
The National Curriculum and Statutory Requirements
In Key Stage 2, it is statutory that children learn either a modern or ancient foreign language. This should be one language throughout to enable pupils to make substantial progress. At Hawkhurst CEP School children learn French from Year 3 to Year 6.
Aims
As a maintained school, our languages curriculum is based on the National Curriculum and reflects the statutory requirements therein. By the end of Key Stage 2, all children should:
- Listen attentively to spoken language and show understanding by joining in and responding
- Explore the patterns and sounds of language through songs and rhymes and link the spelling, sound and meaning of words
- Engage in conversations; aske and answer questions; express opinions and respond to those of others; seek clarification and help
- Speak in sentences, using familiar vocabulary, phrases and basic language structures
- Develop accurate pronunciation and intonation so that others understand when they are reading aloud or using familiar words and phrases
- Present ideas and information orally to a range of audiences
- Read carefully and show understanding of words, phrases and simple writing
- Appreciate stories, songs, poems and rhymes in the language
- Broaden their vocabulary and develop their ability to understand new words that are introduced into familiar written material, including through using a dictionary
- Write phrases from memory, and adapt these to create new sentences, to express ideas clearly
- Describe people, places, things and actions orally and in writing
At Hawkhurst CEP School we want to provide our children with broad educational opportunities and prepare them well for secondary education and so, beginning in Year 3, we teach French throughout Key Stage 2. In doing so we aim to build a secure foundation for pupils’ future language learning and develop an understanding of how language works, including the similarities and differences between French and English. We also endeavour to enhance pupils’ appreciation of the multilingual and multicultural world in which we live and develop their understanding of other cultures.
Teaching and Learning
At Hawkhurst CEP School, French lessons take place weekly in Year 3, 4, 5 and 6. Children will begin by learning some simple nouns, adjectives and songs and rhymes in French before building on this to develop an understanding of verb conjugation and being able to conduct short conversations in French.
Each term, classes will make links between what they are learning in French and the school value that the whole school is focussing on. Through this, children will develop a sense of the role that our school values play in both our curriculum and the whole school community, including our special place in the community of St Laurence Church.
We are committed to ensuring all children in our school have equal opportunities to access learning and lessons are planned and taught in line with our SEN and inclusion policies.
Recording and Assessment
At Hawkhurst CEP School, children’s learning in French lessons will almost always be practical. Any written work will be recorded in their French folder and speaking and listening activities may be recorded digitally for assessment purposes.
Teachers will assess children’s work regularly and this will be through observation and feedback given orally during lessons. Children’s progress will be checked against the skills progression documents for each year group.
Monitoring and Evaluating
The quality of education in French will be monitored by SLT and the Modern Foreign Languages subject leader. The subject leader will carry our regular learning walks (each seasonal term) and will monitor progress throughout the school by checking the quality of learning opportunities and the standard of outcomes through observation and pupil conferencing.
The subject leader will be responsible for managing the MFL budget and ensuring classes have sufficient resources to deliver high-quality French lessons across the year.
KS2 |
Pupils should be taught to:
The starred (*) content above will not be applicable to ancient languages.
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Year 3 | Year 4 | Year 5 | Year 6 |
Listen and respond to familiar spoken words and phrases.
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Listen for specific phonemes, words and phrases.
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Listen attentively and understand more complect phrases and sentences.
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Understand the main points and simple opinions in spoken sources.
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Year 3 | Year 4 | Year 5 | Year 6 |
Communicate with others using simple words, phrases and short sentences.
Explore the patterns and sounds of language to help develop accurate pronunciation and intonation.
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Communicate by asking and answering a wider range of questions and presenting short pieces of information.
Explore the patterns and sounds of language to help develop accurate pronunciation and intonation.
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Take part in short conversations using familiar structures and vocabulary.
Use simple conjunctions to build more complex sentences and present information to others.
Understand and express more complex opinions.
Explore the patterns and sounds of language to hep develop accurate pronunciation and intonation. |
Use spoken language to initiate and sustain simple conversations on familiar topics and to describe incidents or tell stories from their own experience.
Understand and begin to use the past tense to describe events and the present tense to an audience e.g. through a presentation or role play.
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Year 3 | Year 4 | Year 5 | Year 6 |
Recognise and understand some familiar written words and phrases and show an awareness of grapheme-phoneme correspondence in French.
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Read and understand familiar written words, phrases and short texts. Develop confidence in reading a wider range of words, phrases and sentences aloud and apply phonic knowledge to support reading and pronunciation.
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Read a variety of short simple texts in different formats and in different contexts.
Focus on the correct pronunciation and intonation and gesture to convey meaning when reading aloud.
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Read aloud from a text with good expression.
Read and understand the main points and some detail from a short, written passage.
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Year 3 | Year 4 | Year 5 | Year 6 |
Write some familiar simple words using a model and some from memory.
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Write a short text using a model, a few simple sentences from memory and apply phonic knowledge to support writing.
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Write simple sentences and short texts using a model.
Use a dictionary to check the spelling of words.
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Write sentences and construct short texts using a model. Write a few sentences from memory, using knowledge of French words, text and structure.
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Year 3 | Year 4 | Year 5 | Year 6 |
Understand some basic grammar appropriate to the language being studied e.g. gender (masculine/feminine), nouns, word order of adjectives, how to form the negative.
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Understand some basic grammar appropriate to the language being studied e.g. gender (masculine/feminine), nouns, word order of adjectives, pronouns, verbs and how to form the negative.
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Understand some basic French grammar.
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Understand some basic French grammar.
Be able to identify tenses from a selection of sentences.
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