Modern Foreign Languages Subject Leader Planning Statement

At Rickmansworth Park School, we recognise the importance of Articles 29 and 30 and their relevance to the MFL Curriculum we provide.

 Article 29 states:

Education must develop very child’s personality, talents and abilities to the full. It must encourage the child’s respect for…their own and other cultures…

Article 30 states:

Children have the right to use their own language, culture and religion…

Language learners perform better academically, across all subjects.  They have improved concentration, a more powerful memory, stronger communication skills and more creativity (Cambridge University, 2022)   

To learn a language is to have one more window from which to look at the world – Chinese proverb

Intent

At Rickmansworth Park School it is our intent that all children can understand and respond to spoken and written language from a variety of sources, acquiring useful vocabulary that will assist in real life situations.  It is also intended that children will develop an enthusiasm for language that will lay the foundations for future study.  We hope that all pupils will develop a genuine interest and curiosity about languages, finding them enjoyable and exciting and show a desire to continue their language learning past KS2.  Although our current MFL taught is French, we strive to provide children with opportunities to experience a range of other languages and celebrate the growing diversity of our pupils and the languages they speak (eleven European languages and fifteen world languages).

With so many home languages at Rickmansworth Park JMI, we believe that learning another language gives children a new and broader perspective on the world, encouraging them to understand their own cultures and those of others, which feeds into our whole school’s Right’s Respecting Gold status.

Following the National Curriculum and advice from expert sources (Ofsted, Association for Language Learning, Language Angels, Rachael Hawkes and our local secondary school) we have put together this curriculum for our KS2 children.  The 12 attainment targets set out by the National Curriculum are:

• 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; ask 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
• understand basic grammar appropriate to the language being studied, including (where relevant): feminine, masculine and neuter forms and the conjugation of high-frequency verbs; key features and patterns of the language; how to apply these, for instance, to build sentences; and how these differ from or are similar to English

Implementation

Children develop their love of language learning and develop skills throughout their time in KS2 at Rickmansworth Park.  In our scheme of work – ‘Language Angels’ – the French curriculum has a focus on speaking, listening, reading and writing skills, as well as making children aware of grammar.  We sought guidance from our local secondary school to find out what skills and knowledge our primary children need to know before continuing their language learning at KS3.  In previous years specialist language teachers from our local secondary school have visited to teach taster German lessons.

Teachers at Rickmansworth Park follow the sequence of lessons from this scheme of work adapted to suit our pupils covering a wide variety of topics and themes.  Weekly lessons are taught (30 minutes) ensuring progression by building on previous lessons.  At the start of each lesson, teachers recap on prior learning.  Previous language is revised, recalled and consolidated wherever possible and appropriate.  This is done through regular use of our curriculum journeys.

Evidence of lessons taught is recorded in the children’s curriculum books.  Pupils build on their previous knowledge as they progress in their MFL journey.  Our language teaching includes singing songs, drama and role play activities and performing rhymes.  French is also often celebrated in our year group class assemblies. Children also participate in lessons with teachers who are confident speaking French.  Staff are able to model good pronunciation and enthusiasm for the language.  The MFL lead is a French speaker and teaches as much of the lesson as possible in french (eg. instructions to children such as ‘open your books’ etc).  Lessons also involve video clips, sentence building activities, dictionary work and writing for a purpose.

All learners have equal access to MFL.  Where appropriate, the curriculum may be adapted in ways to meet the needs of learners whilst still maintaining high aspirations for individuals.  This may include, but is not limited to, providing picture vocabulary sheets, differentiated activity sheets and flash cards.

Each year we celebrate European Day of Languages throughout the school.  Parents with a different home language are invited to come into school and share picture books in their home languages.  The children love this and it gives them an opportunity to hear many different languages being spoken by native speakers.

