At Highfield Middle School, we are fully committed to delivering a high quality languages education that “fosters pupils’ curiosity and deepens their understanding of the world” (National Curriculum). This supports the whole-school ethos of helping pupils to broaden their horizons, with a particular emphasis on developing a tolerance of and respect for people who act and think differently to themselves, which aids personal development as pupils progress through the school. Languages are an opening to other cultures and it is important that we use popular culture links to make language learning relevant to all pupils, particularly those who traditionally stay within the North East.
It is imperative that pupils become confident learners in the languages’ classroom, ensuring that, over time, pupils are able to “express their ideas and thoughts in another language and to understand and respond to its speakers, both in speech and in writing” (National Curriculum). Throughout their language lessons, pupils are encouraged to develop their communication skills through listening, reading, writing and speaking, and pupils draw comparisons between their native language and the language of study.
The department recognises the importance of both language study through vocabulary, grammar and phonics and intercultural understanding of the countries where the languages are spoken, and therefore, the curriculum is structured to promote both these elements of learning. Phonics are explicitly taught when teaching new vocabulary, and are reinforced regularly through speaking and listening activities. Pupils are supported in their learning through the structure of lessons and the sequencing of the curriculum to recycle key high-frequency vocabulary to embed this knowledge and encourage its use across different contexts. Grammar is taught in context and then unpicked so that pupils can independently choose the correct spellings and word order in their own work.
Pupils study French in Key Stage 2 and can express their opinions with justification and complete descriptions of different situations at the end of Year 6. Spanish is introduced as a second language in KS3 to promote further understanding of world languages. In KS3 pupils can express themselves using different time frames in both French and Spanish. This helps to prepare pupils for further study as they choose which one to continue for GCSE and beyond.
