“Purpose of study

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. It should also provide opportunities for them to communicate for practical purposes, learn new ways of thinking and read great literature in the original language. Language teaching should provide the foundation for learning further languages, equipping pupils to study and work in other countries.”

The National Curriculum in England: Key stages 1 and 2 Framework Document. September 2014

Context:

The KS2 classes have been language learners from 2006. The school is a one and a half form entry school with approximately 300 pupils. The first language of some of the pupils in the school is English. There are also a large number of pupils who have other languages as their first language, these are Polish, Punjabi, Arabic, Urdu, French, Romany, Curdish, German, Persian and Italian.

Vision:

At school we believe that the learning of a language provides a valuable educational, social and cultural experience for our pupils. It helps them to develop communication skills, including key skills in speaking, listening, reading and writing. The children’s knowledge of how language works will be developed and extended. Lessons will enable pupils to make substantial progress in one language, gain a recognised OCR Asset Languages Qualification and begin to explore a second language. The linguistic skills gained will assist and lay foundations for further language learning. It will provide pupils with the confidence and independence to explore and be able to attempt manipulation of the structure of language. Learning another language gives children a new and broader perspective on the world, encouraging them to understand their own cultures and those of others.

Organisation:

Children in KS2 learn French in Years 3,4,5 and 6 and Spanish in the summer term of Y6.

In KS2 children are taught by Eve Hart for 45 minutes per week

Management and Training:

The subject is managed by the Languages Co-ordinator. To ensure the language skills of staff are developed and sustained the school are members of the Primary Languages Network. This provides all the materials, resources and support sound files and activities to enable the school to ensure progression in language learning across the four core skills and also the DfE 12 Attainment Targets. The co-ordinator will advise, work with and guide the visiting specialist teachers when required.

The Curriculum:

Our school follows the Primary Languages Network scheme of work. It is a live scheme which is continually updated and revised in order to meet with current curriculum standards. Alongside the planning provided, the network also enriches this through accompanying power points, pod casts (spoken by native speakers) links to authentic literature, songs, games, culture points of reference, links to appropriate websites.

Teaching and Learning:

To promote an active learning of languages a range of teaching methods are implemented to ensure that the children are developing their linguistic skills through listening, speaking, reading and writing in order to be secondary ready. Activities can consist of actions, rhymes, stories, song, drama, grammar focus, video clips, air writing, sentence structure, dictionary work, book making and many more creative ways to extend, embed and combine language skills.

Assessment:

Currently assessment is formal across the four language skills (2 skills assessed per half term) and the progress made in these throughout KS2.

Monitoring:

The lead teacher discusses language learning with the visiting teachers and monitors planning, and spoken and written evidence of progress in learning. The school is working toward effective progress across the four years of KS2. The lead teacher can access training in monitoring via the PLN VLE , consultation time, email discussion and at coordinator CPD.

Continuing Personal Development:

The lead teacher /MFL coordinator attends, (as part of the Primary Languages Network) coordinators’ CPD and the annual PLN conference. The MFL coordinator is a member of the network email group and can access the PLN Twitter account , the PLN website (https://primarylanguages.network/) , network blog sites and the PLN VLE blog to obtain current and up to date information. All staff have access to the PLN VLE ,all its materials , and lesson by lesson planning .The PLN VLE school user files can be used to share information between staff and the visiting teacher.