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French

Our Aims

At St Andrew’s Church of England primary school, we aim to:

  • provide a broad, balanced and accessible curriculum which fulfils the requirements of the National Curriculum for languages;
  • ensure we offer a relevant, broad, vibrant and ambitious foreign languages curriculum that will inspire and excite our pupils using a wide variety of topics and themes;
  • offer pupils the opportunity to explore relationships between language and identity, develop a deeper understanding of other cultures and the world around them with a better awareness of self, others and cultural differences;
  • ensure the progressive development of the three key areas of language learning; phonics, vocabulary and grammar;
  • ensure our curriculum is fully inclusive to every child;
  • build learners self-efficacy (their belief in their own ability) in the French language;
  • help prepare our end of KS2 pupils to continue studying languages into KS3;
  • encourage our children to be lifelong language learners.

Our Intent: the knowledge and skills that pupils will gain at each stage through the school’s curriculum

At St Andrew’s all classes in KS2 have access to a very high-quality foreign languages curriculum using the Language Angels scheme of work and resources. We tailor our lessons using this scheme, to produce an effective languages curriculum that focuses on the building blocks of language: phonics, vocabulary and grammar.

Children will build on previous knowledge gradually as their foreign language lessons continue to recycle, revise and consolidate previously learnt language whilst building on all four language skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing. Knowledge and awareness of required and appropriate grammar concepts will be taught throughout all units at all levels of challenge.

Our Implementation: How the curriculum is taught and assessed.

French is taught for 1 hour a week in each class in KS2.

Language Angel’s units are mapped out across KS2 to ensure progression of teaching types and skills. Each class has an overview of units to be taught during the academic year to ensure substantial progress and learning is achieved. Each teaching unit is divided into 6 fully planned lessons.

  • Each unit and lesson will have clearly defined objectives and aims.
  • Each lesson will incorporate interactive whiteboard materials to include ample speaking and listening tasks within a lesson.
  • Lessons will incorporate challenge sections and desk-based activities that will be offered will three levels of stretch and differentiation. These may be sent home as homework if not completed in class.

We assess using both summative (end of module attainment) and formative methods during class lessons.

Our Impact: the outcomes that children achieve as a result of their education

In our assessment of the impact of MFL in St Andrew’s we would expect to see;

  • children who enjoy learning another language, therefore encouraging them to become lifelong language learners.
  • children at St Andrew’s equipped with key language skills and knowledge that will enable them to be ready for the curriculum at Key Stage 3 and for life as an adult in the wider world.
  • children who understand the pedagogy of language learning and have a growing disciplinary knowledge of the subject.
  • Teachers who feel that they are well supported with materials, resources and training and have a clear overview of what they are working towards and if they are meeting these criteria.
  • our SLT and governors kept up to date with developments in the way French is taught in our school with subject visits, action plans and review meetings.