We aim for our language education to foster pupils’ curiosity and deepen their understanding of the world; enable pupils to express their ideas and thoughts in another language; and understand and respond to its speakers, both in speech and in writing. Our current language provision is French. 

Belleville has a significant French speaking population (around 10%) and beyond the school day, many children also participate in extra-curricular ‘French between the Commons’ sessions, which follow the national French curriculum.

French is currently taught from Year 3 to Year 6. All children from year 3 to year 6 have weekly French lessons during the year. French is taught by a specialist teacher.

The core elements of our curriculum are:

• Listening
• Speaking
• Reading
• Writing

Our scheme of work follows four stages:

Stage 1: Introduce basic, essential language like colours and numbers; use simple verb forms

Stage 2: Introduce some more varied language and sentence structures; use sentences in the third person.

Stage 3: Develop more complex vocabulary and sentence structures; learn to use adjectives to add detail to sentences; talk about hobbies and holidays.

Stage 4: Introduce other tenses; use the perfect and near future tenses; talk about what we have seen and done, and what we are going to do in the future.

All lessons allow children to develop their  language skills in relevant, engaging and meaningful contexts. Learning happens through a  great range of interactive activities, role-play, songs, games and stories. In the earlier stages of language learning the focus is on speaking and listening.

We are proud that:

Every year, Year 3 pupils are invited to participate in a live French performance in school

Year 5 and 6 take part in pen pal friend activities. They write letters or cards into French and/ or into English.

We support a French story book subscription with French publisher ‘L’ecole des Loisirs’ - parents can join for children to receive a book at the beginning of each month