French

Intent

At Lakey, we believe learning a foreign language fosters children’s curiosity and broadens their perspective of the world they live in. Our aim is for our language learners to acknowledge, appreciate and respect that we live in a diverse, multicultural world. Our French curriculum has been planned to allow our KS2 pupils to learn and understand both spoken and written French. They will begin language learning in Year 3 and as they progress through KS2, they will learn to speak French with increasing confidence and fluency. As they progress, they will become more accurate with their pronunciation and intonation. Pupils will also develop their skills of reading French and be able to write, with increasing stamina, for different purposes and audiences, incorporating the grammatical features that they have learnt.  

Our intent is that when pupils leave Lakey, they will have developed skills and confidence in French and they will be enthusiastic and prepared to continue language learning at secondary school. 

We aim to deliver our curriculum through 3 key drivers and our 6 school values which underpin our children’s learning.

Aspiration - We aim to provide the foundation for learning further languages at a later stage as we have cultivated a thirst for new knowledge and skills. 

Community -  We strive to equip our children with the skills and knowledge they need to play a valuable part in our growing global society

Respect - to acknowledge, appreciate and respect that we live in a diverse, multicultural world. 

Curiosity - to support pupils to be curious about the world around them and enable them to take an interest in other countries and cultures.  

Kindness - to promote a sensitive and considerate attitude of all pupils that encourages others and allows everyone to 'have a go' knowing they will be listened to and respected. 

Self-belief - to foster well-being, self-esteem and build confidence through promoting different cultures (including those of our pupils) through language teaching and language themed experiences. 

Implementation

Our French curriculum is engaging, well thought out and is planned to demonstrate progression. We focus on progression of knowledge, skills and vocabulary whilst developing a curiosity in language and the cultures of others. To ensure high standards of teaching and learning in French, at Lakey we implement a curriculum that is progressive throughout Key Stage 2 as it builds upon prior knowledge and lays the foundations for continued language learning as our children move to secondary school.

Lakey Lane Primary School have adopted the ‘Language Angels’ scheme of Modern Foreign Language teaching to ensure coverage and progression and to ensure delivery of the key elements of language learning; speaking, listening, reading & writing. Our curriculum is designed to encourage active participation through the use of songs, rhymes, stories, actions, images, videos amongst many other creative ways to engage and embed language learning.

• In Years 3 - 6 French is regularly taught for 30 minutes every week  by the class teacher. 

• Each unit and lesson has clearly defined objectives and aims.

•  Each detailed 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. 

•  Reading and writing activities will be offered in all units. Some extended reading and writing activities are provided so that native speakers can also be catered for.

•  Every unit will include a grammar concept which will increase in complexity as pupils move from Early Language units, through Intermediate units and into Progressive units.

•   Extending writing activities are provided to ensure that pupils are recalling previously learnt language and, by reusing it, will be able to recall it and use it with greater ease and accuracy. These tasks will help to link units together and show that pupils are retaining and recalling the language taught with increased fluency and ease.

•  Each classroom has an appropriate selection of French phrases/vocabulary displayed to reinforce vocabulary being covered and there is a bank of French dictionaries for reference.

•  Written work is recorded in work books and, where possible,  oral evidence of speaking exercises and activities is saved on the school system.

•  Children will have the opportunity to engage in French traditions and cultural experiences during their time in Key Stage 2

All our children in KS2 have regular language lessons. This education begins in Year 3 with Early language units, progressing into Intermediate units, moving into Progressive Units in Year 6. Each unit covers the 4 key elements and within each one children acquire, use and apply a growing bank of vocabulary themed around age-appropriate topics. The knowledge and skills acquired are built upon in subsequent units allowing the children to demonstrate a growing confidence and accuracy. 

For each unit of work there is a corresponding knowledge organiser which children are familiarised with at the start of the teaching, it is referred to throughout the unit and also gets sent home. The knowledge organiser details unit expectations, skills to develop, key vocab and grammar that will be taught, prior learning and phonics and pronunciation foci.

We are looking to develop our offer of trips/experiences linked to languages to deepen our children’s curiosity of the world and further promote the respectful attitude they have towards the different cultures of all our pupils. 

Intended Impact

As well as harnessing a love of languages and a desire to explore other cultures, our French curriculum will ensure all pupils develop key language learning skills, as set out by the national curriculum.

These are as follows:

• understand and respond to spoken and written language from a variety of authentic sources

• speak with increasing confidence, fluency and spontaneity, finding ways of communicating what they want to say, including through discussion and asking questions, and continually improving the accuracy of their pronunciation and intonation

• can write at varying length, for different purposes and audiences, using the variety of grammatical structures that they have learnt
• discover and develop an appreciation of a range of writing in the language studies

Pupils will continuously build on their previous knowledge as they progress in their foreign language learning journey through the primary phase. Previous language will be recycled, revised, recalled and consolidated whenever possible and appropriate.

Work in French books evidences clear progression from Year Three to Year Six routed in a broad and engaging curriculum. In each topic, pupils learn new vocabulary and this is applied and embedded through a range of different activities and built upon as they progress through Key Stage 2. 

Children are expected to make good or better than good progress in their foreign language learning and their individual progress is tracked. If pupils are not progressing in line with expectations, this will be identified in the End of Unit Skills Assessments. This will enable teachers to put in place an early intervention programme to address any areas that require attention in any of the language learning skills.

Pupils report that they enjoy French lessons, they like trying something new, find them interesting and 'something different'. Some pupils said they enjoy practising with their peers at lunchtime and a Year Five child explained that they used some French they learned on a family holiday to Normandy because they felt confident enough to 'have a go'. Year 6 pupils said they felt that having learned 4 years of French at Lakey that they felt well-prepared to continue language learning at secondary school and were looking forward to exploring other languages.