Subject Champion

Mrs Balcon

My name is Mrs Balcon and I am the Modern Foreign Languages (MFL) lead.

At Fairmeadows Foundation Primary School, we believe Learning a language is important to help foster pupils’ curiosity and deepens their understanding of the world and other cultures. Through learning a foreign language they will deepen their empathy of their peers for whom English is an additional language.

Our Vision

We aim to provide an inspirational, safe space for children to grow into the best version of themselves where equity is the goal and barriers are overcome allowing every child the chance to shine.

Our Values

• We strive for equity in place of equality, overcoming barriers and building confidence in all.
• We help develop caring members of society who can benefit our world in thought, word and deed.
• We put safety, kindness and respect at the heart of our school.
• We value well-being and the emotional needs of individuals as a priority throughout the school.

Our Aims and Goals

At Fairmeadows Foundation Primary School it is our aim for every child to become confident and successful when learning a new language. Children will be given the opportunity to express their ideas and thoughts in another language and to understand and respond to its speakers, both in speech and in writing. 

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.

How the Curriculum is embedded at Fairmeadows Foundation Primary School

Throughout Key Stage Two (KS2) pupils learn French and Spanish. These languages have close links to historical, geographical and social understanding. Children will have opportunities to listen, read and respond in these languages. By the end of KS2 language lessons will help pupils to have the foundation for learning further languages, equipping pupils to study and experience aspects of life and culture in other countries. At Fairmeadows Foundation Primary School, we use the Primary Languages Network to support our teaching of French and Spanish. Since September 2014, the new National Curriculum has made learning a language compulsory in Key Stage 2. With Primary Languages Network’s team’s history, knowledge, and background, we were impressed with their standards, curriculum, and teaching style. The majority of schools only offer the language that teachers feel most able to cope with, however, with Primary Languages Network, our teachers are able to learn on-the-go, teach interactively, attend CPD events, have the opportunity to practice conversationally and use of DVDs and online resources during class. They also provide the opportunity for staff upskilling within both French and Spanish teaching. Primary Languages Network has given our teachers the assurance needed to support the children's learning and pupils confidence to speak a different language.

Year 3: Spanish

Year 4: Spanish

Year 5: French

Year 6: French 

Assessment

Teachers are keen to ensure that all children are making progress with their Languages learning throughout KS2. Therefore, at the end of each half term Primary Languages Network have a built-in assessment. This assessment is an opportunity for teacher assessment of the children's knowledge of Speaking, Listening, Reading and Writing. Children will have feedback, every lesson, so that they are aware of how they are achieving in the session. This may be achieved through written marking on Seesaw or verbal discussion with teaching staff.

Documents

Please see below a selection of documents that relate to the teaching of Languages at Fairmeadows Foundation Primary School. If you have any questions or require any further information then please contact the school office and I will get in touch.