If you want access to Spain and South America, a thorough working knowledge of the second most spoken language in the world and some insight into countries with civilisations ranging from the Aztecs, Incas and Mayans to the Moors of North Africa, then Spanish in the Sixth Form is probably for you. Spanish offers to the future employer a student who is able to communicate, aware of intricacy and detail, confident when dealing with others and a person open to new experiences, challenges, hard work, full of opinions and with the ability to think outside the box; in short, an asset to their company. Above all, it is a subject that brings much to the students themselves. A Level Spanish is therefore for students who want to travel and see something of another land, meet interesting people and experience another culture. Ability to deal with others is prized by all employers and many students have been mentors for Years 7-11 and run a Spanish Club. We benefit from the help of our native speaker for supplementary conversation classes once a week and look out for cinema, theatre and other cultural experiences to add variety and interest to the studies. Frequent use is made of up-to-date material from the Spanish and Latin American press to give real insight into the modern and changing world. In Year 12, the course naturally builds on the vocabulary and structures of GCSE. The topics of ‘Social issues and trends’, ‘Artistic culture’ and the study of a literary text or film, guide the student from GCSE through to a more advanced content and degree of interest. In the upper sixth, the content moves to further studies of social issues and trends, political and artistic culture and literary texts and films such as La Casa de Bernarda Alba (one of the best-known plays ever to come out of Spain).