Intent

At Wittersham Church of England Primary School, our French curriculum aims to inspire curiosity, widen pupils’ understanding of the world, and build the foundations for confident language learning as they move to secondary school. Learning a language offers pupils the chance to explore another culture and develop as global citizens. Our intent is for pupils to develop a growing bank of vocabulary, phrases and sentence structures that allow them to communicate for practical purposes. They learn to listen attentively and respond with increasing confidence, to speak with greater fluency, to read simple texts with understanding and to write short sentences using known structures. Pupils also gain insight into French culture, traditions and everyday life through engaging topics such as greetings, food, sports, family, school life and holidays. The curriculum is designed as a clear learning journey from Years 3 to 6, with new knowledge building securely on what has been taught before with frequent opportunities to rehearse and embed vocabulary.

Implementation

French is taught regularly in Key Stage 2 through a structured progression of skills that covers speaking, listening, reading and writing. Lessons focus on practical communication and include a balance of oral rehearsal, reading activities and simple written tasks. Each unit is shaped around a meaningful question, such as how to greet someone, how to introduce yourself, how to describe a classroom, what happens in a school day or what it is like to visit a French town. Language knowledge develops steadily through regular exposure to vocabulary, songs, rhymes, phonics and modelled sentences. Pupils take part in conversations, paired activities and role play to practise asking and answering questions. Reading familiar texts, labels and short passages helps strengthen understanding. Writing activities begin with guided sentence construction and progress to children adapting known structures to create short pieces of their own. Key vocabulary and grammatical features are revisited frequently so that pupils retain knowledge and become more confident over time.

Impact

The impact of the French curriculum is seen in pupils’ ability to communicate with increasing confidence, accuracy and independence. By the end of Key Stage 2, pupils understand simple spoken and written French across familiar themes and can respond appropriately. They speak in sentences using rehearsed vocabulary and structures, and their pronunciation improves as they progress. Pupils can write sentences using known phrases and adapt them when appropriate. They show an awareness of simple French grammar, such as gender and verb forms, and understand how these differ from English. Most importantly, pupils develop a positive attitude towards language learning and an appreciation of French culture and daily life. They leave Wittersham well-prepared for the next stage of language learning at secondary school, equipped with a strong foundation in listening, speaking, reading and writing.