INTENT

‘To learn a language is to have one more window from which to look at the world.’ - Chinese proverb

At Fremington Primary School we recognise the importance of providing a curriculum which takes into account the backgrounds and needs of all pupils. We know that a high-quality languages education is central to broadening children’s horizons and aspirations by guiding them towards ‘global citizenship’. This fosters children's curiosity and deepens their understanding of the world by encouraging them to understand their own cultures and those of others through the study of languages.

Our French curriculum has been designed with the key curriculum drivers of Literacy, aspiration, respect and wellbeing in mind.

Literacy – We aim for our children to acquire basic French language skills across KS2 focused on the four core skills of reading, writing, speaking and listening.  Our children will be able to use simple sentences including everyday nouns, verbs and adjectives when conversing, reading and writing.

Aspiration – We aim to broaden the horizons for our children and equip them with the tools to go far.  Our children will further develop their knowledge of France and its cultures, developing a sense of wonder. At yearly intervals they will apply their learning to Spanish, promoting a learning of languages and the opportunity to see the commonalities in learning other languages.

Respect  – We aim to develop a respect for other languages, cultures, people and places through our curriculum work.  Children have opportunities to question and consider and identify similarities and differences between languages, cultures, people and places.

Wellbeing – We aim to develop in our children a strong sense of resilience and a ‘can do’ attitude.  Learning French at Fremington Primary School will provide them with the tools to excel in MFL learning during their secondary years.

IMPLEMENTATION

Our French curriculum and milestones have been designed to ensure there is clear progression in the acquisition of skills and knowledge across Key Stage 2 and these cover the requirements of the National Curriculum. The teaching of high-quality French curriculum is supported by the use of the Primary Languages Network scheme of work and resources. This enables us to progressively develop pupil’s skills in a French through the well-taught and well-planned weekly lessons in KS2.

Our Primary Languages Network scheme of work has a focus on speaking, listening, reading and writing skills, as well as making children aware of grammatical features and structures of the French language. Most importantly, the scheme is supported by detailed audio guidance which allows both non-speakers to teach French and also precise and accurate exemplification to be given. Teachers follow the sequence of lessons from this scheme of work which covers a wide variety of topics and themes. Where appropriate, lessons are developed to make stronger links with other curriculum areas. Weekly lessons are taught ensuring progression by building on previous lessons, particularly the sentence stems and structures employed and learned, and understanding developed through utilisation of our oracy strategies and alongside songs, games, stories and rhymes which ensures lessons are inclusive for all groups of learners.

Effective teaching of French lesson would include the following:

• Introduction of a focused enquiry question which sets the scene for learning and what the line enquiry is.
• Brief retrieval of language structures, grammar or vocabulary to be used within the lesson.
• Contextualisation of learning – use of the hinterland knowledge – which develops both cultural capital and gives a purpose to learning (E.g. briefly learning the history and location behind the Tour Eiffel if children are to learning to describe places).
• Embedding of key nouns and vocabulary with reference to grammar E.g. masculine and feminine definite articles in relation to Le parc, La gare or La gallerie d’art.
• Teaching of sentence structures and their oral rehearsal in group or whole class activities such as the oracy ‘onion’ or traverse where children repeatedly move partners and have an opportunity to listen to or say something new.
• An opportunity to rehearse or present new learning which is evaluated by the class.
• A brief opportunity to apply and consolidate learning through writing.

IMPACT

The impact of our French curriculum is measured through learning walks, book sampling, analysis of learning journeys and monitoring of learning environments by the subject leaders and SLT in order to identify how ready children are for the next stage in their learning and areas in need of development. Subject leaders also conduct pupil interviews to ensure pupils are retaining prior-learning and making connections with what they are currently learning. In addition to this, each child’s progress is monitored by class teachers who assess them against our milestones.

Our children leave our school fully prepared for their next steps in language learning at the local secondary schools.

The below attachment includes our French progression statements across the school and our French  long term plan.