The A Level course, we explore the Spanish-speaking world and its culture, past and present, building on the basic knowledge, which students have already acquired at GCSE. At the same time we help students to develop their linguistic ability so that they are able to use Spanish with increasing independence, satisfaction and confidence, which will ultimately enable them to pursue Spanish in higher education or training, or use it meaningfully in future employment and when travelling in a Spanish-speaking country. In Spanish, we aspire to nurture students who are open-minded and have an interest in the wider world, and thus we encourage students to break out of the insularity of their own environment and broaden their horizons. The Cervante’s Institute’s latest data shows that a total of 580 million people speak Spanish (7.6% of the world’s population). Of these, 483 million are native Spanish speakers, which makes Spanish the second most spoken mother tongue in the world by number of speakers, and it is the official language of 21 countries. In addition, it is studied by almost 22 million people in 110 countries, and according to the British Council’s Language Trends report, it will become the second language of choice in the UK in 2020, overtaking French for the first time. Spanish is also the third-most-used language on the internet, where it has great growth potential. Not only is learning Spanish becoming increasingly crucial in terms of the global economy, it can also play a major role in your own personal development. The Spanish passion for living is contagious, and once you start to learn about their language and culture, you won’t ever want to stop.