French

Our vision for French

Learning French helps children communicate in another language, notice how languages work and learn about other cultures. French is taught across Years 3, 4, 5 and 6.

What children learn

The French schemes supplied set out year-specific progression from Year 3 to Year 6; . Children therefore continue their French learning in both cycles according to their year-group starting points.

Year group	Examples of learning in the supplied schemes
Year 3	Classroom language, greetings, numbers, names, colours, familiar topics, simple questions, songs and stories
Year 4	Body parts, animals, family, familiar descriptions, rhymes and short conversations
Year 5	Building longer spoken and written responses, revisiting familiar language and extending vocabulary and sentence structures
Year 6	Sustaining simple conversations, describing opinions and giving reasons, reading short texts and writing linked sentences

Essential Knowledge and progression

Across KS2, children listen and respond, speak with increasing confidence, recognise sound–spelling links, read accessible French and write words, phrases and sentences. Earlier vocabulary and structures are retrieved and used in new contexts.

A learning journey: A Year 3 child may first greet someone, give a name, count and recognise familiar words in a song. In Year 4, they retrieve this language to ask and answer questions, describe an animal or person and notice how French words and adjectives behave. In Year 5, they extend sentence patterns and combine familiar vocabulary to communicate more detail. By Year 6, they can sustain a short exchange, express and justify a simple opinion and construct linked written sentences by adapting what they already know. New grammar and vocabulary are made useful by repeatedly applying earlier language.

How we teach it

The supplied La Jolie Ronde schemes provide lesson sequences, language and activities for each year group. Teachers model pronunciation and use conversation, songs, games, reading and writing to develop understanding and expression.

DISCERN in this subject: Children recall a familiar greeting or sentence, listen to a new phrase and hear the teacher model pronunciation. They practise with pictures or a sentence frame, then ask and answer with a partner. The teacher checks meaning and pronunciation before children use the phrase in a short spoken or written response. Later lessons retrieve it in a new context.

How all children take part

Repeated language, visuals, listening, choral practice and sentence models help pupils join in. Children can show understanding in speech, responses to texts and short writing at an appropriate level.

How we check learning

Teachers listen to children speaking, observe their responses to spoken and written French, and check what language they remember and can use in new situations.

The school’s Marking and Feedback Policy also applies here. Evidence may be spoken, practical, digital or written: a brief observation, question, performance, product or recorded response can show the Essential Knowledge. Feedback identifies the next useful step and informs what the teacher revisits.

Beyond the classroom

Songs, stories and learning about everyday life in French-speaking places help children see languages as a way to connect with others. The year-round club programme also offers Spanish as a separate optional activity; this complements the French taught in KS2.