At UWCSEA we believe that students should continue their home language up to the end of high school so they have the opportunity to fully develop their home language skills. 

Not only do we offer a range of taught classes in language A subjects, we also offer School Supported Self-Taught Language A at the IB Diploma level giving students the opportunity to continue to develop their home language. Students who take two Language A subjects will be awarded a Bilingual IB Diploma.

The College also upholds the IBO Language guidelines that state that students should follow the IB Language course that offers ‘the most appropriate level of challenge’.  As such we would expect students to follow the pathways outlined below if they intend to continue with their Language at IBDP.

• UWCSEA First Language leads to IB Language A (either at HL or SL)

• GCSE Second Language (available in Chinese only) leads to IB Language B usually at HL

• GCSE Foreign Language leads to IB Language B - student have a choice to study at HL or SL

In addition to these pathways, the Ab Initio language courses in French, Spanish or Mandarin (subject to demand) offer students the chance to begin a new language. This courses are available to students if they have not studied the chosen language in an academic context before.