French at St Michael’s

Intent

At St Michael’s, we aim to inspire a love of language learning and develop pupils’ curiosity about other cultures. We want children to communicate confidently in French, using their speaking, listening, reading and writing skills in practical contexts.

Our curriculum provides a strong foundation for learning further languages, strengthens pupils’ understanding of language and opens opportunities for future study, travel and work. It reflects our school vision, “Creating a community where we learn together through: respect, kindness, curiosity and faith,” by encouraging children to appreciate different cultures and communicate respectfully with others.

Implementation

We follow the Kapow Primary French scheme, which supports the National Curriculum and provides a clear progression of knowledge and skills from Year 3 to Year 6.

Teaching focuses on three key knowledge strands: phonics, vocabulary and grammar, which pupils apply through language comprehension (listening and reading) and language production (speaking and writing).

Our spiral curriculum revisits key vocabulary and skills with increasing complexity, enabling children to build on prior learning. Speaking and listening are prioritised in Year 3, with written French introduced from Year 4 and developed throughout Key Stage 2.

Lessons include a range of engaging activities, such as language games, role-play, paired conversations and independent tasks. Cross-curricular links help pupils make connections with other areas of learning, while teacher resources and training materials support consistent, high-quality teaching.

Impact

Our French curriculum aims to develop confident language learners who can communicate in familiar contexts and apply their knowledge to new situations.

By the end of Year 6, pupils should be able to:

• Understand spoken French and respond appropriately.

• Speak with increasing confidence, using accurate pronunciation.

• Read familiar and unfamiliar words, phrases and short texts.

• Write short texts and express opinions using appropriate vocabulary and grammatical structures.

• Recognise patterns in French, including phonics, word classes, cognates and near-cognates.

• Use a bilingual dictionary to support their learning.

• Meet the end-of-key-stage expectations of the National Curriculum for Languages.

The impact of our curriculum is monitored through formative assessment, pupil and teacher voice, learning walks and summative assessment recorded on OTrack at the end of the summer term.

Ultimately, we want children to leave St Michael’s with the confidence to communicate in another language, an appreciation of cultural diversity and enthusiasm for further language learning.