French Curriculum Statement
Intent
At Clee Hill Community Academy, we see language learning as a key way to broaden the horizons of our pupils and develop their curiosity about languages and countries where languages other than English is spoken. The main language that is learnt at our school is French.
We aim to enable KS2 pupils to develop their language learning skills within a safe environment where they can learn alongside each and appreciate the importance of ‘having a go’ when practising and developing oral skills. We encourage them to learn from each other through participation in explicit discussions of ways they can improve their language learning skills as part of their growth mindset approach to learning. Our aim is for these skills to be transferable to future language learning that our pupils may experience whilst also developing a bank of vocabulary and grammatical structures in French and developing their curiosity about daily life in French-speaking countries.
Implementation
We aim to develop the three core strands of language learning for all pupils:
Lessons are planned using aims and attainment targets from the National Curriculum for Languages using Rachel Hawkes’ scheme of learning for French for KS2 pupils.
https://www.rachelhawkes.com/Resources/KS2Lang.php
We have incorporated this into rolling programmes for our mixed age classes in KS2 from Autumn 2024 and aim for this to be fully implemented by Autumn 2025.
The SoW draws on key recommendations from the pedagogy review and the Ofsted languages research report, which highlight the three key knowledge strands phonics, vocabulary, and grammar. It also exploits everyday and rich cultural contexts to build confident communication in the new language and encourages them to:
- Develop linguistic and communicative competence
- Extend their knowledge of how language works
- Explore similarities and differences between the new language and any heritage languages our children have, and English.
In addition to these lessons, we have half-termly reading miles days where links are often made to other languages spoken in chosen countries with some additional language learning activities taking place as appropriate.
Supporting pupils with SEND
All our KS2 children are involved in language lessons. Support is given to
pupils as necessary to enable them to be involved in lessons. This support is guided by the needs of each individual pupil. As French lessons are active, practical and interactive, most children are able to access the learning with support.
Enrichment opportunities
The French Café: as part of the French curriculum, children are given experiences of the French Culture as well as developing language skills. The French café is one of these opportunities, where the children can order food in
French and have conversational French whilst sampling different French foods and drinks. Tres bien.
Impact
The teaching of French at Clee Hill Community Academy should provide the foundation for learning further languages, equipping pupils to study and work in other countries. After accessing first quality French teaching, pupils will be adequately prepared for further MFL teaching in KS3.
