At Naunton Park Primary School, we believe that the learning of languages enriches our curriculum and helps to create enthusiastic, outward-looking learners, with positive attitudes to language-learning throughout life. The subject of French is taught through our Challenge Curriculum in Key Stage 2. The skills, knowledge and understanding children gain contribute to the development of their oracy and literacy and to their understanding of their own culture and those of others. Language learning helps to give our children a new perspective on their own language and make linguistic connections.

We aim to introduce the French language and key aspects of its culture in a variety of enjoyable and stimulating ways. We hope to embed the essential skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing throughout the French curriculum in Key Stage 2. The natural links between languages and other areas of the curriculum, particularly reading, enhance the children’s overall learning experience. Our aim is to build on the children’s ‘culture capital’ so that they are aware of similarities and differences between cultures and develop a deeper awareness of the world around them.

In essence, we hope to enrich the children’s curriculum, develop an interest in the world of languages and to lay the foundations for future language learning, so that they are prepared for the Key Stage 3 language curriculum and can transfer confidently and successfully. It is widely believed that the early acquisition of a foreign language facilitates the learning of other foreign languages later in life.

Our intention is that all children in KS2 are taught French in a regular, discrete lesson. The learning is carefully planned, sequenced and adapted from a well-known scheme called Language Angels, which ensures that knowledge, vocabulary and skills build on prior learning. Please see our progression map and overview for more details.

The teaching of French in our school involves a variety of approaches in order to encourage all children to be actively engaged during lessons. Informal, ongoing teacher assessment is used during lessons and end of unit summative assessments are used to inform planning for next learning.