Class of 2022: Hannah Yates

Class of 2022 pupil Hannah has thanked Priory for helping her pursue her dream career in Japanese.
 
Hannah became fascinated with learning Japanese while watching animated cartoons and wanted to watch without subtitles.
 
When she came to Priory she wanted to study Japanese language but obviously it’s not on the curriculum.
 
However, Priory found a way to help Hannah with the support of Head of Languages, Mrs Scully – and she will now study Japanese at university.
 
Mrs Yates said: “Hannah had been learning the language by herself at home. Mrs Scully was able to guide her through the curriculum but we also needed someone to help her with the spoken language so we put an appeal out on social media to see if there was anyone local who could help.
 
“Mrs Small, who is a Japanese national living in the area, came forward and she came into school every Wednesday lunch-time and helped Hannah with her GCSE.”
 
Hannah spent Monday and Wednesday studying Japanese in school, out of lesson time, as well as studying it independently.
 
While in Year 11 Hannah took the Japanese foundation level and got a Grade 5 – the highest she could achieve on that paper.
 
She kept up her learning with Mrs Small independently, alongside studying her A Levels, and last year came back to Priory to sit a higher level GCSE, this time achieving a Grade 8.
 
Hannah now has an unconditional offer from UCLan, as well as York St John, to study TESOL with Japanese -  teaching English as a second language in Japan.  She will go out there on placement in the third year to teach.
 
Hannah said: “I love Japan as it’s such a different culture and it’s so interesting learning about the history of Japan.  It is a tough language to learn but it is worth the effort.

“Without Priory, and the support I received from Mrs Scully and Mrs Small, I wouldn’t be where I am now. I didn’t take French and I would have probably opted to study something more mainstream at higher level. Having the opportunity to do this has definitely changed my life choices for the better.”

Mrs Small still comes into Priory, offering an extra-curricular lunch time club in Japanese language and culture for all pupils every Wednesday.