French

Intent

At Castle Camps, we recognise the power of language learning in providing children with a broader perspective of the world. Our languages curriculum aims to promote awareness and understanding of the world by building on children’s cultural capital through an in depth knowledge of French language and society. Pupils will access high quality teaching which develops a love of language, literature, music and art whilst allowing them to deepen their understanding of grammar, vocabulary and the spoken word.

All pupils will be supported to achieve their full potential, with the ultimate aim of pupils feeling confident engaging in spoken French, reading, listening and writing. Throughout their time in Key Stage Two, children will develop an understanding of the opportunities provided by learning a language, and the doors that will be opened to them in their future.

Learners will: 

• make substantial progress in learning French and work towards or meet the targets of the KS2 Programme of Study; 
• become resilient, independent learners who enjoy language learning and acquire language learning skills and strategies that allow them to succeed, including what to do when faced with unfamiliar language, memorisation and retrieval;
• develop the skill of using a bilingual dictionary and reference materials; 
• manipulate language to speak or write French using their knowledge of features of French including grammar; 
• recognise similarities and differences between English (and other languages they speak) and French; 
• notice patterns and key sounds in French, including graphemes used to represent them, and apply them to speaking listening and reading aloud; 
• appreciate and join in with songs, rhymes and stories, moving from copying sounds to adapting them through substitution and expansion; 
• have a deeper understanding of cultural differences and similarities, including French as a world language.

Implementation

Pupils will be formally introduced to the French language in Year Three. We follow the ‘Rising Stars’ scheme of work which has a focus on speaking, listening, reading and writing skills. Children’s knowledge of the grammatical features of the French language are developed and embedded through a wide variety of topics and themes focused on French culture and traditions. 

Speaking and listening activities form a key part of pupils’ language learning. They have the opportunity to sing songs, engage in drama and role-play activities and perform rhymes. Pupils actively participate in lessons, using real-life French resources including age-appropriate texts, games and videos. Pupils’ cultural awareness is enhanced through the celebration of French holidays and the European Day of Languages.

Impact

By the end of Key Stage Two, pupils will feel confident when expressing themselves in French; having simple conversations, listening, reading and writing at an age appropriate level. Through learning an additional language, pupils will have had the opportunity to explore relationships between language and identity and develop a deeper understanding of other cultures and the world around them. Children will foster a love of language and will be fully prepared to continue their study of French at secondary school and beyond.

Rising Stars French allows us to show impact in the following ways: 

• Within Rising Stars French, opportunities for assessment are indicated, particularly the online Challenge, which can be accessed by pupils or teachers. 
• Teachers can assess against the objectives using the grid at the end of each book and the list of learning objectives at the beginning of each unit.
• Completed Activity Sheets and additional activities gather evidence of listening, reading and writing. 
• Speaking can be evidenced by audio and/or video recording as well as by reflections of speaking activities by learners. 
• Self and peer assessment opportunities, including use of ‘I can’ statements, can be found in the Teaching Slides and within session 6 of the planning. There is a self-assessment sheet for children to use for each unit, accessed on the online platform.
• Celebrations of language learning are suggested in the materials, including sharing learning with other year groups, assemblies and performances. 

Using Rising Stars

There are four stages, with six units in each stage. 

• Each unit has been designed to be taught within one half-term. Units are self-standing, but are progressive. Due to our mixed age classes, we have adapted the units to a 1 year cycle for Y3 children and a 3 year rolling programme for Y4,5 & 6. Units will be adapted, when necessary.
• Each unit has a set of Teaching Slides which follow the activities within the unit and offer extension challenges for the Activity Sheets. Also here, you can find pupil-facing ‘I can’ statements. 
• Six sessions are suggested per unit, plus additional cross-curricular project ideas. 
• Each session has been planned for a single 30 minutes lesson for Y3 and 50 minutes lesson per week for Y4-6. This could be split into smaller ‘chunks’ throughout the week or supplemented with further activities as best fits. Equally, the materials can be adapted and/or extended by the teacher to meet the individual needs of learners. 
• Online challenges can be accessed on the online platform. The short quizzes recap previous learning and assess the new learning from that unit. They are an invaluable tool for teachers to see progression, identify gaps and inform future teaching and learning.