Every year students from French and German classes take part in the Australian Language Certificates run by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER). As such, they are national tests and provide students with a chance to gauge their development in their chosen language by means of Reading and Listening comprehension tests.

This year, 45 Year 9 Students stepped up for the French Beginners Certificate tests. Of that number, four boys, Alexander Abbey, James Butterworth, James Cribb and Beau Yeaman were in the top 10 % of all those taking part in both the Reading and Listening tests. Alexander Bell-Rowe, Toby Chisnall, Matthew Ramos, Andreas Sherborne, Con Tieu-Vinh and Andrew Waldron were in the top 10 % for Reading, while Mark Raymond and Tom Walmsley were in the top 10 % for Listening. A creditable 56 % of CGS students earned a Distinction in Reading, 33 % earned a Credit, while 11 % were given a pass for Participation. Congratulations to all boys for their efforts. In Listening, 49 % earned a Distinction in reading compared to 38 % of all schools and 42 % earned a Credit. Congratulations to all boys for their efforts!

Of the 16 Year 11 students who took part in the French Intermediate tests, John Aslanides, Anirudh Devanathan, Darsha Kumar, Andrew May, Sam Pender-Bayne and Daniel Thomas were in the top 10 % of all those taking part in both the Reading and Listening tests. Paul Jackson and Bradley Shipp were in the top 10 % for Reading, while Linden Maguinness and James Zhang were in the top 10 % for Listening. An excellent 94 % of CGS students earned a Distinction in reading compared to 36 % of all schools, while 6 % earned a Credit. In Listening, 81 % of CGS students earned a Distinction compared to 19 % of all schools, while 19 % earned a Credit. So, congratulations to all boys involved for a tremendous result!

This year, 33 Year 10 students entered the German Beginners Certificate tests. Frederic Campbell and Rex Martin were both in the top 10 % of all those taking part in the Reading and Listening tests, while James Hart, Matthew Hayes-Kossman and Callum Heiner were in the top 10 % for Reading. CGS students were level with the percentage of all students earning a Distinction for Reading with 33 %, while 48 % earned a Credit. As for Listening, 45 % earned a Distinction compared to 37 % of all schools, while 45 % earned a Credit. Once more, congratulations to all these boys for their efforts and success.

Sarah Payne was the teacher of all the French students who took the tests this year, and I would like to thank for her efforts and success. Franziska Morrison prepared the German students for their tests, and I thank her for her work and success. Mention must also be made of the language teachers who may have taught the boys in earlier years and whose work helped prepare the way for these pleasing results.

Peter Moss