Intent: Why does our French curriculum look like this?
At Barley Fields Primary School, we offer a relevant, broad, vibrant and ambitious foreign language curriculum designed to inspire and excite our children using a wide variety of topics and themes. Our chosen core language is French which links to languages taught in some local secondary schools. All children will be expected to achieve their full potential by encouraging high expectations and excellent standards in their learning – the ultimate aim being that children will feel motivated and able to continue studying languages beyond Key Stage 2.
It is our intention that children develop a genuine interest and positive curiosity about foreign languages, find them enjoyable and stimulating. Learning a second language will also offer children the opportunity to explore relationships between language and identity, develop a deeper understanding of other cultures and the world around them and enhance their awareness of self, others and cultural difference.
Implementation: How will we achieve this?
Our children follow a carefully structured French curriculum which is designed to ensure children know more, remember more and can do more as they progress through our school. The curriculum is supported by the Language Angels MFL scheme and is typically taught by specialist members of the PPA team. Our curriculum is taught using four concept led strands.
- listening,
- speaking,
- reading
- writing – grammar will be covered in an age-appropriate way across the primary phase
Our curriculum is designed to ensure that the foreign language knowledge of our children begins in Y1 and is extended year on year throughout the primary phase. It is structured to ensure children progressively acquire, use and apply a growing bank of vocabulary, language skills and grammatical knowledge by following age-appropriate topics and themes. It provides a basis for building blocks of language understanding into more complex, fluent and authentic language use in units of difficulty.
- Early Language units are entry level units used across KS1 and Year 3. These units alongside core vocabulary lessons are designed to run for approximately 30 minutes and are taught on a termly basis.
- Intermediate Language units increase the level of challenge by increasing the amount and complexity (including foreign language grammar concepts) of the foreign language presented to children. Intermediate units are taught in Year 4 and 5 for children with embedded basic knowledge of the foreign language.
- Progressive Language and Creative Curriculum units are the most challenging units and taught to Year 6 children. By Year 6, children have a good understanding of the basics of the language they are learning.
Our Teaching Approach
French is taught weekly or in blocks of lessons to ensure children have opportunities for a sustained period of study and have time to embed and enhance their learning. Detailed medium-term planning supports teaching, ensures continuity and carefully plans for progression and depth. Children have opportunities to use high quality resources and materials to support their learning. The medium-term planning also underpins an appropriate teaching pedagogy for effective quality first teaching in MFL. Children will continuously build on their previous knowledge as they progress in their foreign language learning journey through the primary phase. Previous language learning will be recycled, revised, recalled and consolidated whenever possible and appropriate.
Our children understand the core skills needed to work as a linguist with the use of the school curriculum character – Lilia the Linguist. These characters are regularly used to encourage children to reflect on the key skills needed when learning in the French curriculum.
Full details of our curriculum long term schemes of learning and curriculum pathways can be downloaded below.
Impact: How will we know that our children are achieving?
By the end of each key stage, children are expected to know, apply and understand the skills and techniques specified in the French curriculum plan.
Children are assessed using our SONAR tracking system which identifies clear and progressive end points. This ensures progress is maintained and end of key stage expectations are met by all children.
Children are assessed termly and a final summative assessment made at the end of the academic year. Children will be assessed as either Emerging, Developing, Secure or Exceeding, in accordance with Age Related Expectations.
In addition, we measure the impact of our curriculum through the following methods:
- A reflection on standards achieved against the planned outcomes;
- A celebration of learning for each term which demonstrates progression across the school (Curriculum Floor book);
- Pupil discussions about their learning (Pupil Voice);
- The annual tracking of standards across the curriculum. In KS1 and KS2