The Modern Foreign Languages department is experienced, enthusiastic, and committed to providing a language programme accessible for all students. We are very proud to be able to offer both French and Spanish to our students. Importantly, we encourage students to view the subject positively to feel successful in their language learning experience. We believe that languages learning contributes to improved numeracy and literacy, but also give the students an opportunity to understand and appreciate other cultures.
Students are rewarded not only for the quality of their work but also their effort, their positive attitude, and their contributions to the lessons.
We want students to be confident enough to use their knowledge of the language as much as possible in the class and beyond. Therefore, students will be expected to use the target language as much as they can, which will support their pronunciation and confidence to speak in front of an audience.
As well reading, writing, reading, listening and translation skills, we want students to develop their individual and collaborative thinking skills and to become independent learners. Therefore, the students are encouraged to reflect on their work and how to improve their own learning and performance.
> Click here to view our Intent, Implementation, Impact Statement for MFL
> Click here for our French Curriculum Map
> Click here for our Spanish Curriculum Map
KS3
In Year 7 most students study both French and Spanish to experience the two languages. They then express their preference for study in year 8 and beyond. We have created our own bespoke curriculum based on the pedagogical research of Dr Gianfranco Conti. We encourage students to become confident speakers and use the language as much as possible.
A brief overview of the content for each year group is provided below.
Year 7: Personal Description, Where I Live, Free Time
Year 8: Customs and Celebrations, Holidays, Family
Year 9: Healthy Living, School and Work, Media and Technology, Celebrity Culture
We introduced Spanish in September 2023 and so the year 9 curriculum this year is a hybrid of year 8 and 9 to ensure they have the required knowledge and skills to be able to take Spanish for GCSE.
We also aim to build cultural capital with trips, visits and the student of French and Spanish films related to the units of work.
In Year 9, we aim for students to understand the requirements of the GCSE course. We aim to increase students’ confidence about their linguistic skills and ultimately promote languages as a fantastic option for KS4.
KS4 – Years 10 & 11
GCSE Modern Languages – French
Course Content:
The MFL GCSEs were reviewed and redesigned for first teaching in September 2024. Our year 11 students are studying the legacy specification and our current year 10 students are studying the new course.
During the 2 year course they will reinforce and develop some topics covered at KS3, but also learn about new themes. Questions across all four language skills are set in common, covering a range of relevant contemporary and cultural themes:
Assessments
We follow the AQA exam board.
All four language skills assessed: Speaking (25%), Reading (25%), Listening (25%) and Writing (25%)
· All 4 skills assessed through end of Year 11 final exams.
· Foundation and higher tiers of entry
Grades
Students are awarded grades from 1 to 9, where 9 is the highest and 1 is the lowest.
A grade 4 is considered a standard pass and a grade 5 is considered a good pass. In languages there are tiers of entry. If a student sits the foundation tier grades 1 to 5 are available to them. If they sit the higher papers grades 4 to 9 are available to them.