MFL Curriculum Intent

Through relevant, rich and varied MFL curriculum St. Simon’s children will develop their social, emotional link to the immediate community and they will acquire the necessary linguistic skills to keep up with the changing world. At St. Simon’s we intend to create space and opportunity for cultural appreciation of societal diversity and heritage. Our intention is to enable each child to develop their interest in learning other languages and to foster children’s curiosity to deepen their understanding of the world.

Curriculum Implementation:

How does the curriculum overview allow children to succeed?

The success criteria are clearly linked to the National Curriculum via Language Angels scheme of work. French is taught using Language Angels. This programme has a sequence of detailed lesson plans supporting the delivery of the MFL curriculum. The skills and knowledge children require to be successful in the acquisition of the French language are covered by the lessons. Through these, children broaden their knowledge and are exposed to all areas of the MFL curriculum.

In KS2, weekly lessons are delivered using Language Angels which provides cross-curricular activities and exposes children to a wide range of cultures. 

In KS1 and EYFS the opportunities are provided through continuous provision such as singing songs with actions, listening to simple French stories, answering the register in French and counting as children line up.

Following the programme of study for the National Curriculum and Language Angels scheme of work, we want St. Simon’s children to:

• Listen attentively to spoken language
• Explore the patterns and sounds of language through songs and rhymes, linking the spelling, sound and meaning of words
• Speak in sentences, using familiar and new vocabulary, phrases and basic language structures
• Read carefully and show understanding of words, phrases and simple writing
• Broaden their vocabulary
• Write phrases from memory and create new sentences
• Become familiar with rudimentary grammar 

Curriculum Impact:

What does the impact look like?

Children can demonstrate knowledge and skills that meet the requirements of the National Curriculum. 

Within KS2 children’s competence will be increased through reading, writing and speech in French.

Within KS1 children will broaden their cultural awareness and will appreciate that these are different to their own. 

Children can understand the importance of learning a language and being able to communicate in today’s multi-lingual society. The design of MFL curriculum will ensure that children can develop the necessary skills to communicate with one another in a new language, specifically French.

The links with a secondary school and workshops provided will enable them to transition to a new environment where children can draw upon foundations of French language and deepen its complexity. This will build a better start for their future.

Au Cafe Francais-whole school event

During our multicultural fortnight, we had the pleasure of holding an exciting event for the whole school. It took place on Wednesday, 15th of January 2025.

Year 6 children together with Mrs Macdonald organised a truly Parisian experience. Children transformed themselves into French chefs and served Delice de France to the rest of the school.

Children sampled les baguettes, les crepes and delicious croissants. to make the cafe menu more exciting there was le miel (honey), la confiture (jam) and le fromage (cheese) on offer. But the true piece de la resistance was le chocolat chaud (hot chocolate) served single-handedly by Mrs Kirwin to almost everyone in Key Stage 2.

We not only experienced French food but also had the opportunity to use some very useful French phrases. All-in-all, the event was a great success and we hope to repeat it in the future.