Intent

At TGMS, our pupils learn French. Teachers plan engaging and exciting sequences of lessons using Twinkl’s PlanIt French scheme, which ensures progressive coverage of the skills required by the National Curriculum. The chosen themes provide an introduction to the culture of French-speaking countries and communities. It aims to foster our children’s curiosity and help deepen their understanding of the world, gradually building on their skills across their four years at TGMS. PlanIt French enables children to express their ideas and thoughts in French and provides opportunities to interact and communicate with others both in speech and in writing. At the heart of PlanIt French is the desire to expose children to authentic French, so the scheme offers regular opportunities to listen to native speakers.

Through our stimulating French curriculum, we intend to inspire pupils to develop a love of languages and to expand their horizons to other countries, cultures and people. We aim to help children grow into curious, confident and reflective language learners and to provide them with a foundation that will equip them for further language studies.
 

Implementation

Our French lessons are sequenced so that prior learning is considered and opportunities for revision of language and grammar are built in. We help our pupils to build on prior knowledge alongside the introduction of new skills. The introduction and revision of key vocabulary and grammatical structures is built into each lesson. This vocabulary is then included in display materials and additional resources so that children have opportunities to repeat and revise their learning.

Impact

We aim to ensure that French is loved by teachers and pupils across school, therefore encouraging them to embark on further language studies.

Assessment in French is an ongoing process. Teachers will make informal judgements about pupil’s progress and attainment as they observe them throughout lessons and mark their work.

At the end of each term, teachers will decide on a pupil’s level of attainment, noting which children are: 

• Working below the age-related expectations (Emerging)
• Working towards the age-related expectations (Developing)
• Working at the age-related expectations (Secure)
• Working above the age-related expectations (Above)

These judgements will be made in line with the National Curriculum. Progress is closely monitored by the subject leader and senior leadership team. Monitoring includes lesson observations, learning walks, book and planning scrutiny. Other methods that we use are pupil voice interviews, staff meetings for teacher CPD and disseminating best practices.

The findings of this monitoring will be used to inform the next steps for the children and the implementation of French across the school as a whole.