Learning a language in school is difficult but can be a valuable thing to do.

That is the view of Kingsdown headteacher Emma Leigh-Bennett, as well as Swindon people, despite the results of a recent survey.

Findings by the British Council has revealed that the difficulty or learning a language has led to declining numbers of pupils taking French, German and Spanish at GCSE and A-Level.

The 2019 Language Trends Survey also found that 36 per cent of teachers at state secondary schools reported that pupils had mixed attitudes towards languages as a result of Brexit.

Teachers also noted an impact on parental attitudes, with some actively discouraging their children from learning a language.

Mrs Leigh-Bennett, headteacher at Kingsdown School, said: “I see languages as very important, I truly value young people being able to speak a different language in the 21st century.

“With Brexit, language is even more important, especially as we will have to go out and trade with the rest of the world, by ourselves. We will need to learn their languages.”

Mrs Leigh-Bennett was not the only one to encourage languages at schools.

David Loxton, 40, from Coleview, said: “Learning languages in school was difficult but it was a very handy thing to learn for things like travel and tourism.

“But the way things are going, we need to broaden our horizons, learn more than English.” Hannah Pritchard, 35, from East Wichel agreed, saying: “I think kids should learn languages, if the opportunity is there for them to learn something that is potentially going to help them in the future then they should definitely have a go.”

However, Morag Mckaskle, 56, from Rodbourne, disagreed.

She said: “I’m kind of divided on it, because English is arguably the widest spoken language in the world, and it certainly is on the internet, maybe that’s an insular attitude, I don’t know.

“I think there’s more important things kids could be learning at school, like maths and science, and even basic English.

“If they want to learn languages later on then that’s fine, but I’m not sure that it’s a necessity.”

The survey also found French remains the most commonly taught language in secondary schools.