Subject leader: Miss Archer

Modern Foreign Languages at Maple Court Academy

Intent:

At Maple Court, we enable children to celebrate and welcome differences in the world so it is vital that they have an understanding of different languages and countries. By introducing children to this, they will have a deepened ability to show respect and play a valuable role in our global society. Through our French curriculum we aim to inspire a love of language. The teaching should enable children to express their ideas and thoughts in another language and to understand and respond to its speakers, both in speech and in writing.  leader

The Subject leader:

Subject leader role is to oversee the planning and teaching of the MFL curriculum from year 3 up to year  6. I do this by having a rigorous process of monitoring from learning walks, pupil voices and book scrutiny’s. These take place each term to ensure that French teaching is to a good standard and that the children are developing their skills in the 4 main areas of language learning: speaking, listening, reading and writing. I previously led on MFL before maternity leave and I am excited to be able to lead MFL again. I have been teaching French in a range of schools for over 10 years. It is lovely to see the children learn a new language and to experience a new culture. As subject lead, my job is to ensure that all children in KS2 are exposed to the French language in a fun and enjoyable way, that stimulates a love of language. We learn our French through games and interactive activities.  

The curriculum:

French is taught in KS2 (years 3- 6) for a minimum of 30 minutes each week. At Maple Court, we use the Primary Languages Network scheme of work. Each lesson consists of currently taught in KS2 for a minimum of 30 minutes per week or the equivalent. Each lesson is split into a retrieval/warm up, a learn section with the new vocabulary, a game to practise the vocabulary an a independent task.  

All lessons give the children the opportunity to practise all 4 areas of learning: 

Speak- practise vocab as a class, practise vocab with a partner, repetition is key- children need multiple opportunities and teachers to hear as many children as possible (one to one)  

Listen- ensure that the children understand what they are hearing and have the opportunity to translate into English  

Read and Write: Main task will incorporate skills in reading and writing to  ensure appropriate time to complete task into books. 

In French, as with all subjects, the curriculum is adapted as appropriate to ensure that all children have the same opportunities to achieve the learning objectives. 

The Primary Languages Network scheme of work is divided into topics. Each topic is planned to last for 6 weeks and conclude with an assessment, where the children can practise and apply their learnt vocabulary and skills from that topic.  

Assessment for learning:

At Maple Court Academy, assessment is ongoing throughout every lesson with teachers identifying strengths, misconceptions and next steps. Teachers use this information to feed into subsequent learning sessions. Retrieval practice is a key element of every session, revisiting prior learning. Whiteboard work, partner discussion and questioning are just some of the strategies that we use to identify children’s progress towards the learning outcome, identifying children’s understanding and progress. In MFL, the children are assessed each half term against the learning objectives they have completed for that half term. This assessment will ass the four areas of language learning- speaking, listening, reading and writing.  

Pupil voice:

‘I like how my teacher picks people at random. It can be scary but she can pick anybody to answer her question and practise their French’ – Year 5

‘I like playing the games in French and I like that when I am older, if anyone speaks French or I go to a country where they speak French, I will be able to reply easily’ – Year 4

‘I enjoy learning new things and learning new words to say’ – Year 3

‘I like the rainbow sentences. They help me to write full sentences in French.’ – Year 5

Year 3

“I enjoy learning new things and learning new words to say.”                                                                                                                     

Year 4

“I like playing the games in French and I like that when I am older, if anyone speaks French or I go to a country where they speak French, I will be able to reply easily.”

Year 5

“I like how my teacher picks people at random. It can be scary but she can pick anybody to answer her question and practise their French.”

Year 5

“I like the rainbow sentences. They help me to write full sentences in French.”

Photographs

Pupils thrive and learn well at Maple Court Academy.

| Ofsted 2023

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