Welcome to Modern Foreign Languages at Lightmoor
Intent
It is our intent that through our Modern Foreign language Curriculum we foster pupils’ curiosity and deepen their understanding of the world, providing an opening to other cultures. Our curriculum drivers are ‘Celebrating Diversity’ and ‘Endless Possibilities’, we want to enable pupils to express their ideas and thoughts in another language and to understand and respond to speakers, both in speech and in writing. In lessons, we seek to provide opportunities for pupils to communicate for practical purposes, learn new ways of thinking and read great literature in the original language.
Implementation
At Lightmoor we teach French as this is the first language that our feeder secondary schools start with and the language that staff are most familiar with. We use the Primary Languages Network curriculum to empower all teachers of MFL to deliver a progressive, comprehensive scheme of learning in school that is dynamic and creative. French is taught in Key stage 2 weekly to support the working memory of pupils by regularly revisiting the subject. This ensures that children achieve depth in their learning. The most powerful knowledge and skills have been identified and given consideration to ensure that progression across topics and year groups is achieved. At the beginning of a new unit of learning, children have the opportunity to recall prior learning as well as what they would like to find out. This informs the programme of study and also ensures that lessons are relevant and take account of children’s different starting points. Through our commitment to inclusion, there are high aspirations for all pupils. Appropriate scaffolding and challenge ensures that the needs of all pupils are met. Cross curricular links are capitalised on to deepen learning.
Impact
At Lightmoor, our pupils receive a broad and balanced curriculum. There are opportunities in individual lessons and at the start and end of a unit of work to assess whether children know and remember more. There are clear end points for pupils in all year groups in KS2 to achieve age related expectations in MFL. We strive to ensure that all pupils at Lightmoor are well prepared for the next stage of their education.
"Learning another language is not only learning different words for the same things, but learning another way to think about things." - Flora Lewis