French

Intent

Our French curriculum intends to immerse pupils in the four core strands of learning language skills: speaking, listening, reading and writing. As pupils progress through the year groups, they gradually build upon, consolidate and strengthen key skills.

Implement

Lessons are taught from the beginning of Year Three. This exposes pupils to different cultures from the ofset and encourages them to think beyond their own world.

Didcot Primary Academy follows a scheme called Language Angels, which provides interactive video resources. These include games, rhymes, opportunities to practice speaking and writing new vocabulary within different contexts. Pupils are also exposed to grammar structures and begin implementing this when writing and speaking. There is a weekly French session of 30 mins in KS2.  The children will revise the words they have learnt regularly. Unit also overlap within different year groups, allowing for consolidation and greater depth of understanding as pupils get older.

Pupils are taught to:

• Listen attentively to spoken language and show understanding by joining in and responding
• Engage in conversations, ask and answer questions, express opinions and respond to those of others, and seek clarification and help.
• Read carefully and show understanding of words, phrases and simple writing.
• Broaden their vocabulary and develop their ability to understand new words that are introduced into familiar written material, including through using a dictionary. 
• Develop a knowledge of French phonics which is later applied to decode longer pieces of French text.
• Write phrases from memory, and adapt these to create new sentences, expressing their ideas clearly.
• Describe people, pleases, things and actions in speech and writing. 

Impact 

Our curriculum has immersed in French culture and language and allows all pupils to speak with enthusiasm and confidence. As children progress into Key Stage Two, they are equipped to apply key vocabulary and knowledge of phonics to write at a greater length and with increasing accuracy. Through our lessons, pupils are equipped to take their knowledge of French into the real world.

What our pupils say about French:
"I enjoy learning French because it will help me when I am older if I want to travel."
"I like noticing the similarities between French and Spanish, which I speak at home."

"I like that we have lots of opportunities to practice speaking in French during lessons." 

"Lessons help me feel confident to speak in French."

"Practising conversations is fun!"

Updated March 2025