Modern Foreign Languages

Modern Foreign Languages Curriculum Statement

At St. Austin's, we believe in providing children with language skills that will open doors to the world, enabling them to seize every opportunity in life. Receiving high-quality education should promote children's curiosity and deepen their understanding of the world.

Learning a language can benefit children's understanding of the similarities and differences with other countries.

In teaching Spanish, we make links across the curriculum so that our children are able to make connections with countries studied across the curriculum, through our vehicles in history, geography and art.

Intent – What we are trying to achieve?

• Our principal aim is that children leave St. Austin’s’ Catholic Primary school with a wide range of happy and rich memories in Spanish formed through interesting and exciting experiences driven through vehicles that enhance a child’s awareness of their own abilities and strengths as a learner, thus ensuring that children see learning a foreign language as an ongoing process and not a one-off event.
• Children will meet the National Curriculum expectations in Spanish, which will be taught by highly-enthusiastic staff who will support children to develop the mastery of concepts and inspire enthusiasm and interest in the subject.
• All Key Stage Two children will study Spanish for 1 hour per week.
• Opportunities will exist for children of all ages to experience learning beyond the classroom. This will allow them to enrich their knowledge by, for example, creative workshop days at our feeder high schools or visitors to school who may read stories in the language or share their experiences of living in Spain.
• Children will develop a deep understanding of the subjects they are studying. They will increasingly use their prior knowledge to solve problems and develop the sophistication of Spanish.
• Children will understand how Catholic virtues and British Values relate to Spanish.
• In Spanish, children will develop the skills to appropriately understand, speak, read, write and transcribe phrases, as well as use and manipulate a variety of key grammatical structures.

Scheme of Learning

The Scheme of Learning follows the National Curriculum.  It allows for appropriate sequencing and aims to secure long-term memory as well as the enjoyment of learning a MFL. 

We are currently in the process of moving scheme from Language Angels to KAPOW.

The key areas of speaking and listening, reading and writing, and grammar are developed throughout KS2 in order to prepare children for secondary education.

Implementation – How do we translate our vision into practice?

• The curriculum hours in Spanish are non-negotiable and will be followed by all staff in the school. Fixed timetables will be set before the academic year and monitored by the Senior Leadership Team of the school.
• Subject specialists from our partner secondary school will be, integral to the planning process- during HUB meetings. This will aid transition to Key Stage 3.
• Where necessary, staff will receive training in Spanish.
• Carefully designed schemes of learning in Spanish ensure consistency and progress of all learners.
• Success criteria in every Spanish lesson are set in order to guide children to achieve their potential. This ensures work is demanding and matches the aims of the curriculum.
• High quality input from experts and educational resources complement the delivery of specialist learning admirably. Children understand how Spanish is used in the wider world including careers.

Assessment

Each lesson will include live marking (as per the Marking and Feedback Policy).  Books will be marked following the Marking and Feedback Policy.  Homework is not formally set in MFL but children are encouraged to take part in enrichment opportunities such as listening to a foreign radio station or trying foreign foods. High quality teaching responds to the needs of children. Spiral learning is a key focus of all formative and summative assessment with teachers actively marking work in lessons in order to identify misconceptions early.  An assessment grid is used to formally record an overview of progress of each child.

Cross-curricular opportunities

Spanish is taught through the vehicle if links allow.  This results in excellent cross-curricular opportunities. For example, a vehicle focusing on health and nutrition will result in the language lessons including vocabulary on the topic along with a study of the wellbeing of people in Spain.  Additional opportunities, such as eating Spanish food, will also be encouraged in the vehicle.  This ensures that children are engaged and interested in the subject through the excitement of the vehicle.  It also allows for the British Values of tolerance and respect to be highlighted, understood and practised by children.

Cultural Capital

• Children will learn about key figures from French/Spanish history such as St Bernadette, William the Conquerer and Claude Monet. 

They may also experience the following during Key Stage 2:

• Meeting and talking to native speakers
• Listening to Spanish music
• Watching Spanish television programmes and/or films
• Eating Spanish food
• Gain an understanding from a business leader regarding the importance of learning a language 

Impact – What is the impact of our curriculum on the students?

Children are happy, feel cared for, and have excellent relationships with others. They know how to deal with challenges and have a range of strategies to overcome them.

• Through Spanish, children deepen their appreciation of their faith and fulfil their God-given talents
• Cultural capital opportunities have enriched the lives of the children and they are able to discuss how the experience impacted their knowledge and understanding.
• Children of all abilities and backgrounds achieve well in Spanish, reflected in outstanding progress that reveals a clear learning journey. Children talk enthusiastically about their learning in Spanish and are eager to further their learning in the next stages of their education. 
• There is a proven track record of outstanding outcomes as shown in pupils’ ability in Spanish in the areas of oracy, literacy, intercultural understanding and their knowledge about the language.  Their books and views reveal their enjoyment of the subject. These indicators reflect the impact of deep learning.
• Clear outcomes focus and guide Spanish development plans and drive improvement.
• Fundamental British Values are evident in the school and understood by all members of the community.
• Through wider reading and experiences in Spanish, children will gain an appreciation and understanding of the country and some of its historical links to other parts of the world and historical events.