The national curriculum for languages aims to ensure that all pupils:

• understand and respond to spoken and written language from a variety of authentic sources
• speak with increasing confidence, fluency and spontaneity, finding ways of communicating what they want to say, including through discussion and asking questions, and continually improving the accuracy of their pronunciation and intonation
• can write at varying length, for different purposes and audiences, using the variety of grammatical structures that they have learnt
• discover and develop an appreciation of a range of writing in the language studied

Intent - What do we intend children to learn through modern foreign languages?

At Repton Primary School we wish to foster an interest in learning French.  We introduce the children to another language in a way that is enjoyable and fun.  We make children aware that language has structure and that the structure differs from one language to another.  We help children develop their awareness of cultural differences in other countries and develop their speaking and listening skills.  They learn basic vocabulary such as colours, numbers and greetings, progressing through to opinions and descriptions by the end of KS2.  We aim to provide children with the transferable skills to learn foreign languages into KS3 and beyond.  

Implementation - How is French taught?

In KS2 we follow the progression set out in the National Curriculum Programme of Study for MFL, using Primary Languages Network’s Virtual Learning Environment to teach weekly fun and engaging interactive lessons, with a focus on one topic per half term, across all 4 strands; speaking, listening, reading and writing.  Grammar and phonics is also a focus throughout all 4 strands.  The children recap all that they have learned in the topic at the end of each term's topic, through fun and simple 'Puzzle it Out' assessments, enabling them both to embed their learning and teachers to assess.

Although not statutory until KS2, children in KS1 are given an awareness of foreign languages, through games, songs and theme days such as European Day of Languages.  Our scheme of work provides KS1 with fun and enjoyable materials to immerse them in other cultures and familiarises them with the sound and tone of French and other languages.

The children can access the Knowledge Organiser (linked below) to practise current or previous topics at home.  This enables them to revisit and embed the language and also allows parents to see what their child has learned in school.  Each class has a link to this on their class webpage.