French

Intent

At Heytesbury C of E Primary School we believe that starting children on the journey towards learning a foreign language provides a valuable educational, social and cultural experience for our pupils. Understanding of, and engagement with, other languages and cultures is a vital part of our core christian values of Respect and Wisdom. It helps them to develop communication skills including key skills of speaking and listening and extends their knowledge of how language works. Learning another language gives the children a new perspective on the world encouraging them to understand their own cultures and those of others. 

Implementation

At Heytesbury C of E Primary school the children experience modern foreign language (MFL) by learning French. This starts in Year 2 and progresses through to Year 6. We follow the national curriculum for MFL also, to support our teachers and pupils we use a Language Angels who work with use to create a bespoke curriculum tailored to our school and class groups. This is a progressive scheme of work which supports both specialists and none specialists to provide quality teaching and learning. French is taught every week and is specifically designed to allow all children to access the language and to enable Year 6 pupils to transition smoothly and continue to develop their language skills at secondary school.

We cover a wide variety of different topics and all children are encouraged to join in with speaking activities. Lessons are planned to encourage all learners to benefit and enjoy the subject and include many different styles of tasks such as smart board activities, stories in French, role play and games.Children are eager to participate and demonstrate their newly acquired skills. Pupils are given exercise books to record vocabulary, try written tasks and enhance their learning of the language.

Impact

Through the delivery of our curriculum children are equipped with knowledge and understanding about the French language, culture, customs and country. They develop their verbal skills so that they can begin to  communicate with increasing confidence and fluency. They also begin to develop their knowledge and understanding to enable them to begin to read and write accurately in French. Our aim is that the children are enthused to want to know more about other languages, countries and peoples, and have the foundations to pursue further study.