French

Overall Intent

We want students to love learning languages, to want to pursue their studies further, to have the ambition and sense of adventure to want to try the language out in a foreign country or on a foreigner in this country and we want them to be happy and successful in this mission.

We talk regularly to students about how they are on a journey in learning their language. That journey with us may finish at the end of Y9, it may finish after Y11, it may continue to Y13 and beyond, but we want them to be happy and successful on that journey, regardless of how long that journey is.

We also break that journey down into little journeys. Each lesson is a journey, so each lesson has a clear purpose. Students are onboard; they know where they’re heading, and they’ve therefore got buy-in. Our job is to make sure that each task of each lesson keeps students on that journey, happily and purposefully heading towards their exciting destination.

Key Strengths of the curriculum

The deep, broad and high-quality provision that we offer:

All students study two languages from Y7 (French plus Ger/Sp) and get two lessons per week on each through to Y9.
The vast majority (approx.80%) do at least one language for GCSE, with many doing two languages.
All students can study Mandarin Chinese from Y8 as an extra (lunch time and after school). This year there are ten UK-native students on the 6th Form GCSE Chinese course.
We offer three core languages at GCSE and A-Level (Plus Ab Initio Italian in 6th Form and Chinese). In comparison to the National Picture, we have extremely high interest and numbers.
We have subject specialists - all MFL teachers are appropriately (degree-level) qualified for teaching their subjects. There is exceptional subject knowledge among the team.
The FL tries to allocate classes to suit individual teachers’ stronger interests, specialisms and development areas.
Students (and staff) benefit from native-speaking FLAs in three languages.
We have highly successful and established exchange programmes to France, Germany and Spain, as well as two Y7 trips to France with 120 participants every year.
We have high-profile events within school such as Chinese New Year, Big Picture Day, EDL, Foreign Film Club etc.
6th formers mentor and support lower-school and native students.
Our shared planning of highly effective and well-sequenced lessons is very strong.

REACH Values in MFL

RESPECT in MFL means…	Listening to each other’s answers and being supportive if others make errors e.g. with pronunciation. Showing maturity and kindness when working collaboratively. Appreciating and celebrating the diversity and different cultures of the countries where the languages come from.
EXCELLENCE in MFL means…	Communicating fluidly and with detail over a broad range of topics. Having a hunger to broaden vocabulary and knowledge. Striving to go beyond and impress with the range and complexity of language that you use. Producing work that is highly accurate, including taking care with spellings. Gaining a thorough understanding of complex written and spoken texts, skilfully deciphering the meaning of new language.
ADVENTURE in MFL means…	Seeking to refine, extend and develop written and spoken answers, increasing the detail. Experimenting with new, more complex vocabulary and sentence structures and applying them to your work. Having the ambition to utilise your skills to connect with different people in different contexts and in different countries Taking the opportunity to put your knowledge into practice in a real context by participating in school exchange visits or trips to the country Immersing yourself in the culture and exposing yourself to a wide range of vocabulary by listening to music, watching films and reading literature in the target language
COMMITMENT in MFL means…	Dedicating time to regular, independent vocabulary learning. Showing the resilience to cope with unfamiliar language, looking for patterns and clues, using context to help you, and making informed attempts at saying what words and phrases might mean. Contributing whole-heartedly to pair and group work, regardless of the task and people in your group. Acting on comments and feedback from your teacher and using this to push forwards.
HONESTY in MFL means…	Knowing that the work that you produce is your very best effort. Understanding that making mistakes in language is a positive step towards progress. Acknowledging when you have not given your best and addressing the issues. Using your knowledge of other cultures to draw parallels with your own culture.