Modern Foreign Languages (French)

French Curriculum Statement

Intent

The school motto “Together we learn, together we thrive” is at the core of the Linton Heights curriculum for all pupils, irrespective of their backgrounds and starting points.

Our school values underpin our curriculum which has been created to build global citizens and life-long, successful learners. Wellbeing is a high priority to enable our pupils to be emotional literate.

Children are taught to be resilient; be respectful; show responsibility; have ambition; display kindness and always be honest.  These are our school values.

By teaching skills, knowledge, concepts and vocabulary in all curricular subjects our pupils receive a thorough, broad and balanced curriculum.

Our pupils progress to clearly identified end points in each phase of learning. We build on the foundations set by KS1 and prepare our pupils for the challenges of KS3 and beyond.

According to the 2023 IDSR, 83% of our school is white British, therefore we are keen to intersperse diversity to broaden the horizons of our learners. Inspiring people, irrespective of religion, race, disability or sexual orientation are studied and we also aim to teach pupils about different cultures. Diversity in the curriculum is not a ‘bolt-on’ addition, rather a staple element in our curriculum.

Through an extensive range of enriching experiences – trips, residentials, visitors and activity days the staff at Linton Heights make learning captivating, empowering and uplifting. Learning another language opens children’s minds to different cultures and to different ways of thinking, as well as deepening their knowledge of English through comparison.

Implementation

By choosing to follow the Kapow curriculum for all foundation subjects, there are explicit, identified skills progression end points in each subject which build upon the skill that has been taught before and gives pupils the required knowledge for their next stage of learning. It also support our focus on diversity. The Kapow curriculum is written by subject experts and regularly updated so that the learning is always current and adapting as the world around us changes.

The French scheme of work aims to instil a love of language learning and an awareness of other cultures. We want pupils to develop the confidence to communicate in French for practical purposes, using both written and spoken French.

The scheme of work we aims to give pupils a foundation for language learning that encourages and enables them to apply their skills to learning further languages, developing a strong understanding of the English language, facilitating future study and opening opportunities to study and work in other countries in the future. The French scheme of work supports pupils to meet the National curriculum end of Key stage 2 attainment.

The French scheme of work is designed with three knowledge strands that run throughout our units with knowledge building cumulatively. These are:

● Phonics ● Vocabulary ● Grammar

This knowledge can then be applied within the skills strands, which also run throughout each unit in the scheme:

● Language comprehension (Listening and reading)

● Language production (Speaking and writing)

Different units cover each of the National curriculum attainment targets as well as each of the strands. There is a defined progression of skills and knowledge shows the skills and knowledge that are taught within each year group and how these skills develop to ensure that attainment targets are securely met by the end of Key Stage 2.

Through the French scheme, pupils are given opportunities to communicate for practical purposes around familiar subjects and routines. The scheme provides balanced opportunities for communication in both spoken and written French, although in Year 3 the focus is on developing oral skills, before incorporating written French in Year 4 and beyond.

The scheme is a spiral curriculum, with key skills and vocabulary revisited repeatedly with increasing complexity, allowing pupils to revise and build on their previous learning.

Cross-curricular links are included throughout the French units, allowing children to make connections and apply their language skills to other areas of their learning.

Lessons incorporate a range of teaching strategies from independent tasks, paired and group work including role-play, language games and language detective work.

The French scheme of work focuses on developing what we term ‘language detective skills’ and developing an understanding of French grammar, and key vocabulary rather than on committing to memory vast amounts of French vocabulary.

Pronunciation is emphasised early on using the Mouth mechanics videos to support pupils with phoneme pronunciation in French.

Differentiated guidance is available for every lesson to ensure that lessons can be accessed and enjoyed by all.

Strong subject knowledge is vital for staff to be able to deliver a highly effective languages curriculum. Each unit of lessons includes multiple teacher videos to develop subject knowledge and support ongoing CPD. This has been created with the understanding that many teachers do not feel confident delivering the full languages curriculum and every effort has been made to ensure that they feel supported to deliver lessons of a high standard that ensure pupil progression.

Lessons include a section entitled, ‘Teacher knowledge – language points’ to explain key grammar and other details to the teacher before the lesson, together with a key vocabulary and pronunciation presentation with sound files to demonstrate the correct pronunciation.

Many of the other presentations included in the lessons also include sound files, supporting teachers who are less confident with their own pronunciation to deliver the lesson and support the children’s learning

Throughout their journey, pupils are encouraged to develop independent language-learning strategies and transferable skills, so that they leave Linton Heights equipped to learn any new language.

At Linton Heights, pupils learn French weekly for the first half of each term, following the Kapow curriculum. They start in Year 3 by memorising words and simple phrases. In Year 4, they begin to construct sentences and in Year 5 learn how to manipulate language to form different sentence structures. By Year 6, pupils are able to engage with French texts and take part in conversations consisting of several exchanges.

Our pupils develop an enthusiasm for language learning through enjoyable learning activities and extra-curricular enrichment.

Pupils will experience:

• A variety of activities, which develop listening, speaking, reading and writing
• Challenge at a level which is appropriate for them: ambition celebrated and support given when needed
• Pupils playing games, singing songs, watching videos, using puppets
• The use of dictionaries and technology to encourage independence

By learning French in the first half term of each term, pupils are given the opportunity to thoroughly cover all other subjects consistently. French is taught solely by the subject leader, although she is not a language specialist, she is, however, thoroughly supported by the comprehensive Kapow curriculum.

Impact

Using the carefully designed Kapow Curriculum which focuses pupils on and regularly revisits key learning, pupils are able to recall knowledge and skills independently weeks or months after a unit has been taught. Checking that pupils are learning will enable pupils and teachers to see if their fluency and mastery is incrementally improving and therefore impact has been achieved.

The curriculum subject leader is responsible for the monitoring and evaluation of the subject.  The information from the monitoring and evaluation, coupled with the results from the Kapow end of unit tests, then forms the basis of the impact assessment for that curriculum area.

Judgements on the impact of the curriculum on pupils are based upon a triangulation of different monitoring and evaluation activities within school.  Work and book looks, pupil voice discussions, outcomes of assessments and quality of teaching and learning are all used at tools to help senior leaders assess the impact of the curriculum.

Pupils leave Linton Heights with knowledge of how to begin learning a language. Nearly 90% of them acknowledge that language learning is valuable and the majority of them enjoy it. When they start KS3, and revisit their learning in a new setting or start a language from scratch, pupils discover a confidence which has grown from the strong foundation of weekly lessons in KS2.