We want our children to be world citizens and we strongly believe that the skills, knowledge and understanding gained through learning a language contribute both to the development of children’s oracy and literacy and to their understanding of their own culture and those of others. We aim to expose our children to the richness of language from reception through to Year 6 and to lay firm foundations for language learning as they move into Key Stage 3.

Children in Reception and Key Stage 1 are encouraged to celebrate their home languages. They engage in language learning through special events, festivals, and cultural activities (such as when learning about Lunar New Year). We also introduce a combination of Makaton and British Sign Language signs in Reception, to encourage children to understand the multi-modal nature of language.

In Key Stage 2 children currently learn German or French; we use existing schemes supplemented by individual teachers’ subject-specific . Lessons are designed to use a variety of the following techniques to encourage active engagement:

• Games – we use these to develop vocabulary through repetition, reading, writing, speaking and listening skills.
• Role-plays – these should relate to the situations the children may find themselves in the future.
• Action songs and rhymes – used to develop phonetic skills, memory skills and to further vocabulary.
• Quality reading and writing materials.

We base our teaching on the 2014 National Curriculum, which we have adapted to fit the context of our school. We have worked closely with secondary school subject specialists to identify the key skills that children need to thrive in language lessons at KS3. This has included the careful planning of our English spelling and grammar curriculum, using Rising Stars resources, to ensure that children have good transferrable skills that can be applied to different languages.

Children are aware that language have structures, and that these structures differ from one language to another. They develop their language and communication through development of the four key skills of speaking, listening, reading and writing, whilst also developing an understanding of different countries and cultures.

Our children are well-prepared to transition to KS3 successfully and to continue to develop their language skills.