British Academy, 2013, 'Languages: The state of the nation' 3 'Impact of Supplementary Schools on Pupils' Attainment', DCSF, 2010, LMU 4 See, e.g Evans, D, 2008, 'Evidencing Impact and Quality of Supplementary Education in Barnet', ContinYou, London Borough of Barnet 5 DCSF 2010 op. cit. CELEBRATING CULTURE Karneval at the Deutsche Samstags Schule Islington (right); and Elisabeth, 9, who has been going to the school since she was four, studies in Karneval fancy dress (above) © MIRANDA MOORE