MfL

At Cuddington Community Primary School, pupils in years 3 to 6 learn French.

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.

The teaching of French is supported by a specialist Modern Foreign Language teacher.

National Curriculum 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 French Curriculum at Cuddington

Cuddington will “Bring out the Best” in our pupils by providing a language rich and diverse experience both within and beyond the classroom. Our flexible approach enables everyone to thrive personally and academically, overcome challenges and prepare them for lifelong learning.

This is reflected in our curriculum approach to learning French, using the aims set out in Development Matters (2021) and the National Curriculum (2014) as frameworks for how we map content, ensure progression in knowledge and sequence our units of work.

The foreign language (French) curriculum at Cuddington meets the requirements of the National Curriculum and the school’s Curriculum Ethos. It prepares children to be ‘Ready for Everything’ in their futures in terms of: 

• Success in the next stage of their education and beyond: by gaining a knowledge of French, with an appropriate balance of spoken and written language that lays the foundations for further foreign language teaching at key stage 3; by enabling pupils to understand and communicate ideas, facts and feelings in speech and writing, focused on familiar and routine matters, using their knowledge of phonology, grammatical structures and vocabulary; 
• their ability to navigate life’s personal Challenge: by developing the confidence to engage in conversations; ask and answer questions; express opinions and respond to those of others; seek clarification and help
• understanding their place in communities at global, national and local levels and seize the Opportunity of the future: by learning and demonstrating the school values in how they collaborate in their learning; by fostering pupils’ curiosity and deepening their understanding of the world and other cultures.

KS1 and KS2 Curriculum Overview