Modern Foreign Languages Curriculum Statement

At Carnagill School, our curriculum is built around the attitudes and values of independence, curiosity, aspiration, commitment, kindness and pride.  Our school motto of ‘Inspiring Bright Futures Together’ demonstrates our commitment to developing the whole child so that they can succeed in life. Mental health and well-being is a key driver in restoring our school community after the disruption of the pandemic.

At Carnagill School, the curriculum we offer is based around the four key principles of:

We underpin all of this with:

Context

Carnagill Primary School is a new school and has moved forward and redefined itself under the leadership of the new Headteacher. Since being judged as inadequate in June 2018, rapid improvements have been made to ensure children have the basic skills they require for life. The new vision and values feed into all aspects of school life and curriculum.

Within our unique school community, children’s experiences can be very varied. Many of our pupils from military families may have experienced multiple mid-year moves, which often result in children studying different modern foreign languages and having gaps in their knowledge of a language.

Some children from military families will have experienced living in a different country but have little understanding of the country, the culture and their language. Some children may also speak a different language at home e.g. Arabic, Fijian, Nepali and therefore do not always have a good understanding of the English language. This can then make it challenging to learn yet another language.

Engaging children with a modern foreign language can be difficult as some do not see the importance of developing their knowledge outside of their own community/experiences. It is our role to ensure that children have a better understanding of the world around them, the languages that are spoken and the need to be able to communicate in different ways.

At Carnagill School, all children are taught French in line with Secondary Schools in the area to offer continuity and progression of knowledge. For those who experience high mobility in their education, we feel that by offering French, we provide some key knowledge that can be transferred and skills that can be used in other languages.

Intent

At Carnagill, we want children to:

• Develop independence in their use of language and how to express themselves confidently
• Be curious – about a different language experiences and places around the world to know more and remember more
• To show commitment to their learning and build resilience to become effective communicators in a modern foreign language
• Aspire to want to learn more and remember more so that they can use effective word choices to communicate
• Demonstrate kindness towards others to support each other, develop each other’s resilience and encourage each other
• Take pride in their use of a modern foreign language that they can effectively communicate in useful ways

Implementation

Our French curriculum covers Key Stage 2 with discrete teaching to ensure that knowledge of the subject is developed across the year groups.

Due to having mixed age classes and a high turnover or children, some work is required each year to re-visit key vocabulary and grammatical structures to ensure that all can participate in the learning experiences

Key features of implementation are as follows:

• Vocabulary focus in lessons to support children to learn more and remember more
• Language skills are built upon each year to ensure that more complex sentences are used to challenge children’s use of the language
• Conversational activities form a key part of the learning with opportunities to repeat, practise and improve pronunciation
• Activities, games and writing opportunities are used so that children can use the knowledge that they have learnt

Impact

Children will:

• Talk confidently in French and have a good grasp of key vocabulary
• Have a good understanding of spoken French during listening activities
• Have an awareness of French culture and where the origins of the language
• Be able to hold a conversation with others based on the knowledge acquired
• Have a good grasp of the language ready to be fully engaged in a modern foreign language at secondary school and have the enthusiasm to want to learn more

French

French progression