Impact

At Rickmansworth Park, the impact of the carefully constructed curriculum and quality first teaching will foster a love and appreciation of the subject of French. The expected impact is that:

• Children will develop key language learning skills set out by the National Curriculum
• Children will develop a love of languages and learning about other cultures
• Children will progress to KS3 with a firm foundation on which to build

Our French curriculum is carefully thought out and planned to facilitate progression. The impact of the curriculum is measured by:

• End of unit assessment and child self assessment.
• Results are used to inform whole school tracking document for MFL, enabling teachers and subject leader to identify trends, and children working below and above the statements.
• Children’s progress against these statements is reported to parents at the end of the academic year.
• Subject Leader ‘pupil voice’ interviews with focus groups of children each year, results of which are summarised and shared with teachers. If required, findings are acted upon to improve our provision.
• Book scrutiny by the Subject Leader to monitor the curriculum. Where necessary, support is given to staff.
• Images, videos, displays and class assemblies which showcase the children’s learning. 
• Where relevant ‘marking’ of the children’s work against the Learning Objective to assess if it has been met.
• The Subject Leader will give a presentation to the Governors (on a rolling programme) to report on the impact of the curriculum.

What makes our MFL curriculum exceptional?

1. It is underpinned by aims, values & purpose

e.g. Article 29 UN Convention of Rights of the Child: Education must develop every child’s personality, talents and abilities to the full. It must encourage the child’s respect for human rights, as well as respect for their parents, their own and other cultures, and the environment.

2. It develops the whole person – knowledge, skills, understanding & attitudes.

Lessons are relevant to the age of the children.  It provides them with vocabulary, speaking, reading and writing opportunities.     

3. It is broad and balanced.

Different topics are covered throughout Y3-Y6.  There is full curriculum coverage. 

4. There is clear progression in subject knowledge and skills.

Some topics are revisited as the children move up the school – such as greetings, numbers, days of the week and months of the year.  Spiral curriculum.  Simpler and more child focused topics take place in Y3/4 and more complicated topics are covered in Y5/6.

5. It is filled with rich first-hand experiences.

The children take part in a French food tasting morning during Excellence and Enjoyment Week and in the past they have been offered a day trip to France. Two staff members are fluent French speakers and other staff members have studied French at A level. 

6. It is flexible and responsive to individual needs and interests.

The topics taught have been carefully spread across the four year groups to ensure that each year group teaches lessons relevant to their children.  Native speaking children are encouraged to share their knowledge and experiences.  Lessons are differentiated for less able and more able children.

7. It has an eye on the future and the needs of future citizens.

Children are taught that adults sometimes go to live in other countries to work and that sometimes a second language is needed.  Having a second language is an excellent skill for life.

8. It encourages the use of environments and expertise beyond the classroom.

French day trip, talking about holidays and experiences in French speaking countries.  Excellence and enjoyment week food tasting. 

9. It makes meaningful links between areas of knowledge across the curriculum.

Topics cover PSHE, maths, literacy, geography, music, science, art.

10. It has a local, national and global dimension.

Children are taught French but understand the context of the language, in that we are not a French speaking region or country and that they would have to visit another part of the world to experience the language fully.

11. It is supported by high quality Subject Leader CPD.

Subject leader speaks French fluently.  Attended a French speaking secondary school.  Studied MFL as foundation specialist subject within BEd.  Subject leader currently teaches French to the Y3 and Y4 children, immersive teaching whenever possible.       

12. SMSC is embedded within the curriculum

(See SMSC subject statement).

Social, Moral, Spiritual, Cultural Links – MFL

Spiritual

Engages children with the beauty inherent with another language.

Through MFL children can explore using another language to express thoughts slightly differently.

Moral

Stories with a moral message from other countries are shared.

Children learn about current affairs and human responses to them within different countries.

Children are given an awareness and understanding of fellow human beings living different lifestyles in different countries.

Social

Through MFL the children can compare lifestyles and attitudes.

The children can look for similarities and differences between cultures, in terms of language use as well as social behaviour and issues.

They learn to communicate directly with someone who speaks a different language.

Cultural

Children learn about different foods and eating habits.  They learn about leisure pursuits, fashion and lifestyles as part of a cultural tradition.