INTENT

At Stoke Damerel Primary Academy, every French lesson builds on knowledge, skills and understanding from previous lessons and prior learning. Lessons are taught in a logical progression, systematically and explicitly enough for all pupils to acquire the intended knowledge and skills. Lessons follow a recognisable sequence that is pertinent to the Language Angels scheme of work and moves learning forward. The units are linked are compliant with the national curriculum, enabling strong cross-curricular links to be formed.  Listening and speaking are the focuses to ensure all children can access all areas of French lessons. All children, including the most disadvantaged pupils, the most able pupils and pupils with SEND receive the same challenge within the same broad curriculum. Children develop their vocabulary and knowledge in the subjects they learn. Children’s long-term memory is developed to ensure they remember the key facts and information for each unit of learning or topic. Each lesson builds on prior knowledge and vocabulary.

IMPLEMENTATION

All lessons are planned using high quality and appropriate resources, using excellent subject knowledge. The Language Angels scheme of work follows a sequence of mapped out objectives, incorporating the knowledge, skills and understanding required to fully meet the National Curriculum (2014). Children are equipped to understand that learning a foreign language is a liberation from insularity and provides an opening to other cultures. A high-quality languages education should foster pupils’ curiosity and deepen their understanding of the world. The teaching should enable pupils to express their ideas and thoughts in another language and to understand and respond to its speakers, both in speech and in writing. All lessons contain challenging, relevant vocabulary to extend children’s word banks. We encourage children to note connections, contrasts and trends over time and develop the correct use of the French language. Teachers employ a wide range of AfL strategies to support all learners and check pupils’ understanding (used to identify and correct misconceptions and to inform future teaching). Teachers use assessment to help pupils embed and use knowledge fluently.

IMPACT

At SDPA, we believe the study of French through the Language Angels scheme of work, makes a valuable contribution to children’s understanding of all aspects of life giving them a sense of international identity and heritage as well as fostering a tolerance and respect for the cultures and peoples represented in the past. Well-constructed and well-taught French lessons lead to good results because those results reflect what children have learned. All learning builds towards clearly defined exit points. Children will be able to:

• 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.