French at Barden

INTENT

At Barden  Primary School it is our intent to provide children with the opportunity to develop a foreign language additionally to languages already spoken and english as a second language. We embrace and acknowledge that some of our children are already skilled in acquiring languages. A survey is being carried out to find out how many languages are spoken at Barden Primary School making our children super linguists already!!!   We are still counting them!!! We want to share their experiences and successes of a new language they have been learning and taught. 

We want to deliver a curriculum which is accessible to all and that will maximise the outcomes for every child so that they not only know more but remember more and understand more. We believe that children need to enjoy lessons, be engaged and challenged in order for them to understand, retain knowledge and progress. Our aim is that all children in KS2 will assess quality teaching of French and leave Barden Primary School confident and motivated to continue to further develop their skills into the next stage of their education and beyond.

At Barden Primary School, in conjunction with the aims of the National Curriculum, our Language teaching offers opportunities for children to:

The National Curriculum aims provide a structure and skill development for the Language curriculum being taught throughout the school

IMPLEMENTATION

At Barden  Primary School French is taught from Years 3-6 using our new scheme as from February 2026 called 'Primary Language Network to plan, teach and assess. It is our intent to deliver a fun and friendly way of learning a language, to deliver engaging French lessons to all KS2 pupils, therefore each lesson is designed to motivate children and are mainly practical in focus. Each lesson has clear, achievable objectives and incorporate different learning styles. SEN children have access to the curriculum through variation of tasks, grouping or adult support.  

At Barden Primary School children have weekly lessons in Language throughout Key Stage 2 and are  also encouraged within EYFS and Key Stage 1 to begin introducing PLN, Primary Language Network, through repetitive, simple phrases ie saying hallow and goodbye and good afternoon, chanting numbers and colours through games and role play.  Also we encourage all our children to  explore other languages and cultures informally when appropriate and where they appear in their learning.

 Each class has a timetabled lesson of at least thirty minutes per week. French can also be revisited in short sessions throughout the week to consolidate knowledge and ensure new language is retained.

French lessons provide a variety of sources to model the language, use games and songs to maximise enjoyment and make as many connections to real life situations as possible. Lessons focus on speaking and listening. However, when appropriate, children record written work informally in books which are now passed through the years and become a portfolio of their learning.

We endeavour to ensure that the Language curriculum we provide will give children an appropriate balance of spoken and written language and should lay the foundations for further foreign language teaching at key stage 3 and beyond.  Our primary focus at present is to immerse children in the verbal delivery of French and to ensure that French taught is fun, stimulating and meaningful.

IMPACT

We have just introduced our new scheme Primary Language Network - PLN and we are excited for all our children to practice a European language - French, and find out about life in France.  England is just across the English Channel from France and we are all looking forward to becoming french linguists alongside the wealth of languages we know our children have acquired along their journey.

At Barden Primary School our pupils are Linguists!  Through pupil voice children will share their thoughts about what they like about the new scheme, what  makes their learning fun and pupils will speak about their enjoyment,  taking part in competitive games in French lessons. Watch out for our Pupil Voice when  children across KS2 will speak about how learning French can be important and helpful in their future.  Our new scheme Primary Language Network can only be  better!!

Pupils understand the importance of learning another language and how this can be used in the outside world, the workplace and in the school to communicate with children who have EAL using assessment tools.   Teachers can access pupil knowledge during and at the end of each unit.  

We believe that when children leave Barden Primary School, they will have a natural curiosity and confidence to explore other countries, cultures and languages, welcoming that, in a multilingual society it is a valuable skill to be able to communicate effectively with others in another language. They will therefore be engaged and prepared to continue their language learning journey at Secondary School.

French

 Curriculum Map- 2026-27

Learning Outcomes

The MFL curriculum is taught progressively through three interrelated pillars: 

The pillars of MFL are developed through the curriculum which progressively builds pupils knowledge and skills of the following key concepts: 

Key concepts are the skills and knowledge essential to pupils achieving and exceeding expected standards in that specific subject. Key concepts are subject specific and build progressively as pupils move through the school. When pupils encounter a key concept, they will revisit other topics where they learnt about the same concept to enable them to make connections between different learning and build the schema they need. Below is a summary of the key concepts for MFL at Barden- Listening, Speaking, Reading, Writing, Grammar.