The ALL London June Event 2025

We had a great extended morning at the Spanish School in Portobello Road!

We used the occasion to congratulate Steven Fawkes on his FIPLV award (Fédération Internationale des Professeurs de Langues Vivantes).  Bravo Steven!

2025-06-21 10.24.18
Thanks so much to Kerry Phipps, who has produced the following report of the day.

The ALL London June Event  2025– A Morning of Language Learning Inspiration
A report by Kerry Phipps, ALL London Committee Member.

On Saturday, 21 June, from 10am to 2pm, language educators from across the capital and beyond came together for the highly anticipated ALL London June Event at the Spanish School in London, El Instituto Español Canada Blanch in Portobello Road. Organised by the Association for Language Learning (ALL) London branch, this annual celebration once again provided a vibrant forum for collaboration, reflection, and forward-thinking pedagogy in the world of languages.

This year’s event welcomed a wide range of participants—from trainee teachers to seasoned subject leaders. As always, the sessions were shaped by current priorities and challenges in language education, creating a lively, practical, and thought-provoking programme. An education exhibition and refreshments area made the event extra special.

Pedagogy in Practice

  • The event kicked off with  ‘A Lesson with Digressions’  by Vincent Everett HOD Northgate School, author and local ALL leader. He  presented a lesson he often uses as a taster lesson for Year 6 pupils, then looked at how it exemplifies important issues such as dual coding, the use of “sentence builders”, storytelling, and the balance between grammar and communication.
  • One of the event’s central topics was the new GCSE for Modern Languages, which will be tested for the first time in May/June 2026. With key structural changes—including revised themes and defined vocabulary and grammar lists—educators were keen to discuss both the opportunities and challenges this reform brings. Attendees shared practical strategies for adapting Key Stage 3 to better prepare students for the new assessments and considered how to preserve creativity and spontaneity amid increased structure. The French session was led by Nathalie Blondeau, Senior Languages Consultant at Harris Federation. Catherine Ames, Associate Senior Leader, Head of Languages, Lead Practitioner, Languages Consultant, ALL Council Member and Wanda Marshall, teacher, trainer, writer and examiner led the German session. The Spanish seminar was led by Adam Lamb,  Director of Modern Foreign Languages, United Learning. Ian Rodmell and Rebecca Waker representing AQA and Pearson respectively shared updates and links to a vast rage of support material, and David Blow addressed the issue of providing predicted grades to managers within this new context, and provided a useful handout: Practical suggestions for grading your Year 10 students taking the new GCSE ML
  • The Primary languages sessions were led by Liz Lord and Steven Fawkes who shared good practice and showcased the primary archives, resources and opportunities on the ALL website.
  • Dr Fatima Khaled led a seminar on project-based language learning for heritage learners and invited ideas about how to promote creativity and motivation.

Cities of Languages: Celebrating Multilingualism

A particularly energising segment were two sessions devoted to the Cities of Languages initiative—an urban celebration of the linguistic diversity found in schools, homes, and communities. Liz Lord , Independent Consultant and local leader of ALL spoke passionately about ‘Portsmouth City of Languages’ sharing her positive experience of helping to build a successful ‘City of Languages’.  Then in the afternoon, a brainstorming session was held on the proposed London City of Languages in a session chaired by Vicky Gough (British Council) and including Bernadette Clinton and Steven Fawkes sharing ideas based on experiences in Hackney and Newcastle respectively.

A Strong Sense of Community

As ever, what stood out most was the collegial atmosphere of the event. Attendees shared freely, listened intently, and left not only with new resources and ideas, but with a renewed sense of purpose. The ALL London team once again demonstrated how a subject association can nurture a thriving professional community.

For many, the June event is more than a CPD opportunity—it’s a moment to pause, reconnect, and reimagine the possibilities of language teaching. We would like to thank the Spanish School of London and all our exhibitors for making this day possible.

Interested in joining the conversation? Learn more about ALL and future events at: www.all-london.org.uk

We hope to see you at the BFI for our January Event on Saturday January 17th 2026.  Please save the date!