French
At Thornbury Primary Leadership Academy, we have high expectations for all our children so they become confident and ambitious, life-long language learners. We have designed our French curriculum with the intent to give our children a well-rounded knowledge of listening to, speaking, reading and writing French.
Through exciting, pupil-friendly and relevant topics such as ‘animals’, ‘the family’ and ‘my home’, our children will systematically develop these essential modalities, including a focus on basic grammar and core vocabulary. We will methodically introduce, frequently practice and continually revisit important vocabulary, spellings and pronunciation principles, so that our children will learn more and remember more. By the time our children leave us, our French curriculum will have laid the foundations for further language learning in Key Stage 3 and beyond.
We will deliver a knowledge-rich French curriculum that:
- Has speaking and listening at its heart, so that children can engage in and understand simple conversations, as well as present to an audience;
- Supports children to read with expression and understand relevant points in simple texts;
- Develops children’s abilities to write longer sentences and shorter paragraphs, using basic grammar correctly;
- Systematically builds a useful and practical French vocabulary;
- Adapts the Language Angels scheme of work and its vast bank of interactive resources to support teachers to provide high-quality weekly lessons.
Our French curriculum is taught according to the following whole school long term plan:
| Autumn 1 | Autumn 2 | Spring 1 | Spring 2 | Summer 1 | Summer 2 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year 3 | I’m learning French | Animals | Musical Instruments | Little Red Riding Hood | I can… | Vegetables |
| Year 4 | Presenting Myself | Family | My Home | At the Cafe | The Classroom | Goldilocks |
| Year 5 | Do You Have A Pet | What Is the Date? | The Weather | Habitats | Habitats | The Olympics |
| Year 6 | Healthy Lifestyles | At the weekend | Me in the World | The Second World War | The Second World War | At School |
The detailed, sequential development of French knowledge, skills and understanding is carefully mapped out in our progression map, accessible below. This progression map ensures that teachers are supported to plan lessons that include all learners, of all abilities, allowing skill progression within a particular strand of French to be fully understood by teachers.
Our children are given motivating cross-curricular opportunities and special experiences to embed essential learning in French. This enrichment is an essential element of our curriculum offer. For example, we celebrate Bastille Day on July 14th by having a French Day. Here, the children experience a range of French foods and are immersed in French culture for the day.