Theological Underpinning

Language is synonymous with nationhood and nowhere is this more powerful than in the Bible. Jesus doesn’t discriminate on these lines. He shows us this when he asks the Samaritan woman for water – he is not interested in the common prejudices but instead begins a conversation. Acts such as these show the power of communicating to break down boundaries. Jesus calls to all of the people of the world, seeking to unite them. Whilst the book of Genesis tells us of Babel and how God scatters the people of the Earth, from speaking one language to many, Jesus seeks to create a bridge between peoples. Importantly, in Acts we see that the disciples are empowered by the Holy Spirit to speak many languages, to spread the teaching of Jesus.

NC Programme of Study Aims

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. 

Curriculum

The introduction to the programme of study for Languages in the National Curriculum states that

“Learning a foreign language is a liberation from insularity and provides an opening to other cultures’, a subject which should “foster pupils’ curiosity and deepen their understanding of the world.”

At All Saints’ the subject is taught through the medium of French and teaching provides an appropriate balance of spoken and written language and lays the foundations for further foreign language teaching at secondary school.  French is taught as part of the National Curriculum from Year 3 to Year 6.

We use the high quality, award-winning Language Angels programme which is designed so every teacher, irrespective of their depth of knowledge in French, can teach it effectively and with enjoyment and enthusiasm.   We offer a relevant, broad, vibrant and ambitious foreign languages curriculum that will inspire and excite our pupils using a wide variety of topics and themes.

The four key language learning skills; listening, speaking, reading and writing will be taught and all necessary grammar will be covered in an age-appropriate way across the KS2 phase. This will enable pupils to use and apply their learning in a variety of contexts, laying down solid foundations for future language learning

The intent of our curriculum is that all pupils will develop a genuine interest and positive curiosity about foreign languages, finding them enjoyable and stimulating. Learning a second language will also offer pupils the opportunity to explore relationships between language and identity, develop a deeper understanding of other cultures and the world around them with a better awareness of self, others and cultural differences. The intention is that they will be working towards becoming life-long language learners.

The scheme starts with Early Language in Year 3, moving to Intermediate Language in Years 4 and 5 and moving to Progressive Language in Y6.   For Years 4-6 there is also the opportunity to develop Creative Curriculum Language.  Early Language units are entry level units and are most appropriate Year 3 pupils or pupils with little or no previous foreign language learning. Intermediate units increase the level of challenge by increasing the amount and complexity (including foreign language grammar concepts) of the foreign language presented to pupils. Intermediate units are suitable for Year 4-5 pupils or pupils with embedded basic knowledge of the foreign language. Progressive and Creative Curriculum units are the most challenging units and are suitable for Year 6 pupils or pupils with a good understanding of the basics of the language they are learning. Grouping units into these Teaching Type categories ensures that the language taught is appropriate to the level of the class and introduced when the children are ready. Children will be taught how to listen and read longer pieces of text gradually in the foreign language and they will have ample opportunities to speak, listen to, read and write the language being taught with and without scaffolds, frames and varying levels of support.

Children will progressively acquire, use and apply a growing bank of vocabulary, language skills and grammatical knowledge organised around age-appropriate topics and themes - building blocks of language into more complex, fluent and authentic language.

The units will be planned to make links, where appropriate, to other areas and topics in the curriculum and will therefore change from year to year. 

The Language Angels Unit Planner below will, however, give you a flavour of the units which may be taught and specific information will be found in the termly Topic Maps for each year group.

Resources link the teaching to attainment targets set out in the DfE Languages Programme of Study for KS2 enabling assessment and tracking across the years and informing our planning for next steps.   Pupil learning and progression will be assessed at regular intervals in line with school policy. Teachers will aim to assess each language skill (speaking, listening, reading and writing) twice throughout each academic year to be able to provide reference points against which learning and progression in each skill can be demonstrated.