The aim of our French curriculum is to equip all pupils with the skills, understanding and vocabulary necessary to communicate in a global community. At Strive4 we believe that the learning of a foreign language provides a valuable educational, social and cultural experience for our children. It helps them to develop communication skills including the key skills of speaking and listening and extends their knowledge of how language works. Learning another language gives children a new perspective on the world, encouraging them to understand their own cultures and those of others. Learning French at Ray Lodge is a wonderful opportunity for our children to explore a new culture, dissect syntax and to make valuable links through second language acquisition. French is not only a beautiful, rich, melodious language, it is the language spoken by our closest European neighbours and 29 other countries across the world. French is an analytical language that structures thought and develops critical thinking, which is a valuable skill for discussions and negotiations. 

The French curriculum at Strive4 is based upon the Rigolo scheme of work and has been supplemented with discrete teaching of phonics and discrete application units. This is a comprehensive programme featuring an online Proffeseur or teacher, to encourage accurate pronunciation. French is taught in Key Stage 2 where children have a 40 minute French lesson with their class teacher each week. The knowledge and vocabulary taught throughout the French curriculum is cumulative and gives children opportunities to explore speaking, listening, reading and writing throughout each topic. These lessons are taught discretely.

Every child will:

• understand and respond to spoken and written language from a variety of authentic sources
• speak with increasing confidence, fluency and spontaneity, finding ways of communicating what they want to say, including through discussion and asking questions, and continually improving the accuracy of their pronunciation and intonation
• write at varying length, for different purposes and audiences, using the variety of grammatical structures that they have learnt
• discover and develop an appreciation of a range of writing in the language studied.

Teachers follow the Strive4 French curriculum and use the planning created by a) Rigolo scheme of work` b) the Phonics scheme of work and c) the discrete units; they then adapt the planning to cater for the needs of their class. Resources are  available to support with teacher’s planning and subject knowledge, thus ensuring that all children receive high quality teaching of French.

The French Curriculum includes a variety of games and activities to assess children’s understanding and retention throughout each unit of learning. French is assessed through:

• teacher assessment,
• peer assessment and
• detailed assessment worksheets to support children in their learning.

The progress of the children is measured against the 12 attainment targets stipulated in the DfE Languages Programme of Study for Key Stage 2.