Intent

We intend to provide all our pupils with a high-quality education in Modern Foreign Languages (MFL) that will develop their love of learning about other languages and cultures as well as provide them with an understanding of the world around them.  Learning a foreign language is a liberation from insularity and provides an opening to other cultures.  Pupils are taught a curriculum that will allow them to feel confident in speaking the language as well as become competent in reading, listening and writing it, too, providing opportunities for them to communicate for practical purposes.

Through our scheme of work, teachers deliver a carefully planned sequence of lessons, ensuring progressive coverage of the skills required by the National Curriculum. Themes including Time Travelling, Let's Visit a French Town and This Is France introduce the culture of French-speaking countries and communities. It aims to foster children’s curiosity and help deepen their understanding of the world. A linear curriculum has been chosen to allow opportunity for children to gradually build on their skills.  Lessons will enable children to express their ideas and thoughts in French and provide opportunities to interact and communicate with others both in speech and in writing. At the heart of lessons is the desire to expose children to authentic French so the scheme offers regular opportunities to listen to native speakers.

Children will understand how important languages will be in their future and be provided with a foundation that will allow them to learn further languages, during their secondary education and beyond, and equip them to study and work in other countries.  Our school is extremely diverse and consists of over 30 different ‘home’ languages spoken.  We aim to celebrate these cultures and the languages they speak in our annual ‘Culture Festival’ that takes place in the spring term.

Intent

In Key Stage 1, children are introduced to foreign languages through classroom greetings, including answering their name in the register in a different language.  In addition to this, MFL clubs are run during the school year at different points.

In Key Stage 2, French lessons take place weekly in a whole-class setting, using the Twinkl PlanIt scheme of work, and last for 30 minutes.  The scheme has been designed by language specialists, including French native speakers, so that teachers feel confident and supported.  Teachers across the school have received CPD from a local area language specialist, providing strategies and teaching techniques to support children’s learning.

The foundations of our teaching cover five key areas: practical communication, phonics, intercultural understanding, grammar as well as stories, songs and poems.  Each unit of work consists of oracy, literacy, core vocabulary, detailed lesson notes and suggested resources to support the learning process.

Lessons and resources help children to build on prior knowledge alongside the introduction of new skills. Teachers follow the series of lessons, providing structure and context as well as offering an insight into the culture of French-speaking countries and communities. The introduction and revision of key vocabulary and grammatical structures is built into each lesson. This vocabulary is then included in display materials and additional resources so that children have opportunities to repeat and revise their learning.  All lessons contain adult guidance, accurate language subject knowledge and accompanying audio materials.

Learning is evidenced through photos and videos that are stored on the school’s cloud service.

Impact

Our French curriculum will ensure all pupils develop key language learning skills set out by the National Curriculum as well as a love of languages and learning about other cultures.  Through each academic year, pupils will speak with increasing confidence, fluency and spontaneity, finding ways of communicating what they want to say.  Pupils will write at varying length, for different purposes and audiences, using the variety of grammatical structures that they have learnt.

Using the full range of resources, including display materials, the profile of languages will increase across school. The learning environment will be consistent with key French vocabulary displayed, spoken and used by all learners.  We strive to ensure that French is loved by teachers and pupils across the school.

Assessment and reporting of this subject will take a variety of forms, including:

• Key questions
• Observing children speaking and listening during lessons
• Marking of written work
• Child-led assessments
• Summative assessments
• Pupil Voice
• Learning Walks
• Sharing standards across the curriculum to parents

Sonar Tracker, the school’s assessment software, will be used to record attainment levels and children’s progress through the subject’s curriculum statements.