INTENT

Learning a foreign language is a necessary part of being a member of a multi-cultural society and provides an opening to other cultures. In key stage 1, teachers are encouraged to teach ‘incidental French’ towards the end of year 2; this will ensure an efficient transition between key stage 1 and key stage 2.

Our children have weekly lessons in French throughout Key Stage 2 using the resources and units from PlanIt French, together with a variety of other resources. In Lower key stage 2, children acquire basic skills and understanding of French with a strong emphasis placed on developing speaking and listening skills. These will be embedded and further developed in Upper key stage 2, alongside reading and writing. It is intended that when children leave school they will be engaged and prepared to continue language learning at Secondary School.

IMPLEMENTATION

We follow the National Curriculum for Modern Foreign Languages. This is done through French lessons, taught by a class teacher. Classes are mixed age, with combinations of year groups from Year 3 to Year 6 and so languages are taught on a four year rolling programme. We are currently using the resources from PlanIt French, ensuring that development is progressive as the children build on previous knowledge from units already studied.

IMPACT

We measure the impact of our curriculum through the following methods:

• Observing children speaking and listening in another language,
• Marking of written work,
• Learning walks,
• Book scrutinies.

At Burley Gate, we ensure that the knowledge taught is retained by the children and continually revisited and that the learners are able to apply the skills they have been taught to a variety of different settings, showing independence with their learning. Impact is also measured through key questioning skills built into lessons.