Intent

At Sneyd Academy, our aim is to ensure that all pupils in KS2 receive engaging and high-quality teaching of a modern foreign language. French is our chosen language as is supports transition to our feeder high schools, as well as being a prominent language spoken across the world.

We believe that the learning of a language provides a valuable educational, social and cultural experience for all learners. It helps them to develop communication skills, including the core skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing. The children’s knowledge of how language works, phonology and elements of grammar will be developed and extended. Lessons will enable pupils to make substantial progress in one language. The transferable language learning skills gained will assist and lay foundations for further language learning.

Learning another language gives children a new and broader perspective on the world, encouraging them to understand their own cultures and those of others.

The Curriculum

French is taught on a weekly basis throughout KS2. We follow the Primary Languages Network scheme which supports us in mapping our topics. It provides us with access to interactive games, videos and songs as well as access to a native French speaker. These practical and visual approaches are designed to improve recall and to make the learning of an additional language accessible to every child. It is sequential and progressive, meeting the requirements of the National Curriculum and ensuring that our children develop key knowledge and confidence as they move through school.

Our expectations in the teaching and learning of French are high. Our intention is to ensure that all children are equally supported and challenged, resulting in them reaching age related expectations in languages.

KS2

The National Curriculum for languages aims to ensure that all KS2 pupils:

• 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 lengths, 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 studied.

Enrichment – French clubs, Educational Visits, Specialist Teacher for Year 3

To enrich the children’s cultural capital, the children are given various opportunities to link their learning to culture and the wider world. A biannual trip to Normandy gives many children the opportunity to put their skills and knowledge of French culture into practise.

Currently at Sneyd Academy, we offer a French Club during the academic year to allow children to develop their love for the language. We also link with The Discovery Academy, one of our partner high schools, where a specialist modern foreign languages teacher comes to teach our Year 3 classes. We have chosen Year 3 to support them in the start of their languages journey.

Pupil Voice

• Year 5: I like learning a language because it can help you when you travel the world and helps you to translate for others.
• Year 6: It’s good that we learn a different language. It’s good that we learn from someone who is French. It’s going to help me if I travel to France in the future.

Normandy Trip – May 2023