Modern Foreign Languages
Our Vision
Overleigh St. Mary’s CoE Primary School, a caring centre of learning, where all individuals are inspired and enabled to achieve excellence in every aspect of school life – academic, social, personal, physical and spiritual.
Our school motto of ‘Children First’ proudly beats through the heart of our thriving community.
At Overleigh St. Mary’s our culture of high expectations in everything that we do ensures educational excellence for all with no child left behind. We strive for and achieve academic excellence with opportunities to develop wider sporting, artistic and social skills. We want our children to have a clear sense of moral purpose and character as well as to be enquiring, reflective and passionate learners. When our children leave us they display honesty, integrity, resilience, perseverance, compassion and self-discipline.
As a church school we nurture spiritual growth and provide an environment where each child can develop and fulfil their potential as a citizen of the future. Through a personalised, relevant and engaging curriculum we develop 21st Century skills ensuring our children embark on life confident of their place within a global society and able to become leaders in it.
At school we believe that the learning of a language provides a valuable educational, social and cultural experience for our pupils. It helps them to develop communication skills, including key skills in speaking, listening, reading and writing. The children’s knowledge of how language works will be developed and extended. Lessons will enable pupils to make substantial progress in one language. The linguistic skills gained will assist and lay foundations for further language learning. It will provide pupils with the confidence and independence to explore and be able to attempt manipulation of the structure of language. Learning another language gives children a new and broader perspective on the world, encouraging them to understand their own cultures and those of others.
Purpose of study
Learning a foreign language is a liberation from insularity and provides an opening to other cultures. A high-quality languages education should foster pupils’ curiosity and deepen their understanding of the world. The teaching should enable pupils to express their ideas and thoughts in another language and to understand and respond to its speakers, both in speech and in writing. It should also provide opportunities for them to communicate for practical purposes, learn new ways of thinking and read great literature in the original language. Language teaching should provide the foundation for learning further languages, equipping pupils to study and work in other countries.”
-The National Curriculum in England: Key stages 1 and 2 Framework Document. September 2013
Organisation:
Children in KS2 learn French.
In KS2 children are taught by their class teacher directly for 30 minutes per week and school aims to follow up activities when appropriate outside of the language lesson.
Management and Training:
The subject is managed by the Languages Co-ordinator. The Primary Languages Network Scheme provides materials, resources and activities to enable the school to ensure progression in language learning across the four core skills and also the DfE 12 Attainment Targets. The co-ordinator will advise, work with and guide staff when required.
The Curriculum:
Our school follows the Primary Languages Network scheme of work. It is a live scheme which is continually updated and revised in order to meet with current curriculum standards. Alongside the planning provided, the network also enriches this through accompanying power points, pod casts (spoken by native speakers) links to authentic literature, songs, games, culture points of reference, links to appropriate websites.
Teaching and Learning:
To promote an active learning of languages a range of teaching methods are implemented to ensure that the children are developing their linguistic skills through listening, speaking, reading and writing in order to be secondary ready. Activities can consist of actions, rhymes, stories, song, drama, grammar focus, video clips, air writing, sentence structure, dictionary work, book making and many more creative ways to extend, embed and combine language skills.
Monitoring:
The lead teacher discusses language learning with the Key Stage 2 class teachers and monitors planning, and spoken and written evidence of progress in learning. The school is working toward effective progress across the four years of KS2. The lead teacher can access training in monitoring via the PLN VLE , consultation time, email discussion and at coordinator CPD.
Continuing Personal Development:
The MFL coordinator has attended, (as part of the Primary Languages Network) coordinators’ CPD.