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French

Intent: At Rushy Meadow Primary School, we intend for all children to develop positive attitudes towards other languages and cultures. It is intended that when children leave Rushy Meadow they will have a natural curiosity and confidence to explore, other countries, cultures and languages, accepting that, in a multi-lingual society it is a valuable skill to be able to communicate effectively with others in another language.

They will be engaged and prepared to continue language learning at Secondary School. They may chose to continue to learn French but will also have developed a set of skills as language learners which are transferable as well as a love of and keen interest in languages and other cultures. The children are engaged in exciting and fun lessons which build confidence and promote the skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing and have confidence to speak in French with others and know how important other languages can be in their future.

Implementation:

If you were to walk into a French lesson at Rushy Meadow you would find the children engaged in a range of speaking, listening, reading and writing activities. The learning journey is shared with the children at the start of each theme and this shows the children how their learning builds each week to an exciting and creative outcome. For example in year six, children will learn about clothing and at the end of the unit will put on a fashion show or in year 3, will name minibeasts using their phonics knowledge and then go on a minibeast hunt. Along the way, books, pictures and vocabulary banks support the learning.
Children explore their learning using questioning and discussing. Speaking and listening is a huge part of the French curriculum and the children feel confident to explore how unfamiliar words sounds by practising with their friends and as a class.
The children are confident in in telling you about their learning and where it is taking them through the consistent use of learning journeys. They evaluate their learning after each session which informs the early teaching of the next session and builds to a more detailed pupil voice evaluation at the end of each unit. This in turn feeds into planning for the next topic and also tweaking the unit for subsequent cohorts.
Audience purpose context. The learning journeys give the children the context of their learning and show clearly what the children are aiming to do. There is always a purpose to their learning whether it be to create a story book to share with year 2 or invent a Lego character to describe in French.
At the end of the learning journey the children review their learning using their pupil voice opportunity. This is then reviewed by the teacher and used to inform the learning for the next unit if appropriate. For example some children felt they needed work on pronunciation and in the following unit we built in more phonics work. This also informs the planning for subsequent years.
The children at Rushy feel empowered to “have a go” in French and are not afraid to make and learn from mistakes. The children learn French while linking with their class topics where possible whilst making cross curricular links with art, drama, music, geography, SPaG, PHSE and even science!

Impact:

We measure the impact of our MFL curriculum in a variety of ways: Pupil Voice evidences that pupils are acquiring a developed understanding of the vocabulary and grammar French. They are developing skills in speaking and listening, reading and writing within a foreign language and show improved confidence in discussing their own work and identifying their own strengths and areas for development. Half termly teacher assessments inform how the children have achieved during that topic and this feeds the end of year assessments for reports. Book and work sampling shows that pupils have had opportunities for practice and refinement of skills within the MFL curriculum from Year 3 to Year 6 which will support them on their journey through KS3. Books also demonstrate that pupils, over time, develop a range of skills and language enabling them to communicate in French with another person. As a result, pupil attainment in French is developing, allowing for children to make positive gains in their learning beyond primary school.

We follow the Primary National Curriculum (2014) programmes of study for Modern Foreign Languages (see below).

Click on the documents below to see the learning journey our pupils take in their French curriculum.