Bewley

Primary School

Bright, Proud and Successful

Modern Foreign Languages (French)

Intent

At Bewley Primary School, we believe that the learning of a language provides a valuable educational, social and cultural experience for our pupils. It helps them to develop communication skills in speaking, listening, reading and writing, with an aim of making substantial progress in one language. In addition, children’s knowledge of how language works will be developed to lay the foundations for further language learning in future. We believe that learning another language gives children a new and broader perspective on the world, encouraging them to understand their own cultures and those of others.

Implementation

KS2 Miss Jones leads the teaching of French in school. We offer children the exciting opportunity to take part in French lessons from Years 3 to 6. 

Children develop their love of language learning and develop skills throughout their time in school. There are no formal lessons in Ks1 though we encourage teachers to introduce words and short phrases – saying hello, goodbye, please and thank you which can be incorporated throughout the school day.
In KS2, children are taught in weekly sessions of 30 minutes with class teachers, following the Rigolo 1 scheme. We aim for our children to develop an appreciation of songs and stories in French throughout their time at the school. 
As we acknowledge children’s different learning styles, our children learn through active participation in actions, rhymes, stories, song and video clips. We focus very much on the spoken word in order for children to gain confidence in speaking and we combine teaching the language with lessons on French culture where appropriate.

Key Stage 2 children have weekly French lessons where we aim to develop a love of languages and an understanding of other cultures alongside language development.

Due to the impact of lockdown in 2020 and early 2021, we have made the decision to start each year group in Key Stage 2 on the Year 3 curriculum from 2021. Older year groups may well progress more quickly through the scheme.

French Curriculum Road Map

Impact

Our French curriculum will ensure all pupils develop key language learning skills, as set out by the National Curriculum, as well as a love of languages and learning about other cultures. Our focus is as follows: