National Curriculum

We aim for our language education to foster children’s curiosity and deepen their understanding of the world, enable them to express their ideas and thoughts in another language and to understand and respond to its speakers, both in speech and in writing. Our current language provision is French. 

French is taught from Year 1 to Year 6. All children have fortnightly French lessons during the year and are taught by a French speaker.

The core elements of our curriculum are:

• Listening
• Speaking
• Reading
• Writing

Our scheme of work follows four stages:

• Stage 1: Introduce basic, essential language like colours and numbers;
• Stage 2: Introduce some more varied language and simple sentence structures;
• Stage 3: Develop more complex vocabulary and sentence structures; learn to use adjectives to add detail to sentences; talk about interests such as hobbies and holidays.
• Stage 4: Introduce other tenses; use sentences in the third person; talk about what we have seen and done, and what we are going to do in the future.

All lessons allow children to develop their language skills in relevant, engaging and meaningful contexts. Learning happens through a great range of interactive activities, role-play, songs, games and stories. In the earlier stages of language learning the focus is on speaking and listening.

We also introduce the children to the French lifestyle along with French customs and traditions, to ensure that their learning is in context.